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Ceylon

Sri Lanka, or Ceylon as she was named prior to her independence in 1972, has a storied history.

The island experienced European colonization by the Portuguese, Dutch, and British starting in 1505. Following independence in 1948, the country faced a 26-year conflict between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) severely affected the country until the war’s brutal end in 2009.

Prior to this Colonial era, the Island was a mix of influences from the south Indian Tamils and a Buddhist faith based community.

Since the end of the civil war, the country has focused on reconstruction, tourism, and navigating, some might suggest haphazardly, economic crises, including the 2022 protest movement.

Today, Sri Lanka, with a population of approx 22 million people is predominantly Buddhist (70%) with Hinduism a distant second (13%). English, delightfully for this linguistically challenged author, is a recognised language and is widely spoken, though you do need to concentrate when listening, and remove slang when speaking!

Despite the challenges the country is facing, particularly economically, the people are, for the most part, delightful. As friendly as any people i’ve met, perhaps more so!

Galle Yacht Marina

Galle is a city on the southwest coast of Sri Lanka. It’s better known for Galle Fort, the fortified old city founded by Portuguese colonists in the 16th century. Stone sea walls, expanded by the Dutch, encircle car-free streets with architecture reflecting Portuguese, Dutch and British rule. Notable buildings include the 18th-century Dutch Reformed Church as well as the old Hospital that now hosts a sports bar and a row of cafes. Galle Lighthouse stands on the fort’s southeast tip, and for this author in particular, the Galle Cricket Ground which occupies a plot of valuable land in between the northern boundary of the fort, and the cities railway station. A neat demarcation between the “bad lands” of Galle proper, and the gentrified Galle Port with its bars, cafes and restaurants all demanding a tourists attention, and the contents of their wallet!

What isn’t particularly notable is the Galle Yacht Marina. The title nearly gets there, but the adoption of the word “Marina” would have a first year business litigation attorney licking their lips at the prospect of a payout for false marketing!

Nestled in amongst an old cement works, a three sided concrete wall enclosure constitutes the marina. Concrete wall and yachts isnt the ideal combination, so in an effort to soften things, a line of old truck tyres along the wall had been incorporated. You could easily recognise yachts that hadn’t positioned their fenders well enough as a black rubber stain along the side of the yacht was now a feature.

This was as much a Marina as a Fiat Punto is not a Mercedes S-Class sedan.

Considerable care, and constant vigilance was required when positioning fenders and lines. Though very little tide, there is a surge that comes and goes and with it tremendous motion. Chaffing of lines and scuffing of your hull is inevitable. Med mooring is available in places, but lines must be constantly attended and swinging and whipping of lines is often dramatic.

Curiously, a rubbish disposal Fee of USD 15.00 is levied against each visiting yacht. The claim being the rubbish collected is separated into glass, metal, etc. A cursory glance at the water and you’d be forgiven for thinking rubbish collection is maybe decades away, let alone recycling! The water was littered with rubbish, it was aweful!

If anyone has some loose change available and an appetite to sink it into a small boutique marina development and would be able to cunningly weave your way through Sri Lankan beaurocracy, this place is screaming your name!

Yet despite all of that negativity what it did have going for it was its terrific location. Immigration and customs sit within the compound, and Galle Fort with its bars, cafes and restaurants is a mere 6 minutes by Tuk Tuk. Alternatively a short walk to the adjacent beach and the bars and restaurants that fringed the shore.

Provisioning options are plentiful and range from western (expensive) supermarkets to local fruit and veg stalls. And beer isnt unreasonable. A box of 24 x 330ml Lion cans will set you back LKR 7,680. Thats about AUD35. We took the opportunity of loading up on beer here, presuming that availability in the Maldives and Red Sea was likely going to be limited.

Galle & Its Cricket Club

Galle Fort is an oasis. Outside the stone walls is the hustle and bustle of Sri Lankan life. Fishmongers setting up stands on the side of the road with offerings for the day. Fruit and Veg stands, the constant buzz of tuk tuk, and the drum of busses beat at your senses with a cacophony of noise and odours. Step inside the stone walls, however, and you are taken to another world. It’s narrow streets are lined with cafes, bars, restaurants, and a few to many souvenir shops. It is quiet, certainly compared to outside. Its delightful. Galle Fort offers the visitor respite from the cultural overload experienced outside its walls.

Digging further into my cultural valise and we found ourselves stood outside the entrance to the Members Pavilion of the Galle Cricket Ground, or Galle International Stadium as its more commonly referred. Parting way with the equivalent of AUD 2.50 and we were soon barside where a cool crisp beer was poured for me, and a freshly squeezed orange juice for the 1st mate!

There was a 4 day game going on when we visited. A run fest. Team A, name long since forgotton, had amazed over 400 runs in their first effort. Team B, in reply, were 3 fa a lot when we decided to pull stumps and leave. Compared to some of the Ashes games just played in Australia where runs were few and matches concluded in 2 days, this pitch at Galle was a road. A batters paradise!

I was reminded on more than one occasion that post tsunami, both Shane Warne and Ian Botham had donated considerable funds to the Cricket Ground to help reinstate it to its former glory. It is also at this oval where Warne took his 500th Test Wicket. A fun little fact there!

