The waiting game… watching for whales

On Sunday 29th March after months of talking to Gehan (friend, wildlife expert, photographer, businessman and someone who knows anything about everything including whales!) about checking out the whale watching I finally got to make the trip as I headed south with Lisa and Di for a weekend. It was a bleary-eyed early morning start as we journeyed the picturesque route from Hikkaduwa to Marissa, which after turning the corner in Galle becomes a constant reminder of how beautiful this coast is – pale blue seas pushing gently at the land as the coast road opens up to glimpses of sea in between houses, fishing huts, villas and hotels. As well as trying not to nod off, there was a feeling of excitement that finally I will be seeing SL from the ocean rather than the land and looking for the marine life I had heard so much about. Last year Gehan highlighted the fact that SL is one of the best spots in the world to see blue whales, also sperm whales, as they pass by the south coast between January and April.


We headed out at 7.15am on the pretty wooden ‘Spirit of Dondra’ fishing boat, with its friendly and helpful crew. A neat little boat with striped wooden deck, and comfy seats to lie in drifting off as she headed out to sea. The passengers were relaxed and soaking up the morning atmosphere as we set our sails towards the horizon slowly moving away from the misty shores, watching the shrinking outline of the hills inland. It was a calm morning with a gentle swell and we all hoped this meant some good whale sightings. We passed a wonderfully busy community of fishing boats - reds, blues and greens, darting in and out towards harbour or sea, and we eyed huge domineering cargo ships in the distance. Whilst all good fun by 10.30am we had still seen no whales!

Then one of the crew spotted some splashing in the distance, and although not the huge creature we had all anticipated we had come across a pod of playful spinner dolphins. I’m not sure how many there were, possibly between 10 and 15 giving us a wonderful display of acrobatics as they leapt out of the water twisting into the air than splashing back into the depths. A few came to check out the boat swimming alongside the bow before curiosity was over and they disappeared back to the seas. Sadly not many good photo opportunities but sometimes it’s nice to just put the camera down and enjoy the moment.

The Marissa Sports crew tried their hardest to find us some whales, but after travelling almost 20 nautical miles we thought it was time we gave up and headed back to land. Although some obvious disappointment dwelled amongst us we had had a calm and relaxing 6.5 hours out to sea - a rare and enjoyable time away from the hassles and pressures of life on land. Apparently there were whales the few days following, but nature cannot be put to a time table and the trip only entices me to try again! Besides, the dolphins were fun, the trip smooth and oh so relaxing, we were all well looked after …and you can’t ask better than that!