Surfing in Sri Lanka

As I get older I like to learn new things.  In Mumbai it was the guitar and, over the last 4 years, I have developed in a a pretty poor guitarist but I enjoying kicking back of an evening and learning to play new songs.  Some are classics and some should only be played on a karaoke machine. Much to Lucy's disgust I have even learnt a Justin Bieber song!

I am not sure what is worse, my guitar playing or surfing.  I am certainly no Jack Johnson!

The beach hut at Horseshoe cove.
Cocktails, fresh coconuts and the ubiquitous stray dogs

In Dubai the new thing has been learning how surf.  Living overseas there is an implicit assumption that, as an Australian, I can surf. When explaining my lack of skills, I need to remind people that although most of the population live near the coast, there are still a few that grow up a long way from the beach with rivers as there only source of water based fun.  

















Our surfing started with Ada wanting to learn and several trips out to the wave pool at Al Ain with me joining her for her lessons.  It then grew to trips to the beach in Dubai when the north-westerly wind created some swell.  Not the best of surfing conditions but beggars cannot be choosers!

How may large Sri Lankan dogs can a very large lizard eat?

Before Christmas,  Ada was in Sydney hanging out with her Aunty Anne and squeezing in some surfing in Manly and I didn't want to fall behind her on the surf learning curve.  With the Christmas craziness fast approaching, Kate and I used a credit with fly Dubai to book a couple of tickets to Sri Lanka. Our good friends, Nicola and Ewan were due to be in Tangalle finishing off their new house so we organised to stay at one of their beach houses.

Eight Ozzy dollars for two fresh lobsters,
the fishermen were happy and so were we

Sri Lanka is only a 3.5 hours from Dubai and the uncivilised arrival time is offset by a friendly and responsible driver so you can sleep for the three hour drive to Tangalle. The flight times mean that you can maximise you surfing time.

The evening spread courtesy of Malkanthi

At Ewan's beach "shacks, we had organised Malkanthi, the cleaner, to cook for the evening meals.  Kate and I both love Sri Lankan food and the meals that she turned out were superb. Pumpkin coconut curries, fresh sambal and fresh local fish lightly curried combined with the local red rice.  We even had one of the strangest looking vegetables I had seen.  On our last night we the two lobsters from the local fishermen.

Bandala giving Kate the full Aman service

The number one tourist attraction in Tangalle is Bandala, a local surfer, who has a surf school. His five star Trip Advisor rating is well justified.  He Picks you up in his custom built Mahindra Maxx which has four "captains" chairs in the back and surf boards on the roof. he drives you to the good local breaks and his quality instruction had Kate standing up on a surf board on the first lesson.

Boards are carried to and from the beach for you, towels are provides and at the end of the session you get to enjoy a chilled and scented face towel and fresh squeezed local juice prepared by Bandala's wife.  These touches are no doubt a result of Bandala's time at the luxury Amanwella Hotel.













The locations that we surfed were excellent but the best was Horseshoe Bay, near the unfortunately named town of Dikwella, where there seemed to be something for everyone. Good surfers could head for the western side of the entry to the bay, intermediates in the centre and kids after a bommie nearer to the beach. We were rewarded with long clean waves in spectacular surroundings.

And I wasn't surfing much better at the end of the trip