from Dublin to........Mirissa, Sri Lanka: Uppuveli........Trincomalee, Sri Lanka

Sunday, 15 September 2013

Uppuveli........Trincomalee, Sri Lanka

This part of Sri Lanka is increasingly opening up to tourism after being significantly impacted by the civil war and the tsunami. Located in the north east of the country, only 6-7 hours from Colombo by bus, many visitors come here to stay at either of the two beach towns north of Trinco and to go snorkeling at Pigeon Island. We stayed at the closer of the two beaches, Uppuveli, which was quite nice. A reasonable number of accommodation options for the seemingly small number of tourists that where there but visitors arriving late afternoon were struggling to find anywhere to stay. Couldn't work it out. Book ahead just in case.

The beach is long, wide and super hot when the sun is out. It is 30-35 degrees here every day. The water I had expected to be a little clearer (some very fine weed/algae in it) but the temperature was bath-like. Easy to whittle away a few days here, or possibly a week. Food options on the beach are rather Western and quite expensive but there are supposedly more local foods available along the main road at budget prices. It might be one of the few things to move you on sooner than you'd like.

Activities include snorkeling at Pigeon Island (opposite Nilaveli beach), diving, beach volleyball, hauling in the fishing nets with the locals and drinking beer at the bar with your feet still in the sand.

Pigeon Island is hyped quite a bit. Being the only significant tourist attraction on the water I was expecting a hell of a lot more. The sea conditions probably could have been better for our snorkeling tour there. It was a bit like a zoo on the 30sqm of sand that encompassed the more protected bay and it wasn't even a Sunday. The snorkeling was rubbish. Honestly. Very disappointed and I had low expectations from the outset. One the way back in from a snorkel I did see a baby back tip reef shark very close to the shore. Nobody in the water had any idea it swam through them all. I was tempted to yell "SHARK!!!" and clear the waters so I could have the cove to myself. I resisted. I don't particularly recommend the half-day trip out there although I spoke to some novice divers that said they enjoyed the dives and got to snorkel during their surface interval so perhaps this is a better way to do it but probably not for the more experienced diver.

Shhhh! There is apparently a small beach a few kilometres north of Uppuveli that hasn't been touched by tourism and is everything you dream of. Worth visiting for the day and possibly bunking down overnight at a local guesthouse if they exist. But keep this hidden gem to yourself. I didn't even know about!