Nilaveli Night and Day

We check into the guest house in Nilaveli just as the sun is setting.

As we walk to our room we pass by a group of six swedes and my swedish SO jumps at the chance to talk to them, even standing there with her bag on her back for ten minutes into the conversation. They tell us the food at the guesthouse is so so and they are on there way to another hotel for dinner. They go on their way and we drop our bags in our room. We start chatting with three Dutch girls who are in Sri Lanka on a physiotherapist internship for five months. We all sit outside and talk about each other's experiences in Sri Lanka as bats glide just feet above our head. Then the dutch girls go for dinner and we are invited to sit with another group that are sitting drinking and smoking. 

There are two English guys who are on a long vacation all across asia that we figure we will eventually meet, maybe in Thailand, and two Israeli's, a Austrian girl, and a french guy who is well drunk and has to catch an overnight bus to Colombo within the hour. The English guys are harassing the french guy about having to go catch the bus and I talk to the Israelis about one of them opening a guesthouse in Aragum Bay, a surf town south of where we are. He seems like a nice guy with good intentions. I get his info about his guesthouse and tell him we might stay at his place when we are there next weekend. It's a good group and the dutch girls join us after there dinner and the while group just sits and chats about anything that comes up. The french guy is in Sri Lanka only for a visa run from India since he is working there. He takes a last drink an smoke and his tuk tuk pulls up to take him to his overnight bus. We all say goodbye and the drunk english guys give him big hugs. 

The night rolls on and we enjoy just relaxing and chatting with the group. Eventually it all dies down and we turn in for the night. I bought too many cookies off a baker's truck earlier and I bring them out the rest. I have a feeling they might have the munchies later. We wake up for breakfast and make plans to go to Pigeon Island and do some snorkeling for the day. A Dutch guy who is traveling with his father has narrowed down the price for the boat to take is over and so we finish breakfast and head down to the beach with him and make some negotiations with the boat crew for the trip and some flippers to go with our snorkel sets. After a bit of haggling we all help push the boat out and we jump in the boat for the fifteen minute ride out to the island. It's a beautiful place. We pull up on one side of the island and the boat driver says he will be back at the arranged time just a few hour from then. And he sets off back towards the mainland. 

We show our park entrance receipt to the guards on the island and get our gear on for some snorkeling. The corals are awesome. Tons of different fish and giant clams. We are told we might see reef sharks and maybe turtles but neither show up. The water is a great temperature and it is ok to stay in for hours without getting cold. The water gets choppy on one side after a few hours so we go to the side which we originally pulled up on. You can snorkel just a half a meter above the corals looking at eels and little schools of fish going about there little lives. It is a great way to spend the day. Having explored all the corals we all go back on shore and dry out in the sun as we wait for the boat driver to hopefully show back up. As he should he shows right on time. So we all climb in and get misted by the sea water as we ride back to shore. 

The beach is roasting when we get back and knowing that we have charred our backs while snorkeling we go back to the guesthouse for a rest. She showers then reads and checks the internet and after I shower I walk up the road to the main road to see what I can find to eat. On my way I make some friends with the locals and snap a photo of a guy drying his fish he caught that morning. I return with water and crackers and she is not impressed. We make plans to go to a nice beach resort up the beach for dinner in the evening. The food was good but not exactly mind blowing then we head back to our place.