driving down to the coast

after the highlands we were already missing the warm temperatures of the sea and we drove down country to the coast again. we passed through natural reserves, water falls, valleys, towns, beaches and many temples, stopping everywhere along the way. we found this country to be a wonderful place with a great variety of landscapes for all tastes. the landscapes reminded me of colombia. overall these two countries are very alike. they have all possible sights in every climate, the most delicious fruits and the nicest and most humble people. we felt like at home away from home.

the hill club

during the coldest part of our scooter cross country journey we arrived into nuwara eliya. a town in the middle of the mountains, cold and wet (at least the day we visited). it was lunch time when we arrived and we could only think of a warm place to eat and rest. other than very pretty old and public buildings we really did not see anything in this town where we wanted to eat, except for a golf course in the middle of some potato and other vegetable fields. we thought that if there was a golf course, there must be a club house, and so we decided to look for it. sure enough we found the most amazing place, like from a fairy tale.



it was a club in one of the oldest buildings we have ever been into. the building is from 1870 and in very good shape. it is now the house of the hill club, a very conservative and traditional member’s club that accepted us in as temporary members for the day. soon we were dining in the grand salon and were served a delicious meal with warm soup and other good stuff including their fabulous tea. just what we needed to recharge energies and continue the scooter adventure.

ceylon tea trails

continuing our road trip we passed through the tea plantations. the mountains look like carpets, perfectly covered with an even green. we learned that this country produces more tea than any other country on earth.






the women pick up the tea leaves by hand and they wear a picturesque outfit and no shoes!!!! we were impressed by this fact. the tea plantations are quite high and it is cold, not to mention they are on their bare foot in the mountain where the soil must be even colder and humid. we watched amazed and took their pictures. most of them laughed and posed and others asked for money in return.



tea is a very important industry in sri lanka. it has been so since colonial times. turns out sri lankan tea is rather good. i am having a good cup of it as i write this post and i really like it!!!

breakfast with the monkeys

on our first day with the scooter we climbed more than 2000 meters and arrived in kandy, a pretty city in the mountains with a lake and a temple. we found a great and inexpensive little hotel for the night. the best part of the hotel was the breakfast the next day.



while we were sitting down enjoying the view and the food, the monkeys took over the garden and came inside the restaurant area steeling food from all the tables and a banana from ours. it was quite the scene to see the monkeys running with the bounty, and the hotel staff running after them, and of course the tourists running behind with the cameras.

850 kilometers in scooter

we thought of visiting the highlands by car but the price was so high that we instead considered doing so by bus or train. but just before leaving for our tour around the country we came across a scooter rental place and decided to just take the bike. we thought we could always put the bike on the train and carry it back if it became to long or we got too tired. so with this piece of mind we rented the scooter for a few days and off we went to exploring this magnificent country.
what a place!!

what we liked the most was the people. everyone we met had a smile on their face and was terribly kind. they all spoke some english, unbelievable. and everyone was ready to give us directions, wave at us and also laugh when we showed them in the map what we were doing in such a small bike. at the end we never got on the train and stayed on the scooter for the entire trip. we ventured through most little roads and went everywhere we wanted. we did return with a flat and sore butt but with unforgettable memories of a great country we hope to visit again.

fort galle

this picturesque city has a combination of modern not so pretty structures; ruins form the 2004 tsunami and beautiful buildings from the portuguese, dutch and british colonies. we went around in tuk-tuk which is the most common mode of transportation. it is a motorcycle but with three wheels and a bench in the back. no doors or windows for easy and fast access in and out. unfortunately what is not so fast is the mandatory 15 minute prior negotiation of the tariff before you actually get on. it is actually a very ingenious fun and cheap way to go around.


we visited the town and saw the many wooden shacks mostly on the beaches with different colors where you can buy all sorts of fish; the great local market full of every fruit and vegetable imaginable, a couple of museums and many stores of clothes, gems and dvds. i do not know how this is possible. everywhere we have been in asia we have seen dvd stores (not street vendors but actual permanent businesses) with copies of movies and music for less than one dollar a piece. here in sri lanka 4 movies cost 0.70 cents. makes you wonder how they enforce any copyright law in these places….

the other stuff for sale is very pretty. crafts, lots of gems and colorful clothes. what we enjoyed the most were the restaurants and their excellent food. mostly curries and lots of coconut and spices, not to mention the fruits and inexpensive fruit juices!!!

