Week 13 ~ Sri Lanka

There I was in the lineup with the perfect wave. Steep drop. Pulled into the barrel. Clipped at the lip. Flipped into the reef. 1 ft of water.

It didn’t exactly go like that, but my battle scars suggest otherwise. Nick and I saw this funny postcard in one of the shops in Arugam Bay. I said I’d come back and buy it once I’ve reached 5+ cuts to my feet. I well surpassed that amount with bonus cuts on my shoulders, hands, and backside. I earned this souvenir, but hey, I’m a beginner surfer now, so it comes with the territory.

As most of you who read this already know, Nick is very expressive with his emotions, especially when he is excited. A funny theme of our travels has been people we’ve met in various countries not being able to get a good read on Nick. We’ve had funny interactions in Ghana, Argentina, Vietnam, Thailand, and even our tour guide at the Taj Mahal paused to see if Nick was upset with the tour.  Nick always explains that he is actually enjoying whatever the activity is, and this is just his baseline. Our scuba photographer in Thailand didn’t believe him, but that’s besides the point. This is a clear example of how opposites attract, because, well, I don’t even have to explain how I am different in this.

If Nick ever breaks into an unexpected jog, there are typically only two possible explanations, discounting the aftermath of adventurous foreign meals or an overcommitment to cheese. The visible, child-like excitement seen on Nick’s face has only been witnessed by a few, as his jog increased to a run towards the main stage, drawn in by festival speakers blasting John Summit. Others have seen this magnetic pool when he’s been far away from the ocean for too long. Aside from his love and adoration for his wife, family, and friends, there is nothing that this man loves more than surfing and loudspeakers playing live music.

With all of that being said, I knew what the expectations were for the 10 days in Sri Lanka. So on our first day arriving in Arugam Bay, after a 6-hour drive, I knew our first activity was going to include surfing. My plans for the week were to get in the water maybe one or two times, take some photos of Nick surfing, but to my surprise, I found myself doing 1-2 surf sessions a day. The first day out, I said “why not” and paddled out on my first reef point break. Remember when I talked about the magnetic pull? That strong pull had taken Nick far out to the second and third point break, leaving me to navigate a point break lineup for the first time by myself in a foreign country. I believe that first sunset surf is why I ended up getting in the water every day after that. The gentle waves, friendly locals, and overall vibes in the beginner section were something I had not experienced before. It was really cool.

Surf Sesh #1 : Sunset- immaculate views, fun surfer town vibes, and an enormously large crowd of people in the water and on the beach. Typically, I avoid all people in the water, with the fear of me hurting them, just as much as they hurting me. All of a sudden I hear a whistle from a local, waving me towards him. I cautiously paddle closer. He yells, “You aren’t going to catch any waves out there”. My initial response was "I know… why do you think I’m out here?!”, but instead I said, “Thanks, I just didn’t want to get too close to the crowd.” He explained where the waves are breaking, where I can paddle to if a larger set comes in, and encouraged me to try for a wave. I did, and was surprisingly having some mild success. Later, he said I needed to be on a longer board, which was confirmed by my instructor Kannan, the next day, that I had a longboarder stance. The local had disappeared for a bit, catching waves, encouraging both male and female beginner surfers to “paddle paddle paddle” to catch waves.

This really struck me by surprise. Wouldn’t he and his friends just want to take all the waves? Why was he being so nice and sharing? This was unusual in comparison to somewhere like California. At one point, the local told me to paddle for a wave and gave me an extra little push to catch it. I turned to my left and saw another local on the wave. Uh. Oh. First 45 minutes out and I was already dropping in on a local. I yelled “I’m sorry” and was about to pull off when, instead, he encouraged me to “keep going, keep going!” At the end of the wave, he said it’s more fun to share, and everyone gets more waves to ride, especially for long boarders. It was at this point that I was convinced I was going to like this place and possibly surf more than expected. I had even forgotten about Mr. Big Lung for a bit, because I was enjoying myself so much.

Prior to this week, I  used to describe myself as someone who owned a surfboard and would occasionally go out in the ocean to ride some white water. After this week, I officially identify as a beginner surfer.

