Sea Kayak Sri Lanka

After Christmas and the New Year, there was much internal debate about if the girls should go back to Australia or stay in Mumbai and do something locally.  Ewan and Nicola, friends from Mumbai, had built two "shacks" and were building a large house near Tangalle in southern Sri Lanka and there was a long standing invitation for us to visit.  After much consternation Kate and Ada and I decided that Sri Lanka was the best option. Lucy opted for the long drive to Goa and a holiday with her friends family.

In doing my research on Sri Lanka, I was able to identify an adventure outfitter, Borderlands, who were willing to hire a composite sea kayak to me for a number of days at a reasonable rate.  This was amazing as it is often hard to hire this type of equipment.  With a kayak I was able to plan my usual schedule of early morning paddles.

Shack 2

The differences between India and Sri Lanka first hit us at the customs desk at the international airport, where we met a smiley customs official happy to joke with Adaand continued throughout our stay in Sri Lanka. Everything from attitudes, to cleanliness to infrastructure was a step ahead of anywhere in India. After leaving the airport we met our driver and headed south on the immaculate new motorway to Galle. and then wound our way from Galle to Lake Mawalla and the 'shacks"

The view from the front fence of Shack 2

After the area was devastated by the tsunami,  buildings closer than 35 metres from the ocean could only be repaired based on their original footprint and no new buildings could be constructed.  Our friend purchase two buildings on the beach, one of which was refurbished and the other demolished and rebuilt on the existing footprint.

Local furniture commissioned by Ewan from coconut timber

Ewan is an architect and the way he combined his minimalist approach with the local architecture was amazing.  The shack was thoroughly modern in the style of Geoffrey Bawa, a deceased prominent architect with significant projects from the UK, to India and in particular Sri Lanka.  The Shacks,maintained the traditional materials and style all while using local material with doors and shutters being constructed on site and the furniture all being local manufactured.

Putting our backs into it!

We had a swim in the water which was at a perfect temperature and helped some of the fishermen pull their fishing boat onto shore. After a great meal and a few drinks, I prepared for the first paddle the next day.  I had to go back to Weligama and pick up the kayak at 7 am and planned to paddle the kayak over a number of days to the shacks at Mawalla Beach



















The next day went smoothly and I pick up a low volume, hard chined, Greenland style kayak.  I had paddled an old Nordkapp Anas Acuta on a trip along Ningaloo Reef in the mid 90's to I was familiar with the hull shape.  My recollection was that the fore deck on that kayak was higher because I only just fit in the boat. Maybe I was just bigger!

The blue water off Polhana Beach

I packed and set off, quickly readjusting to life without a skeg or rudder and headed across the bay.  The water was beautifully clear and blue with a 0.7 to 1 metre swell from the south west and, later in the trip a wind blown chop from the east.  After the first hour, I started to feel a little uncomfortable as my legs were basically in one position with very little ability to adjust.  To make matters worse, my legs were almost straight which increased pressure on my lower back.  It was certainly a    big change from the comfort of my Mirage.

The friendly Policeman who organised the monks

After two hours and 12 km, I decided that I had enough for the day and I reset my expectation.  I found a hole in the surf zone and landed at Polhana Beach.  Now, my plan had been to find somewhere locally to store the kayak each night with the help of my driver for the day.  The driver approached the Police hut on the beach who, unlike the Mumbai Police, did not want to apprehend me and organised for me to store the boat at the Buddhist temple across the road.  After taking the kayak into the prayer hall I asked the driver what would be a reasonable payment but he just shrugged his shoulders.  I though $10 would be very generous but messed up the currency exchange in my head and gave the monk $50 instead.  I realized my mistake immediately after handing over the money but I couldn't ask for a refund from a monk.  I am sure that I have paid for some good karma going forward or offset some of my historic bad karma.

Lunch at the Amam Hotel

After my mornings exertions, Ewan had planned lunch at the local Amman Hotel , part of an ultra luxury hotel chain about 15 minutes away .  We mounted our motor cycles and headed off, Ada enjoying the thrill of the open road in Sri Lanka on a Honda CD Dawn the preferred ride of the local farmers.  Lunch was spectacular and the view superb.  We returned for more beach time and a meal on the deck.

Through the surf zone off Polhana Beach

The next morning,  Rahunu had organised an auto rickshaw to pick me up at 6am and take me back to Polhana Beach.  I loaded up and set off through the surf before swinging south to Gandara Beach and a small fishing harbour about 13 km away.  

