Girls guide to surfing sri lanka

In January 2008 my usual surf trip with mates was altered after a failure to agree on dates through work and money commitments. I knew I had to take my holiday in January and as it was starting to look like no-one else was going to be available then. I only had myself to please! I could have gone to Fuerte or Morocco but I had already traveled both and fancied somewhere a bit more challenging. I am not the best surfer and get under confident when I go out on my own so didn’t want to be stuck somewhere that I was scared to paddle out and I also wanted somewhere with a bit of local interest, just in case the waves were flat. So one night after clocking up a load of overtime at work I bought a ticket to Sri Lanka.

The flights were expensive at £600 but the service was great and boards go free. You can also be reassured that once in Sri Lanka you could happily live there for two weeks on £200. Columbo is a crazy town but I didn’t stay long as I decided to get a taxi from the airport to Hikkaduwa, 4 hour drive (only 120km but bad roads) and £20/40 dollars

There is still a lot of destruction from the Tsunami and statues and temples for Buddha all over. The funniest thing is they drive like maniacs and yet stop every 40km to give offerings to Buddha to keep them safe on the roads! It’s a poor country and there is a crazy mix of people, some who would do anything for you and a lot of people who are trying everything to rip you off. I didn’t like the cities or towns, because I got stared at and propositioned by men, or hassled for cash all the time. Its hard to learn to ignore everyone especially when I was so interested in the people but you have to.

I covered up and wore engagement ring but it made little difference- one day I had a 12 year old follow me with his two mates along the beach asking me for sex, he actually got his cock out to show off his wares. I was quite frightened at the time, but this made me so angry I screamed a load of abuse at them. Luckily they ran off. I found out later that they get money from tourists for sex. Yeuk. Earlier that same day a tuk tuk driver had offered me a lift but when I said I wanted to walk and anyway I had no money he actually offered me money for sex! I wasn’t having a good day! Nothing feels really dangerous but it left me feeling a bit 'dirty'. As a white woman you are seen as a sex object no matter what you do, say or behave.

However Sri Lanka is amazing for other reasons...

Food. I LOVE chili and fish/seafood and pineapple. All in plentiful supply and very cheap (although one place I stayed at tried to rip me off by asking if I wanted lobster- he had bought two tiny ones that morning- but wanted $20 for one! More than I would pay for in the UK! I think he was trying his luck but it pissed me off) You could buy lunch packets for about one dollar which was a curry in a cardboard box basically and was GORGEOUS!! The places you bought them from looked grubby but I never got any stomach upsets. The food was all so fresh. The locals warned me they were very hot but they were not too bad at all. In fact I had to ask at a few restaurants to add chili as they tend to make food much less spicy for white people. There was a juice shop at the place I ended up spending most of my time (Welligama bay fishing village) and even the most expensive juice was about a dollar. They had pages and pages of different juice (including peanut and date juice- I gave them a miss!) My breakfasts were sri lankan ginger tea, fresh fruit, toast and poached eggs, very tasty!

And of course the Surf. Hikkaduwa was busy- the surf was small the week I arrived so only the reefs were working. The first day surfing I paddled out and got a few waves (short and fast) first thing but by 10am there were about 40 people sat on a tiny take off zone. It was all a bit too stressful for me. The fish were great there- huge blue and yellow things weaving around the reef but not enough to keep me there. I took a tuk tuk south and made him stop at all the breaks I had read about and finally surfed at welligama. It was listed as a longboard and beginnners wave but it was actually really consistent and worked well up to about head high waves. It was surrounded by other reef breaks and point breaks and I found a lovely beach front hotel for 14 dollars a night bed and breakfast so I decided to move there after a couple of days at the busier and more expensive Hikkaduwa. I planned to move on the another bay, Marissa but I ended up having so many lovely days surfing and meeting so many nice people there that I stayed there for the rest of the holiday. As usual in hot climates the surf was better at dawn and in the evening because of the onshore winds that built in the day. It was so warm that some days at lunchtime I would have to just sit still to cool off in the water. I surfed in a bikini one day but got a rash from the wax so most days I stuck to shorts and rash vest and my sun hat that I stitched a neck strap onto just to stop me getting headaches/sunstroke! I surfed a wave called lazy left (big point break but as the name suggests...very slow! Even I was doing turns and little cutbacks and it ran for ages. Unfortunately as the name also suggests it was a left. I desperately wanted some good long rights but marissa was the best and it was quite a shallow reef full of sea urchins and locals- I got too nervous to surf there by myself! Most days I surfed 7am til 9, then 11 until lunchtime then 4 until 6.30 (dark...) Heaven. Local surfers were really friendly and were less likely to be just hassling for sex/money than boys on land. And the other surfers I met from all over- Australia, New Zealand, Cornwall, Wales, Italy, France, Germany, UK, Japan- were all really nice. I saw turtles on my first and last days surfing and one day at lazy left there was a crocodile in the water.

Wildlife was amazing, I visited a snake farm where they made antidotes from the venom which was fascinating, I went to the Pinnawala elephant orphanage which although it was nice to see elephants up close, I hated because it was 'touristy' and hassly and over priced. I wanted to go on safari but the parks nearest were closed because of the Tamil bombings. You didn’t hear much about the Tamils except that everyone said it was unusually quite with not many tourists. I saw a huge 4ft lizard, the 'water monitor' crossing the road, geckos were everywhere (one lovely, kind, but poor coconut seller offered me a  shower in her house after a surf- I accepted but was a bit cautious in her dark bathroom that was COVERED with huge spiders and lizards and a tiny cold tap with a rotting plastic shower hose. It was only my 2nd day and I wasn’t used to sharing my space with so many other creatures! Later on I welcomed them as it meant no mosquitoes!) The birds were beautiful and in the jungles the noise was amazing- but I never spotted any in the jungle except a kingfisher!

And its all so beautiful. People smile lots and its so warm, the sea is clear blue and the trees and plants are so colourful 

I would definitely go again but probably take mates or my boyfriend, so as to (selfishly) get a little less attention and hassel. I didnt travel on trains or buses (which I desperately wanted to, especially as they are so cheap) as I knew I would get hassel and I would have no real escape

If you get the chance I would recommend it!