During our time in Sri Lanka, I did some sunrise surf lessons with our accommodation host, Kannan. He was amazing. Very protective of his students and guests. He worked very hard and was a talented surfer. He was also very honest. One of the Aussie girls and I, staying at our accommodation, took joint lessons with him. We referred to his surf sessions as boot camp. “Paddle Harder, Push, Paddle Harder.” I can still hear him yelling that in my sleep. The worst would be when you’d finally get back out, and he’d say, “Turn your board, start paddling.” As my friends Beth and Melanie would joke at work, I kept thinking, “Where’s MY rest?” Then, as my noodle arms would be paddling as hard as I could, Kannan would break in between his “Paddle Harder” and say, “You’re not moving, why you not move?” Very encouraging. Thankfully, he’d sometimes paddle behind me and give me a little push to get me onto the wave. When I’d circle back, we’d revisit the same skills I had to work on: closing my legs, not going to my knees, and not being afraid. Easier said than done. I think some progress was made this week.

Kannan pictured between Nicky & I.

Now, I’ll let the professional surfer share more surf thoughts. Or, as Kannan referred to him, Nicky. (Might be my favorite nickname yet)

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Word of the week: kook

Everyone is somebody’s kook.

In honor of the biggest kook I know, I am going to quote Spongebob Squarepant’s, iconic Goofy Goober Rock.

I’m a kook, yeah. You’re a kook, yeah. We’re all kooky kooks.

As I said, everyone is somebody's kook.

A kook is a derogatory term for an inexperienced, clueless, or disrespectful surfer.

Everyone has been a kook at one point. Other than the rippers whose parents blessed them with being a grom & getting on a board at the age of 8. A most recent kook move was in PB, slipping on a duck dive & my board splitting my head open.

When I say this, it is not my high-horse – Sri Lanka was the land of kooks.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/24cfbc_ee4a5e26d5254726be9c08b4881c460d/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Before we get into the kooks, I will give some respect. The waves were epic. 300 to 500 yard right points for days. I caught some of my greatest rides ever. Pump, pump, snap, cutback, snap again, at least that’s what it felt like.

I also need to give some respect to Mary Kate. She was pulling two-a-days with me. She has proudly affirmed, “I am now a beginner surfer. No longer am I someone who just owns a surfboard.” She did amazing out there & caught some 30 second+ waves.

Some highlight sessions were the sunrise sessions at Main Point, Lighthouse sunset, and Peanut Farm second point.

Main Point – right in the town of Arugam Bay, it is an epic wave. It breaks around the corner of a bay. The bay is full of wooden fishing boats & locals playing in the water. You walk out to the beach and see a few ripples looping around the corner into the bay.

I am not going to lie, when I first walked up, I thought we might be getting skunked. You make a turn, and you have a slow-peeling right point that breaks over reef. You can catch a set at the main point & take it all the way around the corner for hundreds of yards. It is also cool that there are a few take-off points. The main peak, a second peak to snipe some waves when people don’t make the first section, a third peak full of mid-lengthers, and the fourth, inside point, for people taking lessons. The thing about main point, it is a zoo. Because the main town is right there, the crowds get dangerous. Like 100 people out. I really don’t like surfing with a lot of people. But, I can navigate a lineup. You would frequently see 5-8 people paddling for the same wave. The thing that killed me was the drop-ins. Literally no regard for people on the waves. Mid-lengthers dropping in on you. Coaches, pushing kooks onto waves & dropping in on you. For context, in San Diego, if you did that one too many times, you would …

…be escorted out of the water. The locals were pretty solid rippers, but the rest of the lineup was mostly kooks. Still, it was a 10 minute walk to surf a wave that was working basically every day we were there. Sunrise was the move.

Lighthouse – North of Arugam Bay, about 45 minutes, is a break called Lighthouse. It isn’t even on Surfline. We took the tuk-tuk up there, saw four crocodiles, and watched the break. It looked un-surfable when we showed up. But, I had trust in our guide Kannan. It turned on a bit as the sun dropped. Another right point, but you’d sit right off of some rocks. A few times when sitting on my board, my feet would be touching the rocks. Important to make the drop haha. We had a pretty good session. And after a rough morning at Main Point, a 4 person lineup was a pleasant surprise. It was also cool to learn more about our host/guide, Kannan, as he grew up in a small village near Lighthouse.

