Sri Lanka - Galle Harbour & The Northern Hill Country

NANOU had a slow sail to Sri Lanka from Phuket.  The 1300 nautical miles or so (about 2340 Km)  was covered in about 10 days.

I won't bore you with a list of sailing manouvers, long days of hot and sweaty boredom - nor with the occasional sudden moments of frenetic action and near panic... 

raising sri lanka flag web.jpg (10052 bytes)  New crew Rob and Cliff raise the Sri Lankan flag

The night before our arrival, in the bright moon light, we hit a school of tuna:  This lead to much blood shed and tears (the tears were shed by the crew who were dragged out of bed at 1am to gut fish, the blood was shed mostly by the tuna but also by the crew as they kept missing with the fileting knife...)

 

sri lanka officials web.jpg (11926 bytes)    On arrival we were boarded by this clan - they brought reams of paper work

 

 agent trick background - web.jpg (13369 bytes) Our ship entry agent: made a fortune - IF he resold the paper that was generated...

Immigration official -web.jpg (11053 bytes)    Big trouble - more reams of paperwork - I  was discovered to hold two passports - a crime!

 

However Clearance was finally obtained to enter Sri Lanka.   Next to the local "service provicers": Guides and Tuc Tuc drivers:

 

tuc tuc drivers web.jpg (17318 bytes)     Tuc Tuc  Drivers - will drive you anywhere for US $1.25 or US $125 - if you don't negotiate.

 Tour guide 1.jpg (11402 bytes)    ----photoshop---->  Tour Guide - web.jpg (12025 bytes)  

Goring - our "tour guide" - will drive you everywhere repeatedly until you pay him to stop. He is still trying to explain the picture to his wife...

cows trick web.jpg (7028 bytes) In Galle, who milks the wandering Sacred Cows?

 

Leaving NANOU in Galle to fend for itself, our unlikely bunch of travellars headed to the hills - as far from the sea as we could think of...   The Sri Lankan Hill country is a lush area of rolling hills and its people are friendly, curous and hospitable.  On exploring on my own, I inevitably found myself eating lunch with a group of Sri Lankans who insisted I join them on their picnic. 

Images of Kandy, Hill Country - 5 hours by Train to the North.

Kandy woman - web.jpg (12180 bytes)   A mother watching as her child jumps from the high swing.

 

Kandy Kids.jpg (8504 bytes)  Kids and their pony

 

Back in Galle - We Prepare to Depart

repairs in sri lanka web.jpg (15549 bytes) Minor Repairs

down the bilge - web.jpg (12807 bytes)  Minor Bilge Painting

Nanou with the ships web.jpg (14059 bytes) At the "fuel dock" with the big ships

 

"Protected in Galle Harbour"

For "our protection" and that of the military ships docked in Galle harbour, the Sri Lankan Navy came up with a brainwave.  The harbour was physically locked off via a giant chain strung across its mouth and, starting at 8am after the evening prayer, Navy officials started dropping depth charges at random times and spots within the harvour waters.  Ever been inside a steel vessel and had a bomb go off near you?  It is LOUD! And it gets you by surprise every time - even after the 30th time in one night.  Appartently this is a patented method to discourage scuba diving terrorist attacks by the Tamil Tigers - the "terrorists" which are fighting a war of independence against the established Singalese government.    The method worked.  We were bombed every night so the Tigers didn't have to bother wasting their own ammo.

 

 

 
Click Here!