Highlights of Mirissa, Sri Lanka

Our last beach stop in Sri Lanka was Mirissa. We had decided to go back to Mirissa after Tangalle as it was easier and nearer to go back to Colombo from Mirissa. Our rented hut in a garden was basic but had everything we needed. Here are some of the highlights from Mirissa.

• Whale watching: Mirissa is considered one of the best places in the world for whale watching. Keeping that in mind, we found a tour company on the first day at the main beach. Our trip started at 6 the next morning. We sat on the upper deck of the boat with few European tourists. At the beginning, the ocean was calm but as we embarked deeper into the Indian Ocean, it became impossible to stand without any support. There must have been 10 other whale watching boats on the ocean.  Blue whales live deep in the ocean and come out every 20 minutes or so to take air through their blowholes as they are mammals. They create a fountain like water spray while they exhale and it looks beautiful. After few minutes of taking in air, they dive deep into the ocean during which the tail is visible. We spotted around 3 or 4 blue whales. At the end, the boat guys even overstayed on the ocean for us in hopes of seeing blue whales from up close. And we indeed did. It was exhilarating to see a majestic, gigantic creature swim and dive from up close. Only the whale wasn’t blue in color. For me, those few minutes of seeing the whale swim, inhale, exhale and dive from close made the whole 3-4 hours trip worth it.

  

  Mirissa harbor

  

  Delicious grilled prawns lunch

• Secret beach in Mirissa: I was determined to find the perfect beach in Mirissa and had done some research beforehand. I came across a blog which mentioned about the beautiful secret beach and I got the location after private messaging the blogger. I downloaded the email on my phone and we followed each and every direction carefully. It was fun as it felt like playing a game. The funniest part however was when we saw a direction sign to “The Secret beach” when we were getting close. Turns out that the beach is actually called ‘Secret Beach’ and isn’t as much of a secret as I had thought. After walking up the hill for some 15 minutes and going downhill, there was a tiny beach with knee deep clear water and a restaurant playing loud music. Right next to it (but not visible at first from the tiny beach), was a bigger, emptier, more pristine beach with crystal clear waters. It was idyllic. There were no more than 10-15 tourists on the whole area.We spent almost the whole day there, relaxing, swimming, snorkeling, drinking beers and sunbathing.

  

  The secret beach

• Fruits, lots of fresh fruits: We found a great fruit shop in Mirissa where the owners seemed to be always high. They would give a bite of whatever fruit for taste to every person that walked in 🙂 I enjoyed ample juicy pineapples (my favorite fruit), watermelons, cocoa, mangoes, sugarcane(very exotic for my boyfriend), wood apple and other exotic fruits. I ate so much pineapple that my teeth was sensitive for the next few days.

  

  The fruit shop

• Mirissa main beach: The main beach in Mirissa was quite beautiful. The waves were quite strong on the main beach, but as we walked all the way along the long beach and turned  left, there was a small beach with calmer water. We swam everyday on that beach. But we also played on the high waves, got pushed and rolled over with its current at the main beach. My favorite part was the little hill on the ocean from where we could get spectacular views. Right next to it was a small rock pool which was great for snorkeling. I had never seen that many colorful fish before while snorkeling. It was amazing and we spent our last morning in Mirissa in Sri Lanka snorkeling for hours.

  

  View from the hill

  

  On the last morning in Mirissa

  It was emotionally hard for me to leave Mirissa for Colombo. I touched the warm ocean for one last time before going back to the hut, packing and taking an express bus to Colombo. We had one more day in Colombo for sightseeing before we returned to Poland, but Sri Lanka to me was all about the beautiful tropical beaches and the laid-back atmosphere. That relaxing feeling you get when the feet touch the warm ocean water is so etched in my mind.

Advertisement