We finally arrived at the coastal town of Unawatuna where we got rooms at Seaview Hotel. This proved to be a great place for we had a villa of our own with 2 large rooms and a balcony overlooking the beautiful palm tree garden. The coral reef, only 100 meters out, made the beach one of the safest for swimming. And the hotel�s restaurant adjacent to it made it even more inviting so that's where we ended up spending a lot of our free time. We had opted for half board at the hotel meaning we would get both breakfast and dinner included. The dinner the first day was simple but nice after which we retired for the night. The next day, April 1, we woke at 7:30. It was Papy's 70th birthday therefore a very special one as well. We had decided to give him a surprise party complete with lobster dinner, cake and a live local band. I could hardly wait. The morning after breakfast was spent taking a glass bottom boat trip to the reef. Through the glass I got to see a shipwreck and lots of fish below. Mummy, papa, and papy went snorkeling as well. The rest of the day was spent just relaxing around, checking the temperature of the sea every now and then, building sandcastles, and eating a fantastic lunch of imported French cheeses, dried sausages and rillettes, all freshly imported and compliments of papy and Fouzia ... (you see my papa had a long list for them as well!). Having arranged the band and dinner for the night we sneaked out to pick up the cake in the afternoon. Thank goodness for Raja and the van for we returned with 2 of the largest cakes in town (mummy was expecting a lot of locals as well as the staff to show up). In the late afternoon we took a nice walk through the tiny seaside village with some shops selling the traditional items of handicrafts, clothes and postcards. By 6pm we were all dressed and waiting at the beach restaurant for the guest of honor. It turned out to be an intimate evening with just the 5 of us sipping champagne (on the list of course...) and eating our special meal while listening to the 3-person calypso band.
The next day we woke early once again as Papa and mummy decided to do a morning dive. So off they went with Papy, who decided to do some snorkeling at the same time. I spent the morning with Fouzia reading, swimming and frolicking in the waves of our little beach. Papa and Mummy got to see a giant sea turtle as well as other marine inhabitants. They said it wasn't the most impressive dive but ok. The coral in the area was mostly dead therefore not as colourful. The exception to this was some extra-ordinary purple flora. After finishing off the leftovers of French cheeses, we took the car into the town of Galle. Here we walked around the old Dutch fort and got a good feeling of the colonial times thanks to the old houses and narrow streets. The views from the fort�s walls over the sea were grand too. Then we visited a gem mine where I got to see how the moonstones are mined, cleaned, cut and polished. At the end of each tour, of course is the showroom, where you are asked to seat yourself to purchase something. Rubies, and other precious and semi-precious stones were also on display - but not knowing much more than me about these things, the folks decided to give it a miss. � It�s too bad... for I did see a number of large deep red, deep green and sparkling white ones that would easily have started me on a collection! But no...I was told instead, to settle for the usual brown stones I find on my own! Next was Ambalangoda, where many shops make and sell wooden masks, usually depicting a monster or other fierce animal and used in folk dances.
The next day we took a ride along the coast visiting an old Buddhist temple with a huge Buddha statue. Inside it we were able to climb to the top and look out from behind his ears. Later we visited a turtle hatchery. As you know turtles are on the endangered species list. Besides being threatened by fishermen�s nets, their beautiful shells are used for combs, and trinkets and their eggs as a delicacy. A terrible shame. Sri Lanka gets about 5 different varieties of these giant sea turtles clambering up the south shores to lay eggs each year. A few individuals have taken it upon themselves to safeguard these animals and have therefore set up havens in their own homes to look after the incubating eggs. A couple of cement tanks were built in the backyard and we got to see some adult turtles and a couple of 5-day old ones! During the laying season, people find nests and they collect the eggs, that the hatchery buys for Rs.5 each. But the lady admitted that some are sold at the markets, where they can get Rs.10/piece for them (to be eaten). Then they are carefully placed in a alternate and secure nest. About 40 days later they hatch and the young are placed near the water�s edge to scramble their way to the sea. The fertile females years from now, return to the same beach to lay eggs ...and thus the cycle continues. Each nest contains anywhere from 100 to 150 eggs. And out of each nest perhaps only a fraction will survive to return years later. As the lady described it, her job is a meaningful one and she continues the operation with little help from donations and the government. We saw half a dozen of these mounds of sand incubating at
various stages. It was too bad we were a couple of days too early as one nest was ready to hatch.