Peanut Farm – if there was a worse word to use than kook, I would. The main point here was chaos. Coaches, who didn’t know how to surf, pushing a bunch of people into waves. No etiquette whatsoever. That is what Mary Kate endured. But, around the corner, about a 10 minute walk was a second point. You walked up to a sign that said “No Trespassing, Naval Land” and made a quick paddle around rocks. This might have been my best session. On the back of two sessions where I was lost out there, I needed this session. Cool wave. Steeper. Kinda bowly at the start. Could barrel. I scored it with only 5 people in the lineup, and got plenty of great waves. A few that took me all the way to the inside leading to a long walk back up to the point.

There are other surf spots, but these were the ones we hit.

Kook stories

3 board collision – this set the tone. First night out. We got in at like 5pm & ran to the beach for a sunset session. I take a wave, get double dropped in on. 3 person collision. Board tangled. Everyone OK. No one admits fault.

Dude dropping in – some guy on a mid-length, who flapped when he paddled, dropped in on a few locals a couple of times. A local told him to stop doing that. The guy responded, “don’t tell me what to do.” Kook. Crazy move. For the most part, the locals were very nice out there. This guy was a straight kook.

Board to knee – I have never wailed in the water. I have exited the water, whimpering from wipeouts. I have exited the water from the violence of the ocean. But, I have never been screaming in the water until a sunrise session at main point. I waited my turn at the first point. Set wave came, was flying. Pumping down the line, and bang. Some idiot ditched their longboard & it came flying back & hit me, so hard, on my back knee. I did not know if my ACL was toast. Adrenaline was very high because the wave was great, but my knee was really hurting. I was yelling in pain.

Board to board- went to go take off on a wave on the inside. Turn. Paddle. Someone jumps off their longboard. Board shoots towards me with no time to move. Crack in the bottom of the board.

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OKAY, enough surf talk already. There is actually way more to talk about than just the surf. For starters, we saw TONS of wildlife in Sri Lanka. There are the street cows and dogs. Water buffalo and wild elephants. Yes, WILD ELEPHANTS- like that casually knock out the power lines at Kannan’s uncle’s house, which is why we had to drop some wood off on our TukTuk ride to the lighthouse surf spot. On our ride out to Arugam Bay from Colombo, we casually saw ~wild~ elephants in the distance off their main “highway”.

Love a good street cow.

craziest street signs we've seen yet!

The cow crossing at the pedestrian crosswalk got me. LOL.

We had tons of birds and monkeys that loved to make their presence known in the middle of the night into early morning. On our TukTuk ride to lighthouse, we pulled to the side of a main road by a bridge to spot 4 crocodiles. Many of our animal sightings were casually mixed into the daily life of Sri Lanka, while others we sought out.

In our accommodation reviews, many people mentioned Kannan’s TukTuk safari. Nick and I have enjoyed viewing wildlife by jeep in an African Safari, by Plane and foot in Alaska, by boat and van in Patagonia, but TukTuk we had yet to try. Kannan explained that the national park does not allow TukTuks because of the leopards, so instead he takes his clients into a less popular area. The TukTuk safari involved part jungle, open plains, and rice fields where locals slept to protect their land.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/24cfbc_54932d2e52d847e888a64a4175209f64/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Perhaps this is why TukTuks are not allowed in the National Park with leopards.

We saw multiple types of monkeys, a few solo elephants, peacocks, more birds, and more crocodiles.

Kannan had our TukTuk park right next to a lake where we had just seen 4 crocodiles scurry into the water. He turned and said, “Shall we get out and walk around?” Without hesitation, Nick followed Kannan. Naturally, I was the only one worried about the crocodiles still being hungry as we walked along the banks of croc-infested waters.

Both very casual about the croc in the water right next to them.

Peep the croc in the water.

One of the highlights from the TukTuk trip was turning the corner to a ton of birds and thinking that is what Kannan was so excited to show us.

To our surprise, we rolled up on a herd of 40+ elephants. Kannan said there is a herd of 70 that likes to all hang out here, but some were probably in the woods nearby. It was incredible. Nick and I had never seen this many elephants at once. To make it even better, it was like we had our own viewing. Me, Nicky, and Kannan in nature with our TukTuk some monkeys, birds, and a ton of wild elephants.

If you zoom in, you can see more close to the jungle.

