Spotting blue whales and swimming with giant sea turtles

Weligama and Mirissa, places of nice beaches in Sri Lanka. A place where you find a private beach, go into the ocean and cool down for a bit in this hot country. However it is also the place where you can go for whale watching, just a couple of kilometers away from the coast line. Also if you find the right places you can go and swim with some giant sea turtles, directly from the beach.

Whale watching in Mirissa timings, practicalities and pricing

Every day boats are going from Mirissa into the ocean to spot some whales. The main whale watching period is from November till end of April. The best periods are apparently March and April to see whales.

However, we were there in May and where lucky enough to still see some whales. Boats aren’t going regular in this period because the ocean can be too rough. So you have to check every day. Prices will be different as well. Between November and end of April you will pay 6,500 Rupees per person, and out of season this will be 4,500 Rupees.

If you want to go, be sure you are at the port between 6 and 7 am. The boat will leave at 7 am. However, if you are there earlier, around 6:15 am you can find yourself a nice seat in the front bit of the boat.

Also make sure you will only go with the middle and big boats. How more attractive it sounds to go with the smaller boats (they are faster and you can get closer to the whales). The smaller boats are also HARMFUL and BAD for the whales.

The engines of the smaller boats are in the water. The noise of this will make the whales stressed and scared, they can lose their group, get disoriented and in the end, they could even die from this. So be sure to only go with certificated operators who knows how to behave in the water, so the whales will not end up in that stage.

Whale watching the day

At 7 am the boat is leaving from the harbor. While a lot of people are warning of seasickness, I didn’t experience any problem on this matter luckily. Maybe there is still some of my Dutch pirate blood running in my veins.

You never know when your day will be finished because this depends on when you will see the whales. We were very lucky. We saw our first whales already around 8:30 am.

It is just magnificent how those big mammals are living in the waters. The moment they rise up to the surface. Remove the water from their body in those big water bursts. And in the end go back under water again with those big tails that you will see in the last moment. It is just magical to experience this at least once in your life.

Unfortunately you can’t stay to long with the whales. Related to the reasons I mentioned before. So at 10 o’clock we were already back in the harbor.

Swimming with giant sea turtles at Hikkaduwa

Luckily if you have enough time left or you can do this on another day. Take a direct bus from Mirissa to Colombo and get off at Hikkaduwa.

Hikkaduwa has a coral reef right in front of the beach. Unfortunately lot of the coral is damaged, so please be careful when you go in and don’t damage it more.

The great thing of the beach at Hikkaduwa is that you can take your own snorkeling gear, or you rent some on the beach. For 2,500 you can rent gear and have a guide who will guide you for the first hour to right place. A guide isn’t necessary because there are a lot of tourist boats out there who are at the place of the turtles. So just swim into the direction of one of those boats.

When you have your gear, you literally get into the ocean, you will swim like 50m into the ocean and there you will find beautiful fish but also some giant sea turtles. It is unbelievable how amazing it is to swim with those turtles.

You can follow one, see how that one is bringing seaweed to his wife some food. And his wife has a kid around her as well. Or you just stare at a giant sea turtle while he is staring back at you, and you both wonder what kind of weird creature the other is.

Don’t expect too much of the coral or the fishes, but the fact that you can just swim with giant sea turtles so close to the beach. Can follow them and relax with them is just amazing. And of course, make sure you apply enough sun scream and get out of the water regularly. I was burned as hell at the end of the day. The current can be quite strong as well, so make sure you are here in the morning, because in the afternoon the ocean can become rougher.

Final thoughts

Sri Lanka is just amazing for those beach adventures. So much to discover in such a small place. Perfect place to end your holiday and recover from the more adventurous stuff you did before on your holiday.

If you know some great snorkeling places elsewhere in the world, please let me know in the comments.