Journey from Udawalawe to Weligama:

We were told by our hotel we would need to take 2-3 buses to get to Weligama so we plodded to the bus stop and waited in the baking heat. Unsurprisingly within 5 minutes a tuk tuk pulled up asking where we needed to go. He told us his ‘taxi driver friend’ was in Udawalawe dropping off some people and would be going back towards Matara as that’s where he lived and so could give us a good rate. At only 3,500LKR for a 2 hour journey straight to our hotel it was definitely a stroke of luck and far more comfortable than changing buses 3 times (and we were far less likely to die judging by the driving of the buses!)

Things to do:

Surfing

There are lots of surfing points nearby. Midigama, the next town further west, is probably better for the slightly more advanced – there are several different spots: Plantation Point, Ram’s Point, Lazy left and many more.

Weligama bay is perfect for beginners and intermediates and there are plenty of places to rent a board/go for a surf lesson.

Weligama stilt fishermen

All the way from Matara to Unawatuna along the coast there are lots of stilt fishermen. This is their traditional fishing method but it is not so widely used anymore and some areas of the stilt fishermen are a little more aimed at tourists. For instance, at some of the spots if you want to take a photo they ask for a donation. We even saw one spot where tourists were trying to sit on the stilts!

Mirissa whale watching

Our hotel organised this for us and gave us the rather vague instruction to go to the first ticket office and ask for a name at 6am. This was a little confusing as the ticket office wasn’t overly clear but fortunately someone pointed us in the right direction. The boat was big enough for 70 people (although there were probably more like 30 on our boat) and it cost $50 per person. This was more than I was expecting but apparently the government have recently put further regulations on whale watching in Mirissa so the price is higher and there are fewer people allowed on the boats which is probably a good thing.

The boat was fairly rocky but in mind of this I had already taken a pill for sea sickness (and they were handing them out before we left), we were provided with some very unimpressive breakfasts and our journey began. We had to travel about an hour before we were in range of where the whales were and then it was a matter of waiting for one to surface. When a whale did eventually surface the boat would try and get as close as possible to it but this was not always easy as obviously whales are pretty quick swimmers. There were a lot of boats trying to spot whales but they were not too on top of each other, as we’d heard they were previously, so maybe the new regulations have succeeded in limiting the amount of boats which was good.

We were fortunate enough to spot several whales a couple of which were very close to the boat. You are only able to see the whales for a very short amount of time as they only surface for maybe a minute or two before diving back under the water. It was still amazing to see these animals up close though and on the way back we were also lucky enough to spot some sea turtles.

Where to stay:

Neptune Eco Villas

Another lovely hotel! Each villa was huge and had the added bonus of a kitchenette which was handy as then you could make a few of your own meals. The staff organised a scooter for us for 1,200LKR per day and helped us sort out the whale watching trip. We haven’t had a bad hotel the whole trip!

Where to eat:

Baba’s Rotti Shop & Restaurant

Nestled behind the main coast road sits the more local restaurants. We had a great Kottu and Sri Lankan curry buffet (I paid 500LKR and was allowed to fill up my plate as many times as I wanted – bargain!) It was completely empty but we had no idea why as the food was great and it was very cheap.

Aloha

Expensive but you get a good view of the sea and the smoothie bowls are great (but at 900LKR per bowl they had better be!)

Where not to eat:

Chef Akilla’s Restaurant

Big disappointment. This restaurant was recommended by our hotel as somewhere to go for local food. It had a great view but unfortunately the food wasn’t good and it was expensive. Worst part was one of the staff chucked rubbish from one of the tables straight down the side of the cliff. Sri Lanka has a big problem with rubbish and seeing how careless they were with disposing of their waste was really alarming.

The beaches surrounding Weligama were beautiful. However, there was perhaps a slightly greater issue here with rubbish and the coast line was littered with waste. This aside we loved the area and would definitely come back.