Saturday, July 13, 2013

Mirissa to Galle to Colombo


After the safari we headed to the Beach. Mirissa was the perfect place to get away from it all. And if the snorkeling was better this time of year I might have pushed to stay there a lot longer.

View from our hotel window

Mirissa beach head

View from one side of the beach to the other


Then we went on to Galle. This is an old Dutch fort. We had lunch at a crepe cafe. It was amazing. On the Left is Rita, Krista's mom. On the Right is Kyle, Krista's sister. It was awesome having them around for the week they were with us!

Delicious dessert crepes

Cute little fort town of Galle

Some cool looking building

We walked the wall at night after supper and saw this cool old building again

Lighthouse!

View from fort walls during the day


Galle beach 

We went to Colombo and ate at the famous Galle Face Green hotel. The food was good and the sunset was even better

Galle Green of the people

More gratuitous sunset photos



Onto Yala

Yala is the place to see Jaguars. Spoiler alert: We didn't see one even though its the highest concentration of Jaguars in the entire world. Oh well. It was still a good time.

A lagoon full of birds!

Our driver was the best. He wanted to see a leopard so bad and was awesome at spotting other animals. He  took off at the beginning of the day saying "its a race!" and passed other jeeps so we could get into the park faster.

Krista and our traditional sri lanka safari jeep. We took the standard jeep with the bench seats as opposed to the ones that are cushy and forward facing. If its good enough for Nat Geo, its good enough for us.

Buffalo

Lagoon

Jackals on the path

The closest we got to a leopard. Fresh tracks

A point in the park where there is a monument to the tsunami

More pretty birds!

 
Crocodile!

Us on the observation deck at our hotel. 

Chilling at the pool after a morning safariing.





Bye Bye Tangalle

On our last day of placement we said goodbye to Tangalle and Navajeevana. It was our home away from home for 5 weeks and we are going to miss it!

Celebratory King Coconut and Rum on the patio for our last night

One last sunset

Gratuitous palm tree and sunset photo

On our last night we went to Rekawa beach. It was amazing. We got to see a green turtle come up to the beach lay her eggs and return back to the sea. It was amazing! We only got to shoot photos in red light with no flash. Pardon the picts in this light. If we used too much light it would confuse the turtle.

Turtle returning to the sea


Good bye lagoon cormorant. We will miss our lagoon birds.

Good bye street dog

Good bye Colombo physio students

Good bye Sri Lanka parents Ruwan and Sujeeva

Physio students trying to balance on the balls. Not as good as the Canadian physio students



Maldives

As previously explained, we had to leave the country to get our visas renewed. It was just easier this way. Although more expensive.

Since I am behind in my blogging I am just going to flood you with photos and captions.

On the ferry from the airport to the main island/capital city of Male

View from the ferry

Krista being a babe on beach of hulahulemale. Its the artificial islnd where our hotel is. Since the Maldives are 99% water and the highest point is 2.4 meters above sea level they decided to build an artificial island to house the people who will be displaced as sea levels rise

view out towards the ocean. Postcard.


The other side of paradise

This was the common sight on the island. Brand new hotel or apartment or government building next to a construction site.

The Maldives are Muslim 100%. And conservative.

Skim boarding is alive and well here with the locals.

Hanging out on the beach and watching the sun go down

Port side of Hulahulemale

Getting ready for our dive

View of the bluest of blue tropical waters from our dive boat

View approaching the harbour of Hulahulemale

Exciting buildings in the capital

Male the capital at night

The best thing about Muslim countries for me is the delicious Tandoori!
 
Leaving Male behind by day

Can you see the baby shark?

Leaving on the tarmac

Bye Bye Maldives