Thursday, Feb 20th, Mirissa, Sri Lanka

Greetings!

Blue whale watching is one thing not many people need a guide or a translator for.  Most of the time, you're scanning the sea surface for vertical geysers of breath off in the distance.  At best, your skipper and crew have placed your boat correctly where these giants will surface from their deep dives for the plankton they love.  Our guys were mostly correct, and it was all the other boats who raced toward us to catch a brief glimpse of the largest creatures on the planet.

Unfortunately, blue whales seldom break the surface of the water, and their small dorsal fin and tail are only visible just before they head for the deep.  Sorry to say, you'll have to imagine what we saw.

Later today, we drove along the sixty mile stretch of beach town that ends west of here at Galle Fort, a Portuguese contribution starting in 1588.  Captured and re-captured by the Dutch and British, using native Senegalese, it has been built and re-built most recently from the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami.

To see all of the photos taken today, including some by our guide (Jayantha Gunawera), click on: Thursday, Feb 20th, Mirissa, Sri Lanka.