We started our last morning in Tangalle with a quick pre-breakfast swim in the rock pool. We enjoyed our stay hugely, but were ready to move about 1.5 hours west along the coast to Mirissa.
Mirissa is a low-key surfing town made up of a number of guesthouses, restaurants and shops set around a bay; an excellent place to end our time in Sri Lanka. The beach is beautiful and, although there are some biggish waves, it is a pleasant place to swim. A natural pool at the western end of the bay is a safe spot for children to swim. The main surfing area is behind the reef that creates the pool, so you can watch the surfers from the comfort of calm waters.
Our friends Nicki, Kallis and Luca had come to Mirissa a couple of days earlier, so we were looking forward to seeing them again. When Eleanor and I decided to explore just after we arrived, we ran into them after about five minutes walking on the beach. It is not a big place; we saw about three other couples from our accommodation at Tangalle within half an hour!
Eleanor spent the rest of the afternoon in the rock pool with Luca. She had a fabulous time and learned how to float using his water wings, so was very happy with herself. We ended up buying a pair each for Eleanor and Leo and their confidence in the water has improved dramatically. Floating makes Leo giggle and Eleanor shout with enjoyment.
In the evening the beach is picturesque in a different way. It is lined with restaurants, all of which have coloured lights and candles on the tables, some nights there and bonfires, BBQ's and fire poi demonstrations by restaurant staff. There is no need for shoes as the restaurants all have tables on the sand, although they are fairly close to the high tide line so you do have to be a little careful where you put your things.
We ate with Nicki, Kallis and Luca on our first evening, and most nights for the rest of our stay. While the adults sat and talked, the three children had a great time finding crabs, making sand cakes, jumping off sun loungers, watching fire pois and dancing to the restaurant music. Fun for everyone!
Whale watching is one of the big tourist attractions at Marissa, so we decided to give it a try. The boat left the port at 7am, so we only had time for a quick coffee/juice and biscuit at the guest house before jumping in the van. Breakfast was provided on the boat.
We saw a couple of dolphins, a puffer fish and lots of flying fish, but no whales unfortunately. When the whales stay away you can try again for free the following day; we decided not to take Eleanor and Leo again as it was an early start and not the most interesting morning for them.
Adrian went to continue the search while the three of us went to the beach with Nicki, Kallis and Luca. He did see a blue whale, but decided whale watching isn't all it is cracked up to be! The rest of us spent hours in the sea, playing in the sand and checking out the baby turtles at the hatchery on the beach.
Nicki was stung by a small scorpion, which was quite scary and put us all off the stretch of the sand! Fortunately, other than a big fright and a red mark she was absolutely fine. She intends to increase the scorpion's size when she shares the story with her friends and family, so don't be surprised if it becomes a larger scorpion in ours too!
As the massages in Ella hasn't been quite what we expected, we decided to give Shirodara another try in Mirissa. Basically, you lie on a table having warm oil drizzled onto your forehead for half an hour. Bliss! After almost two weeks on the beach, we hadn't realised that we could get any more relaxed, but it is possible. This time the oil came out of my hair after a couple of days, a vast improvement on the greasy unwashed look I had for a good few days in Ella.
On our last full day in Mirissa, the two families took a 45 minute tuk tuk ride to Unawatuna, a larger beach destination close to Galle. It was poya, the public holiday for the full moon, so the beach was filled with locals enjoying a day off and the atmosphere was fantastic. Unawatuna and the surrounding coast were badly damaged by the tsunami. Significant foreign aid meant that the town was rebuilt quickly and in the same place (right on the high tide line), but the are little signs like the shells of previous buildings and many grave stones dotted along the coast road.
As our flight to Singapore was at 11pm, we had most of our final day in Mirissa swimming, shopping and packing. Nicki, Kallis and Luca left that morning for Galle, so we had farewelled them the night before; Eleanor loved their company and was very sad not to be seeing them again, as were we all! Hopefully they will visit us in New Zealand one day.
We had an amazing four weeks in Sri Lanka, it felt like three holidays in one; the ancient cities, the hill country and the beach. The sights are interesting, the scenery beautiful, the beaches stunning, the food delicious and most of all the people are incredibly friendly and welcoming. It is an easy place to travel with children, the locals are so relaxed about everything and often willing to chat and/or play with them. If you haven't already been and ever have the opportunity to visit, take it!
Oh, and on our last night, Adrian finally found a properly hot curry. He asked the waiter to tell the chef to hurt him. It worked! The curry reduced him to tears and left him barely able to talk. It was perhaps not the best meal the evening before a flight, but the hot-curry-hunt ended in success!
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