As an island, Sri Lanka is surrounded by the warm waters of the Indian Ocean, and what does every island have in abundance? The beach of course. Sri Lanka is no exception. The golden sandy beach stretches all around the island, making it a paradise for people who like nothing better than the sun, sand and the cool waters.
The more famous of the beach areas are in the western and southern coast of Sri Lanka. Stretching from from Negombo in the western coast and Tangalle in the sourthern coast, it offers many places catering to tourists. Resort towns have built up around these beaches. Negombo, Hokkaduwa, Unawatuna are some of these resort towns. For the more adventurous, the resort towns like Nilaweli in the Eastern coast offers an unique experience.
The best sites
South: - Beruwala, Benthota, Ambalangoda, Hikkaduwa, Ginthota, Galle, Unawatuna, weligama, Kudawella, Mahawella, Dickwella, Tangall and famed Great and Little Basses (best in March or April)
South East: - Arippu, Silavatural, Kandakuliya
North: - Bar Reef
West: - Negombo
East: - Kalmunai,Kattankudy, Batticaloa, Tirrukovil, Punnakudah, Kalkudah, Passekudah, Vakkarai, and Nilaveli.
Many hotels offer seasonal sea bathing off their sea/river fronts and for those who prefer there is always the fresh or salt-water swimming pool (not to mention the Jacuzzi!).
Water sports are available through in-house operators or by arrangement with clubs and schools run by qualified foreign and local professionals.
The most developed resorts are down the southern and western coasts. There are also colonial period inns and comfortable, inexpensive hotels for those with a smaller. Professional hotelier standards are high, Sri Lanka’s National Tourism Authority controls the quality of the service and the countries traditional hospitality adds an extra cachet to the package.
Most hotels offer a wide variety of choices in indoor and outdoor games, including tennis, squash, mini-golf, beach volleyball, badminton, archery, billiards, table tennis, draughts, chess and carom.
Health clubs with sauna, massage, herbal therapy and the usual beauty and hair salons, shopping arcades and travel services are very much a part of the resort ambiance.
Good shopping can usually be had in close proximity to the resorts, where a fairly well developed infrastructure of handicrafts, souvenir shops, restaurants and other tourist-oriented services are to be found.
Sri Lanka is endowed with an abundance of underwater attractions, which surround her coast. The tropical location of 50 to 90 north of the equator in the Indian Ocean provides it with perennially warm water, which remains at an inviting 27oC 80.6 o F. The monsoons ensure that one half of the island’s coastal waters are always in season for all aquatic pursuits – the west coast from December through March and the North and the East coasts from March to September; July and August are best avoided due to rough seas. Underwater visibility in season is good and ranges from 15.24m (50ft) to 30.48m (100 ft).
All hotels have their own entertainment and recreation programs which include: fishing trips, picnics, excursions to fishing villages, gem pits, toddy tapping during the day and by moonlight, theme nights, ethnic evenings, cultural shows, fashion shows, barbecues. The resorts are always coming up with new and more exciting ideas with which to entertain their guests.
Apart from the treasures of coral, fish and whales, the reef and seabeds offshore from Sri Lanka offer another exciting attractions to skilled divers, underwater archeologists and photographers.
Submerged wrecks abound in coastal waters, a legacy of more than twenty centuries of maritime trade and sea faring. Among the best known are Conch, the worlds first oil tanker which ran aground in 1903, and the first aircraft carrier H.M.S Hermes, sunk by the Japanese off Batticaloa in 1942 which was filmed for the movie ‘Blue water, White death’.
One of the most exciting underwater finds was a 20-gun man-of-war, carrying several hundred kilograms of 1703 silver coins in mint condition, off the southern tip of Sri Lanka. A 15 kilogram mass, containing exactly one thousand of these coins, still in the shape of the original bag is now on display in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C.
Other notable sites include the Malabar off the southern coast.
Air tanks, re-fills and other underwater equipment can be rented in Colombo and at the leading south and West Coast beach resorts. Glass keel and other boats are also available for hire. Wet suits are not required in the warm waters off Sri Lanka during day time diving; long sleeved tops and close fitting long cotton pants are useful. Many varieties of film and photographic material and accessories are available locally, but for specialized work it is best to bring ones own equipment.
Good dive tour packages and under-water safaris and expeditions are offered by specialist agencies and by travel agents that engage professional diving guides and instructors. |