Tuk Tuk, Train and Bus

Having safely arrived into Galle, tied up and settled in, we were keen to see how the boat would handle the conditions of the “Marina”. We spent a couple of nights in Galle, out for drinks and dinner nearby with other yachties. Keeping close to the Marina until we were confident the boat would be safe unattended, at least for a few short days.

Kandy sits close to the centre of the Island, up in the hills where tea plantations florish, the temperature is a tad cooler on account of the modest 500m altitude.

Normally accessible by train, via Colombo, but for now that train wasnt running because of a landslide earlier in the year having taken with it a good section of rail line. The alternative was the train to Colombo and then a bus onwards to Candy.

Buses are everywhere in Sri Lanka. The principle form of public transport. You see more buses on the streets than cars. Of these buses, only a very few are designated air conditioning. Im not ashamed to admit it, but there was no way I was getting on a bus for the 3.5hr trip if there wasnt a/c. There were alternatives. Uber was available, and we were offered a driver and a car for a few days, but prices were clearly for the gullible. We figured cultural immersion was the only option for us.

We hailed a tuk tuk and spent the first three minutes of the leg haggling over the rate. We paid 500 for the short hop to the Galle Train Station. That’s AUD 2.30. The second leg of this odyssey was a train to Colombo, about 2.5hrs. 1st Class tickets were purchased 1,100 each for a reserved seat in an air conditioned carriage (AUD 5.10). The train ride travels up the west coast of the island, quite literally along the coast. Its a beautiful little journey, and we were fortunate to have had sea-side seats allocated to us!

Once in Colombo, we sought and found the bus terminal. It was busier than the train station.. We asked where a bus to Kandy would be, and after some friendly assistance we found ourselves standing in a short line for one of the few air conditioned small busses destined for Kandy. We were off. It wasnt the most comfortable bus trip i’d been on, but at Lkr750 per person (Aud 3.50), you got much more than what you paid for!

Sorry to harp on it, but we had outlayed Lkr 2,350 for 6hr journey….incredibly cheap. And we were doing it in Sri Lankas equivalent of 1st Class!

Kandy

For Buddhists, Kandy is a popular pilgrimage destination.

The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic (Sri Dalada Maligawa) is located in Kandy and houses the revered left canine tooth of Gautama Buddha. The relic was brought from India in the 4th century and moved between capitals before settling in Kandy in 1590.

Because of this, Zippy was eager to visit the temple and pay her respects. She even bought a special dress for the occasion. Dutifully, we awoke early and joined the line of worshippers who had gathered at the gates awaiting entrance for 5:30am prayers! Unfortunately, I was refused entry. We discovered just prior going through security that shorts weren’t allowed, and i hadn’t brought anything other than shorts with me. Zippy entered while i scoured the surrounds for something I might be able to wear to cover up my legs. In the end I found nothing and so agreed to meet Zippy when she had finished her prayers.

The rest of the day was filled with a visit to a Buddha Statue up on a hill overlooking the city of Kandy and then we negotiated with yet another Tuk Tuk driver to cart us further up the hills to the Tea Museum. The haggling for tuk tuk prices had begun to wear thin.

A run in with Brian May

For our last night in Kandy, and a continuation of our cultural immersion tour, we discovered there was a cultural dance performance only a short walk from our hotel.

Having rested a little after a busy day sightseeing around Kandy, we gathered ourselves and left the hotel for the 7 minute walk to the Kandy Cultural Centre that was playing host to this evenings performance.

Queen, the rock band, were one of my, if not THE favourite bands from my youth. I’d never seen them play live, but I had been to the “We Will Rock You” stage show in London, where the bands lead guitarist, with his oversized head of long curly hair, made a cameo appearance that brought the house down. It was a wild crowd reaction. Fast forward, and joining us in Kandy for this evenings show, was in fact Brian May. Well, I’m confident it was Brian May, I mean it was the same bouffant. And for my sins, Mr May and his quite extraudinary head of hair was sat directly in front of me!

I was reliably informed the cultural dance performance was very good. Sadly, I saw very little of it, no thanks to Mr May!

Ready to make for sea

Having successfully made our way back to Galle, we determined it was time to make preparations to leave Sri Lanka. The boat had stood the Galle Marina test in our absence, but the longer we stayed there the more fenders and lines we’d need to replace. And in any case, we felt we’ done just about enough. One regret perhaps was us not having made it to Ella this time. Some of the other yachties made the trip and spoke glowingly of it. Perhaps another time?

Meantime, back in Galle, it was time to think about replenishing diesel fuel and other such provisioning. Our agents looked after filly jerry cans with fuel, while Zippy and I took tuk tuks around town looking for fresh fruit and veg markets, which were plentifully.

We even took in a spot of fishing, which just reaffirmed for me that my grip on the title of world’s worst fisherman was satisfactorily secure!

We enjoyed a last nights dinner and drinks with a large group of other yachties, many of whom were also leaving the following morning, We had been keeping an eye on weather forecasts, and it was a developing into a case of “go now, or wait another week” for a weather window. We, along with three other boats, elected to go now.

Sri Lanka had been a fascinating stop over. The people are outrageously friendly, the country, certainly the parts we saw both from land and from sea, was stunningly diverse and scenically beautiful. I’m not sure I’ll be hurrying back to the Marina, but the country easily deserves another visit!

But, for now, it was time to bid farewell to Sri Lanka, and Galle. We had places to go. Next stop, Uligan, Maldives.