Whale-drenaline kick! Whalewatching in Sri Lanka.

Mirissa-with a hint of tropical paradise at  the fishingvillage.

The fishingportarea, where the whaling trip started and ended.Mirissa itself ws an ok place to spend an afternoon. The villagecenttre is strung along the mainroad. here you find touroperators, eatingplaces Internet and other services. The village itself is tranquil and in parts photogenic. Taking a stroll is a good idea.

Fishingvessel passing by. Often they provide the whalewatchers with observations.

Mirissa on the southern coast of Sri Lanka, ca 180 kilometers from Colombo is THE place to go whale watching part of the year, especially during the migration season of the big, big whales. Including the blue whales. The seasons run from November-April, and July to September. But parts of the year can boast rough sea with comfort issues and a heavily reduced chance of seeing anything. December to March is considered to be the best season. Often trips starts early, but this departure was closer to 9 am.

I went in the very beginning of the season. The sea wasn't flat-but it wasn't bad either. There had been some good sightings recently, so it was good hope. The price was still low-i got my trip for 6000 rupees. Ive seen people talking about paying a 3 digit number of dollars for a whale safari. You don't have to pay that sort of money. And you don't have to make far ahead reservations either. Arranging it in Mirissa the day before should normally be ok.

The fishing fleet gets infiltrated by dolphins.

It took quite a while before we saw anything at all. But further out we saw a gathering of fishing vessels. Fishing boats means fish. Fish means the possibility of bigger game. Especially dolphins. Many of the big whales eat other things. Bingo. As we closed in, we saw a big area where the surface seemed to boil. So did my blood when i realized what was ahead. Hundreds of dolphins. They were surfacing and diving, and resurfacing. They swam in formations and sometimes did small leaps. It was a high speed exercise and one that truly gave me a kick. We came close, and they were so numerous.

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A high speed, high energy type of wildlifewatching.

We were eager for some big stuff. We had seen no trace of any, but the boats have radio contact and cooperate a bit. We got a tip, and set of as fast as the boat could go towards a given position. As we approached, we learned it had left. But there was a second one not far away. This time we got a visual on it-we heard the whale blow, and we saw the blowhole mist drifting away above it. Now it was several minutes of tense waiting and eager scanning of the surface. Nobody can tell where it will come up. But up it came, still quite a bit away, but considerably closer. From now on the encounter went my way. Next surfacing was less than hundred meters away, and i got a good look at it coming up , blowing and going down. The thing with whale watching is it is often a matter of only seconds before the whale is gone. Taking pictures-especially relatively good pictures really is a challenge. But during the last surfacing we got to see before leaving, was almost perfect. And i was even placed on the right side of the boat to capture it all. The whale came up very close to the boat, it felt like just beside because of the size of that thing. It delivered a big blow, swam a short bit on the surface, before diving again.

A whale blow, quite a bit away-but promising. The photo is taken trough a 300 mm lens.

Just surfaced! According to the guide, this is a finwhale-one of the very biggest of them all. It is dwarfed by the bluewhale, though-which also can be seen in this area. 

One of the greatest wow moments. The big whale a splitsecond before surfacing. I could almost not believe it. My body was shaking in excitement. But: this was very close. Too close actually.      

And blowing. Even with a hint of rainbow in the moist. That was fantastic.

    

About to dive again. The last we saw of this magnificent creature.

Lucky Fluke passes by.