After having spent some days of extensive travelling and enjoying public transport in the Central Sri Lanka we deserved some rest on the beaches. We have decided to focus on two places: Tangalle and Mirissa in the southern part of the Island.

Tangalle is one of the most southern villages of Sri Lanka. The place has been seriously damaged by tsunami in 2004, the same which swept away the Pipi Island in Thailand. Still walking in the center of the village we can witness many abandoned and destroyed houses as well as see many graves dating from 2004. Anyway, the live goes on and Tangalle steady develops as a touristic destination. This is indeed a nice place to  spend couple of days there. Still the atmosphere is much calmer than in Mirissa and obviously different from the famous Unawatuna.

We have come to Tangalle from Elle, visiting Udawalawe National Park on the way. Some practical tips on this experience in the post: Sri Lanka|Udawalawe National Park: Meet The Mammals. Or, if you want to compare Udawalawe with the famous Yala Park please take a look at rather critical post: Sri Lanka | Yala National Park

What to do in Tangalle during 3 days? The obvious answer is arrange a scooter and make a nice beach hoping. But at some moment you may feel a little bit fed up with beautiful, soft sandy beaches surrounded with palm trees and with the emerald and disgustingly warm ocean water. Even worse, you may be fed up with a choice of nice little beach restaurants and small bars offering colourful drinks and seafood. Did I mention a fresh coconuts you can get everywhere? If that feelings reach you, you appreciate that apart from beaches Tangalle may offer you canoeing on the lagoon with the mangrove forest.

This activity is not so obviously popular but is lovely and highly recommended. Simply follow (you have your scooter, don’t you?) small road along the seaside East from the Tangalle village towards the lagoon. On the way you will see plenty of advertisements of kayak renting places. The regular price for a 2 person vessel is 2000Rs and you can enjoy conoeing as long as you like. In practice 2-3 hours is enough, especially in hot sun.

Exploring the mangrove forest is really a relaxing adventure. At the beginning you may feel a bit confused but soon you discover the lagoon is pretty small so no worry about getting lost. This place is full of fauna: mainly hundreds of fearless birds but also frequent monitor lizards swimming in the water.

Despite that finding the lagoon is very easy please feel free to consult my Wikiloc log from this place: Wikiloc Tangalle lagoon

Very close to Tangalle there is famous Rekawa Beach. This place is known as one of the unique sea turtles nesting destination. At night there might be several big turtles coming there to lay their eggs in big holes. There is so called Turtle Conservation Project. Jesus, what a bullshit! Every night something like 50-100 tourists are being brought there by tuk-tuks to take part in a show. They all are gathered in the waiting area listening to some quasi-scientific speech of ex-turtle hunter on the idea behind setting up this project. The non- profit project by the way (sure…). Then suddenly the guy gets a call from the rangers on the beach that a turtle has arrived. Everybody gets excited and now all personnel starts to focus on reminding you that you have to give voluntary donation of 1000Rs. They start to organize all people in such a way they are sure everybody paid the donation.

As soon as this collection is completed we are ready to follow our guide. The man -an ex-poacher convinced not to steal turtles eggs any more – now becomes a guru who, dressed in black like a Batman now leads the herd of tourists on the beach to watch the turtle. We follow him more than a kilometer on the sandy beach. And, yes, here she is! But she decided not to lay the eggs but to come back to the ocean. The tourist herd gets wild and chase the 100kg turtle on her way to the ocean. The torches are forbidden (unless the red light ones) as they scare the animals. But at least some guys speaking melodious Russian language do not give a shit about that and start flashing when taking photos. If the turtle could run she would probably run like hell! What’s the fantastic care for animals – the excellent example of the conservation being behind the project. This repeats several times as we spend 2 hours more on the beach, thus having occasion to elate 4 more turtles.

I must admit we felt quite uncomfortable taking part in this farce. The project is nothing else but an initiative of several ex-poachers who were convinced that they may be much better off guiding the tourists than damaging turtle nests when stealing the eggs. Unfortunately the stress done by 100 of people chasing a turtle is not to be forgotten.