Southern most point of Sri Lanka

I spotted my first sea turtle of the trip but was unable to the camera out before it disappeared. The best part was rounding the lighthouse at the southern tip of Sri Lanka then running with the south westerly swells up the coast.

The fisherman who weren't trying to run me down

The local fishermen were either in a small paddle powered out rigger or a larger outrigger with an outboard motor.  They all took a great interest in me.  The larger fishing fishing boats took too much interest as every time I adjusted my course to avoid collision they would adjust their course to get as close as possible to me to get a good look.  All a little disconcerting.  At Gandara we met the local Navy outpost who helped me to find a local family willing to adopt the kayak for the night.  After correctly calculating the exchange rate, I sat in the rickshaw and headed back to

 the shack.

                                                                                                     

Not the Sri Lankan chapter of the Bandito's MC

Once again Ewan had lunch plans, this time to  Maya Villas, a stunning guesthouse in the paddy field near Beliata about 45 minutes away on the motorbikes. After a brilliant ride on narrow roads through farm lands we arrived at Villa Maya as the only paying guests.

Relaxing before another great lunch

A beautiful lunch follwed before Ada and I headed down to catch tiny fish with a bamboo pole, a short length of fishing line and a hook baited with bread.  Very "Adventure of Tom Sawyer".  After getting lost on our return and weaving past temples and paddy fields we had our afternoon swim and prepared for dinner.

Huck Finn?

Ewan had been invited to dinner at the home of a neighboring British lady and her Pakistani husband, both were prominent authors.  It was an eclectic crowd that included a Pakistani sculptor, academics, and an art historian.  I felt very inadequate and did my best not to appear like Barry McKenzie.  Some more great food and interesting conversation with Ada being the star of the evening. All this capped off by a moonlight walk back along the beach with Ada spotlighting crabs and fruit bats with a powerful torch.

The morning catch along with...

Last day paddling and I needed to make it to The Shacks. Setting off from Gandara early in the morning, I had the opportunity to inspect the local catch which was being sold in the local fish markets.  

I know it looks benign!

Loading the kayak attracted the usual crowd before launching into a small dumping surf.  I timed my launch badly and had a wave dump on the fore deck.  Snapping the badly frayed bungee cord on the deck and washing my spare paddle into the sea.

....fresh bread from the rickshaw

It was lost and I was distraught.  Aside from the fact that my main paddle had been cobbled together recently from two broken paddles, my Werner four piece split had traveled with me for 13 years and was a close companion.  I looked back to shore to see if anything was washed up.  It was obvious that none of the locals had seen anything so I continue on my journey intent on returning later that afternoon.












The 19 km run to the shacks was too long for me to complete without a shore break to rest my legs and back.  So I planned to stop after two hours for a rest. There was a small beach after 12 km and I ran in through a small surf zone and onto the beach.  Unfortunately, due to the inability to move my legs in the kayak, they are slow to function when I try to exit the cockpit.  In this case, as I was getting out the surf caught the tail and the rough edge of the keyhole cockpit left me with a large gouge in my ankle which was bleeding profusely, much to the concern of the local fishermen.

Just to prove I was there

After 20 minutes rest, I set off again through the surf and was able to make good time with a following swell. It wasn't long before I rounded the headland and ran in toward the shacks where I was met by Kate and Ada on the beach.

A perfect wave?

True to form, Ewan had organised to have lunch at a New York based Australian lawyers home which was perched hing on the shore overlooking a great surf beach in a perfect cove between Mawalla Beach and Dickwella.  But before I met them there, I returned by bike to Gandara to search for my paddle.  Maybe it was my $50 to the monks in Polhana but my two blades had washed up on the shore. I was relieved as my old friend had returned and replacing the shaft was a relatively cheap and easy. Once again we had a great meal of local seafood and had the pleasure of watching about 15 surfers enjoy the perfect waves from Cove House.

Transporting the kayak back to Weligama was the next challenge.  I was convinced that hiring a truck was the best option but after some discussion Rahunu he convinced me that a one of the larger diesel auto rickshaws would be best.As it turned out the padded roof combined with some foam was the perfect platform for the kayak and the low speed of the vehicle reduced the probability of it shifting.

The sea front at Galle Fort

Our final day in Sri Lanka arrived far too quickly. We bid farewell to Ewan and headed to Colombo with with a brief stop for lunch in the picturesque Galle Fort.

We then head to Colombo, a surprisingly ordered and developed city for a great meal at the Ministry of Crab.  I was able to eat one of my all time favourite foods from my time in Malaysia, chilli crab A late night flight and our Sri Lankan long weekend was over.