13th March – Pelagic

We were up early where we were greeted with the news that the boat that Saman normally used was not available. To cut a long story short, Blue Whales are not quite as numerous as they once were, we had a good time seeing Pilot Whales and Spinner Dolphins and a large Manta Ray just under the surface. Before long, we started to return to shore, one got the impression that the Captain wasn’t overly bothered, that may be a little unfair, but it was my opinion.

I was disappointed as this is what I had sold the holiday to Andy and Gemma on – Blue Whale.

We had the option of visiting a Turtle hatchery in the afternoon, which if I am honest, I wasn’t that bothered about, I could not have been more wrong.

The people running it were extremely dedicated and they had a number of tanks with several species that were all injured in them. Accidents with fishing nets and boats were the main cause of these majestic creatures loosing limbs, but they, in conjunction with a local vet, create artificial limbs for them and release them back into the sea.

Also locals bring them the eggs of turtles that get disturbed on the beaches (which are crowded) and the rescue centre hatch these and release them into the wild. I was that impressed that I parted with a £10 note into the donations box (mistake). Andy put his donation in as well. We later found out for 1,500 rupees we could release one of these turtles into the sea. Unfortunately, we only had 3,000 rupees so Gemma released a turtle, I wish Andy, Joy and I had the opportunity but our generosity worked against us for once.

The view from the hotel room

At the Turtle hatchery