Heading off to Sri Lanka’s south coast in November. Trying to stay out of the crowds. Any Recommendations?
Cheers Joe
Long trip ahead. Check out wannasurf.com for an article on Sri Lanka. They mention quite a few spots. My friend moved to Thailand and has been there but he doesn’t frequent this board.
Last time I heard of anyone going to Sri Lanka was about 6 years ago and this guy owned a house there. He said there were only about 60 surfers in the whole place. Had to watch out for the agro locals though…the Tamali Tigers who “patrolled” the beach and took random pot shots at surfers. I guess plinking surfers was funtime for them.
You may want to check with the US State Department for travel advisories.
Take a Friggin’ Berretta 9MM with you and keep a sharp look out. Contact “Surfers Path” magazine they know what’s going on in that locale. I have heard recently that it has mellowed a bit the past year. Hope it is for you. The former Ceylon has alot of great spots, few surfers, seasnakes and friggin’ a$$hole terriosts. Good luck! McDing
Thanks fella’s
I’ve just got me a snorkel and mask to keep my head down if there is trouble!!
Can’t be as bad as Papa New Guniea or El Salvador!!
Here’s where we will be staying and the view from the rooms
http://www.geocities.com/anhangamaeasybeach/index.html
This is highly recommended by the surfers of dubai website. All I’ve got to down is finish the boards for the trip.
Even thinking about getting a surf mat but God knows where over here in the UK.
Thanks for the advice and i’ll post some picture when I get back
Cheers joe
ps. photos are from www.surfersofdubai.com good site
@McDing Please Stop this racism and stop to propagandize taking arms with you. That is (IMHO) not wanted in this forum.
South West Sri Lanka: Some stuff wirtten at " The World Stormrider Guide VOl. 1)
Weather: It´s a typical tropical monsoon climate with 2 definie seasons. Maha means NE monsoon (Nov-Mar) and this is the driest and sunniest periode for the SW. The transition periods have very hot temperatures but relief can be found in the mountains. The rainy monsoon lasts from April to Oct and the “Yala” winds blow strong SW, onshore, bringing lots of rain. This rainy period lasts until Nov, which is the coolest, most pleasant time to travel. Most of the year the water temperature remains a perfect 27°C (81°F), so you can ride rubberless.
Nature and Culture: Th island where Jonah was spat out of the whale and Adam and Eve walked in paradise has much more to offer than average surf or snorkelling an the coral reefs. Visit colonial Gallé, climb Adam´s Peak for the spectacular sunrise and see the Buddhist tempels in Kandy. Wildlife (elephants and monkeys) is plentiful. Hikkaduwa has surprisingly good nightlife.
Hazards and Hassles: There have been some serious cases of violent localism towards visiting waveriders from the local Hikkaduwa surfers. Bring a good attitude, be mellow in the line-up and instead of aggression, you´ll be treated well. Sewage pollution ad coral cuts mix badly. As big tourist resort, many local people make their money by scamming gullible tourists.
Handy Hints: The A-Frame surf shop is the base for Mambo Surf Tours, who can arrange trips to waves in other areas of the country. Boards can be rented for $1/h. A gun is not needed. This area is trouble-free regarding the civil war. Learn a few words of Sinhala and you´ll be greeted with smiles.
hope that helps cheers cle
used to have a guy working for me first went there in the 70s , went back a few times , he just raved about the place , some of the comments that seemed to come out often was that the people had a beautiful nature , he said it was a worthwhile collection of experiences …he said the waves werent as good as indo for power and size , but the lack of crowds made up for it …
he was telling me the first time he went , crowds of people would come out and just stare as he went by with his surfboard , he said he felt like a real novelty …
im sure tourists are more common these days …
regards
BERT
Surgingdud -------------Get a life “Dude” and while you are at see if you can buy a sense of humor, dumb -butt. There was no racist comment in anything I said. If there is a racist in this crowd A$$- Burp, You are it! I will not retract any comment made about that distant Island in the Indian Ocean. I’m sure the average surfer-citizens down there are fantastic, normal aloha types if you leave your holier-than-thou attitudes behind. You seem to fit into that class of worldly citizen. Know-it-all smart a$$E$ usually screw places like Sri-Lanka up for everyone else. My Post was a humurous but stern warning, meant to advise anyone traveling to that destination to seriously watch their back. Bad-A$$ terrorists are what they are because they choose to be. Race hasn’t got anything to do with it. Unsuspecting surfers stumble into the middle of s#!t as easily as truckdrivers do in Iraq. I suppose if I said there were some Bad-A$$ outfielders playing for the San Francisco Giants, that would be racist as well. By the way, have you tried latly to get on an airline with a Berretta in your luggage. You’ve got to be some dumb-butt Euro with no since of humor. Paradise was between the Tigiris and the Euphrates. Got any more smoke to blow oh wise one? HD McDing
Nice Sri Lanka footie in the new Thomas Campbell film “Sprout” some of which appears in the trailer on his website- www.trimyourlifeaway.com . Dan, Alex and Belen are surfing the sandy points of southern Sri Lanka. Check out the south Asia version of the BBC for recent Sri Lanka news: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/south_asia/ . The peace process is having problems. Things looked good for a while but you know how that goes. From all I can tell banditry,salt water crocs,sea snakes, and wood lice might be bigger problems for the traveling surfer than the Tamil Tigers. My family has dreamed of traveling to Sri Lanka for years- it doesn’t seem like it will happen for us any time soon. In my travels I have found that small gifts are deeply appreciated by the residents you are visiting. Fishing hooks, baseball caps, trunks, rashguards, t-shirts(smaller sizes), ribbon, pencils and notebooks. Have fun- life is so short- way too short to be mean or stingy.
here is a link that explains the political situation in Sri Lanka in a fairly even handed manner: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2405347.stm
Those guys that run that place are from the town I live in. I know a relative of them that stayed there for a month and never had any problems. Wish it was me who was going…
regards,
Håvard