IN SEARCH OF WHALES, Mirissa, Sri Lanka, 2019.12.15

Day 11 (1 of 2).

Mirissa is known as the best location for whale watching in Sri Lanka.  In recent years, it is also considered as one of the world’s best spot for blue whale sighting.  Doing a whale watching tour was one of the main reasons for us to visit Mirissa.  While marketed as a special place in the world to have a good chance to see the blue whales, there are also opportunity to see fin whales, sei whales, sperm whales, bryde’s whales, orcas, dolphins, flying fish, turtles, manta rays, whale sharks, etc. just several miles out from Mirissa.  There is never a 100% guarantee of sighting, but it is the expectation of seeing these elusive marine mammals that drives the multi billion marine tourism industry to grow rapidly around the world, including at Mirissa.

Mirissa was our second ever whale watching cruise after our wonderful orca encounter in Hokkaido, Japan six months prior.  This time, weather was much warmer in tropical Sri Lanka, but the water of Indian Ocean was significantly rougher, and we spent much longer in the sea.  While we didn’t hit the jackpot and see the blue whale, we did saw a fin whale, several groups of dolphins and a sea turtle in the 7-hour journey out in the sea.

At 5:55, a tuk tuk came to our hotel Mirissa Hills to pick us up.  We were dropped at the office of Raja and the Whales to pay for the tour, and then followed the group to the dock.

At the dock, tourist boats from different companies were getting ready for the sail at 6:30am.

During the first half of the cruise we passed by a number of fishing boats.

The weather wasn’t perfect and the sea was rough at times.

Given the occasional rough conditions of the ocean, some fishing boats looked overly simple to us.

Apart from fishing vessels, we also saw large container ships in the distant horizon.

At about halfway of the journey, most tourists had their eyes closed to battle seasickness.

While we worried that the day might turn out fruitless, we finally had a brief encounter of a fin whale.

While it was difficult to determine the actual size of the animal, fin whale is in fact the second largest whale in the world, just after the blue whale.

Throughout the day, we had several encounters of dolphins.

For most of the times, we saw the dolphins in groups of about a dozen or more.

Most dolphins we saw were leaping in and out of the water in high speed.

My own photos were limited by the zoom extent of my camera lens.

After the journey, Raja sent us close up photos taken by a staff during the trip.

The staff even captured the twisting jump of a dolphin.

As well as a sea turtle swimming near the surface.

It was after noontime by the time we returned to the pier.

The day was getting hotter at the dock.

Walking back to the town, we passed by the office of Raja and the Whales again.