Friday, March 29 – Sunday, March 31
The train to Mirissa was at 9:35am and I was already at my hotel by 11am. This is a much smaller place and if it wasn’t for the conductor on the train, I would definitely missed my stop! The platform is so small, it only runs the length of about 4 train cars, so you have to grab your luggage and hustle to the center of the train before the station so you can jump off quickly! A quick tuk tuk ride from the station and I arrived at the Mirissa Beach Inn.
Galle had some power quirks, as the area of the city I was staying in shut down power for about 3-4 hours a day (usually 9am until noon or 1pm). Mirissa was a whole other level! When I arrive there was no power and their backup generator was not working either. He said he’d get it fixed ASAP, but in the mean time it was so hot and stagnant in my room, I had to get out and head to the beach.
Immediately, you get the vibe that Mirissa is a young, hippie, surfer town. This was the first place in Sri Lanka where I saw other young people and the most Westerners so far. I spent a lot of time at The Shack, which was just across the small beach road from my hotel. They had great food, music, drinks, friendly staff, loads of umbrellas, and a pretty big pack of local doggos who hang out there.
I spent my whole first day here, right through sunset because it was so relaxing! No rush getting back to my hotel until the generator is up and running anyways! Luckily, when I get back the power was back on and I cleaned up for dinner. The most popular restaurant around me in Mirissa was Zephyr, so I decided to go check it out for dinner. They had a friendly staff, beachfront tables, and super good food! I was reading Educated at this time, and could not put the thing down! I had an amazing evening reading my book, sipping white wine, eating a homemade veggie burger on the beach!
Saturday morning I had a 6am tuk tuk pick up to take me to the marina for my whale watching tour! My host family in Galle recommended not missing the whale tour, so I decided to jump on the touristy bandwagon for this. During the first few months of the year, blue whales migrate through this part of the Indian Ocean and your odds of seeing families of whales out in the morning is very good. It took about an hour and a half from the marina to get out out to see our first whale, but after that it was one after another after another. It’s definitely one of those things that pictures can’t do justice compared to the live experience. Blue whales are the largest animals in the world, and when your boat is so close and you watch them gracefully come up for air then raise their tail up to dive deep into the water, it’s magical! I felt very lucky we had such a successful excursion!
The second half of my day, I went back to The Shack. What can I say, if it’s not broke don’t fix it! The waves in Mirissa are huge and body surfing and swimming out in the water is just so much fun! I felt like a kid again splashing around until my heart’s content (really, until I knew my sunscreen had probably washed off and I was likely burning– time to get out!)
My final morning I woke up and went for a walk around the village by my hotel and then down the beach. There is a little island/rock formation that is crawling with people during the day, but around 7:30am I was one of the only people! Around it were all the local fisherman out in their boats, fearlessly close to all the rocks that scatter the coastline.
My easy-breezy days in Mirissa were so relaxing and I was just enchanted by the swimming here. What a fantastic little surfer town!
Where's Lindsey? 