Tangalle will be a beautiful destination for those who like beaches. In this area there are plenty of nice bays with sandy beaches and palm trees. We were lucky to have an accommodation very close to the Goyambokka Beach. This is quite famous beach on the West from Tangalle. Rather tranquil and relaxing place with few seafood restaurants on the sand. Like on most of the beaches in the South the ocean is wavy and with strong reverse currents so swimming requires some stubbornness and caution. Of course there are plenty of palms directly on the beach. This having pros and cons. You may have a fresh coconut from almost everywhere but lying under the tree is a bit dangerous for the same reason: this is absolutely true that coconuts fall down and considering their weight and height of the tree you probably know what I mean.

We do not like to stay long in one place. That means we wanted to visit other beaches as well. The best way to move around there is to rent a scooter. We have arranged that via our hotel paying probably a bit more (1400 vs 900 in the town) but it was much more convenient. Normally in SL you need a motorbike driving license and we do not have one. But that was probably the least problem. We have never ridden a scooter but we have promised to ourselves to drive slowly and carefully. It cannot be as difficult! Yes, unless you have to drive on the left side. That was a bit more challenging especially if you imagine Asian traffic. We felt like thrown into some computer game being attacked from every side and trying to control this crazy yellow monster. Extra points have we been gaining by running away from the horning buses driving directly on us and thus, promoting ourselves to the higher levels of ridding mastery. Anyway, that was great adventure and for sure the best way to explore the region. If you want to read on some other transportation alternatives click on this post: Sri Lanka|Moving Around: Train, Bus and Tuk-tuking

We were exploring the western beaches. However, there is a lovely small road – somewhere sandy path- east from Tangalle center along the beach. Lovely place with many beach restaurants. The road ends at the lagoon canal at Little Pumpkin restaurant and The Lounge on the other side of the canal. By the way there is a nice handmade ferry connecting both banks. You need to pull the rope when standing on the platform and the ferry moves on the other side. By the way I had an impression that both restaurants are heavy competitors and the ferry is indeed kind of bypass of the restricted strip of beach.

Moving west from Goyamboka Beach there is another famous place called Silent Beach. Interesting thing there is a swing on the palm. Probably not the only one in SL.

Going further along the coastline there are many other small beaches but in this area your regular touristic goal would be of course the Geysir of Sri Lanka, the Holy Hole, the Masterpiece of Geology: Hummanaya Blow Hole. What a bullshit! Do not waste your time, it’s simply nothing. Instead, as you are already in this village take a look at the fishermen harbor- always busy, colorful and dynamic. By the way, can you imagine that they charge entrance fee for the harbor visit (foreigners only)?

The beach hoping ends at Hiriketiya Beach which is indeed a bit different. This is surfers place: boards rentals and surfing schools on the beach. A lot of people, mostly surfers and nice relaxing atmosphere. Nice seafood restaurant as well.

So, what’s the difference between Tangalle and Mirissa? Definitely Mirissa is more energetic place. Despite the fact the village itself is smaller it’s much more vibrant in terms of beach life. The main beach in Mirissa is filled with restaurants being a perfect choice for a seafood dinner directly on the beach. The west side is more surfers oriented with loud music and parties going on while the east side is more quiet. Also the same difference exists when looking at swimming conditions. For sure the eastern part with lovely Parrot Rock is much more suitable for relaxing sunbathing than the surfers one.

For eating choices I would suggest Kama restaurant with exceptional seafood plate. However, definitely do not go there for dessert. Their I-do-not-know-why famous homemade coconut ice cream was awful and not possible to be eaten. This place is a bit more costly and in the evening rather crowded.

Mirissa is famous for its whale watching. There are plenty of places which offers this adventure but we were not as desperate to spend 6 hours of seasick to see a back of this animal so did not decide to take part in this. instead, if you are looking for some other animal related adventures I’d suggest to take part in a safari in one of many national parks.

Again a nice idea to visit on scooter some nice beaches, the Secret Beach being the closest a very nice especially to watch sunset. Moving west there are two places where you can see the stilt fishermen. Unfortunately do not expect they are authentic. They jump on the stilts as soon as they see tourist coming – preferably a bus filled with Japanese tourists armed with their cameras. Of course they will ask for substantial money for a possibility to take picture.  In the meantime they sit on the parking place waiting in the shadow for new victims. The nearest places to see them are Midigama and Ahangama a bit further.

Mirissa is a very good place to visit Galle. You can go there by bus – every few minutes – it takes 1 hour. It’s good idea to go there in the afternoon and spend 2-3 hours there.