We couldn’t get enough of the wildlife in Sri Lanka. Plus, it forced a much needed break from the 2-a-days. The next day, morning surf, and then Kumana National Park. Kannan had arranged a jeep safari tour into one of their national parks for us. We had the cutest ‘tracker’ to help our guide. His 10 year old son helped spot the most wildlife and shared facts with us. It was adorable. Here are some of the highlights:

I took 1000 photos of the animals, so if interested, you can swipe through this endless amount of animal pictures in the gallery below. Otherwise, feel free to continue on reading.

The people in Sri Lanka were also all soooo nice. Ten days in one place made us feel like we were at home. We had our friends at our various coffee shops and restaurants. Dapping up locals when we’d return to their restaurant. Obviously, we shared plenty of quality time with Kannan, but we also enjoyed getting to know many other locals. The older woman who worked a small convenience store out of her home and did our laundry a few times gave me the warmest embrace when we said goodbye. We stayed at the same homestay in Colombo on our arrival and departure nights. When we returned to Colombo, the four-year-old of our sweet host family greeted us with a big smile. The 4-year-old in the cutest voice said, “Please take a seat,” and then took my empty water bottle and said, “Please, I’ll take for you.” It was adorable. He was attached to his dad’s hip, and it showed. He was so excited for us to return, he immediately pulled out his chessboard to play a game, and also showed us his injury on his finger from peeling a potato. The entire family hosting us was so kind and gentle. They might have been one of the sweetest families we’ve come across so far on our vagabonding trip. The waves and wildlife were why we came, but as always, the best memories are with the people.

Speaking of adorable foreign children, please enjoy the latest photos of the Flat Stanley Hot Wheels Edition:

Now back to Nicky, AKA Mr. International Chef:

Food

So, Asia has defeated me when it comes to food. At the start of Sri Lanka, I was on a diet of smoothie bowls & fried rice. That was basically all I could handle. But, as the 10 days progressed, we did have to try to local food. With me waving my white flag, not many photos taken of food in Sri Lanka.

Food rating: 7.9

Kotthu - stir-fried flatbread

This was pretty good. It was like a crossover between fried rice & noodles. The base is roti, which is flatbread, which is chopped up & combined with everything you’d find in fried rice.

Curry & Rice

This was probably the most traditional meal we had. As we traveled from Arugam Bay to Colombo for our flight out, I messaged our hotel. The family that ran our hotel in Colombo was awesome. They prepared us a traditional Sri Lankan meal.

Smoothie Bowls

This was our breakfast every morning. Post-surf, smoothie bowls hit. Reminds me of Costa Rica where Americanos & Batidos were the morning ritual. Base of smoothie, topped with fruit, coconut, granola.

Water Buffalo Milk

Our driver from Arugam Bay to Colombo had asked us if we had tried water buffalo before. We had tried water buffalo in Vietnam, but our driver wasn't referring to the meat; he was talking about buffalo milk. To our surprise, we had pulled off on the side of a road to a small family shop and were handed a white gelatin in a clay pot with a leaf to scoop the milk gelatin.

HLU&L

Nicky:

High: Surfing some of the best waves ever & putting together the roundhouse cutback over the week.

Low: board to the knee

Unexpected: how kooky the lineup at main point actually was

Learned: Sri Lanka had a 20+ year civil war that ended in 2009

MK:

High: TukTuk safari. I loved the amount of time we got to spend with Kannan and enjoyed all the animals. He shared so much about Sri Lanka and his family. We learned about the wildlife and culture during our TukTuk safari. Plus, the number of truly wild elephants we saw was amazing.

Low: I deleted one of the best photos I’ve ever taken with my camera. Deleted forever was an epic photo of 4 massive crocodiles sitting on a rock.

Unexpected: How much I surfed and how much I genuinely enjoyed my time surfing.

Learned: Sri Lankan elephants look very different than South African elephants.  Their ears, eyes, and protrusion of their trunk were the most noticeable. Really their entire face. See for yourself:

Sri Lanka elephant to the left. South Africa elephant to the right.

Thank you for reading about our 10 days in Sri Lanka.

Missed a couple of weeks? Check out our weekly posts from Chile, Argentina, Vietnam, Thailand, and India by clicking HERE.

We have officially been traveling for 3 months! Time has been flying, but in the best way! Definitely feeling a little tired but still pushing forward. So much more we want to see!

Thank you again for following along.

Love,

MK & Nicky