galle harbor

the harbor in galle is heavily militarized and patrolled. this is a result of the prior conflict between the singhalese sri lankan military and the tamil tigers resistance groups. the actual fighting was concentrated in the north of the country but there were seldom attacks in the south and one on galle several years ago. now the conflict is over and the country is at peace but the security remains in the port. on our approach we had to report the vessel in and the port control officials came on board to inspect the boat.



once they cleared us in, we were allowed to come into the harbor and finish with the rest of the formalities such as customs and immigration. the timing of arrival into this port can only be done during daylight. the port is actually closed at night and there can be no movement even with dinghy within the harbor. we followed the instructions and finally anchored and tied stern to a wall next to a big ship to our port and other sailboats on our starboard. there were many sailboats in galle which was a surprise to us.

crossing the north indian ocean

this crossing was by far the best of all, at least i thought so. when we left the similans towards the nicobar islands (which belong to india) we did not have much wind. this is not so ideal but at least when there is not much wind, the sea is flat, making the life on board an absolute pleasure! we had a couple of days like this and we motor-sailed. after clearing the nicobars; which we just passed through as we are not allowed to stop there; the wind picked up and we had a fantastic breeze for the next 900 nautical miles. it was wonderful. it was not too hot or too cold. there was not a cloud in the sky and we had full moon so we had the most clear skies every single day and night.



only towards the last night approaching the south coast of sri lanka the winds picked up quite a bit and we had some rough seas. on one occasion we had a set of three very big waves which knocked the boat sideways almost completely on the side. we lost some things overboard as they were washed by the water that came in the cockpit. while i was steering through these waves which we practically surfed at 9 knots (note our boat speed is 5), esteban was in the mast setting our third reef, or making our main sail the smallest possible before putting it down completely. luckily we saw the waves before they hit and he hugged the mast and held on managing to stay on board. everything happened in a matter of seconds and just as fast as they came, they left and we stayed with strong winds but better seas for the remainder of the crossing.



when we closed in the sri lankan coast we were greeted by many fishermen in the most fabulous rafts. they are very slim wooden canoes. So slim that they do not fit on the hull so they climb up and hang on wooden poles which are built into the raft and look like a mast with branches; it all looks like if they were hanging from a tree. it is very bizarre and we did not understand the sight until we got a very close look at where these guys were standing. at the beginning we were afraid. imagine the first sight of this canoe approaching at full speed towards the boat with 10 men hanging and waving their arms. but once they closed in, we could see they were friendly fishermen interested in exchanging their catch for cigarettes and alcohol. because we do not carry smokes and only very little alcohol on board we could not barter and had to wait to buy our own fish in the town.

ko similan

the similan islands belong to thailand and are situated over 50 miles from the west coast of phuket. once we cleared customs and immigration and officially left thailnd we headed towards the similans to spend a few days on our way to sri lanka. the islands are a national park and there are park moorings everywhere. we picked up one of them and stayed there for a couple of days. the water was the most clear since the pacific. there were plenty of fish and beautiful spots to snorkel. the beaches had a very soft white sand and in general the sights were very beautiful. and to top it all, we had the most amazing weather. it was so wonderful that it was hard to leave knowing we had a long crossing ahead… but he had to and after a wonderful stop of beach sun and swimming all around we dropped the humongous buoy and set sail towards the west.

good bye thailand

after sailing in thai waters around several islands we went back to phuket to get ready for the indian ocean crossing. We stopped at the ao po marina several miles north of phuket town. We did not do any sightseeing this time and only focused on preparing the boat. Turns out we enjoyed a lot being in this area far away from tourism.

In the marina we met great new friends and also had a very pleasant visit from my cousin Adriana and Philip. We went to a nearby waterfall with only local tourist and the local market. We had so much fun in the last days in the marina and the country side that we found it very hard to leave. We postponed our departure day after day.
Among the usual preparations we cleaned the boat in and out, over and under; filled up on water and diesel, oil and other supplies; aligned the engine.

we met a local welder who helped us immensely. we only communicated with him by signs and body language and rather well as he did everything we needed to perfection. our days in this remote area of the island were a perfect ending to our exciting days in thailand. we leave sad and hope to come back soon.