06.09.18 Sri Lanka Tour day 4:

Today was the day that we had planned to and visit a small island and National Park called Pigeon Island. The purpose of going was so that I could snorkel. All morning I kept thinking, this is really not my thing, I had an ongoing debate with myself as to whether I should just tell Buddi that I didn’t feel well, I could limp about a bit and fake an injury, or perhaps I could just get over myself and give it a go! So not really feeling in the best of moods, I walked to the beach at the allotted time, 8.30, and then waited for a group of 5 youngsters who were 40 minutes late! As if this wasn’t irritating enough, 3 of them, all fit, strong, and in their twenties stood around and watched, whilst the boatman, Buddi and I pushed the extremely heavy boat into the sea! Fuckwits! Not the best start. During the boat ride across to the island I did some breathing, and tried to get my head into a better place.

Pigeon Island is not very big and Buddi explained that one side had coral and one side not so much. Buddi suggested we start on the coral side. So to give you some idea, I am now wearing a snorkel, swimsuit and t shirt and a pair of flippers, which are impossible to walk in. Buddi says we have to put the flippers on when we get to the  sea, which is great except this means walking barefoot across the coral! Which is like walking across a Lego strewn carpet that has drawing pins hidden amongst it!! Once you get to sea and have put on your stupid flippers you have to walk backwards so as not to fall over, clearly Buddi has no idea about my ability to fall over even the smallest of items when walking forwards, let alone backwards on an sharp uneven surface wearing Fucking flippers!! But by some miracle I made it into the sea. I stuck my head under the water and moved possibly 3 meters before a wave pushed me back I felt quite scared and nervous but I tried again. I moved a few more meters and another wave hit me and I tried to stand up, but with the flippers, the coral, the snorkel and waves, it was damm near impossible! I put my hand down, which got cut on the coral, panic was starting to set in, finally I managed to stand up on rather shaky legs and slowly made my way back to the shore, backwards, whilst trying not to cry. Buddi tried to tell me it would be fine, but there was no way I was going back in. Snorkelling is not for me!

I walked across to the other side of the island and it looked much nicer. For a start there was no coral! It was also much more sheltered. The floor was nice and sandy, so I decided to give it another go. It was quite pleasant in the shallows I saw some nice fish. But, snorkelling is still not for me! We stayed on the island for a couple of hours then headed back to Nilaveli Beach.

After a hectic and traumatic morning I decided to just chill by the beach and read my book. I was joined by my new pal, a cute little puppy who comes and sits with me every time I’m by the beach and then barks at people who come near me! Later in the afternoon the sky began to get darker and darker and I could hear distant rumbles of thunder. My puppy was joined by his mum and they both sat under my sun lounger. The storm got closer and finaly hit with a vengeance! It was epic! torrential rain lots of thunder and lightning, I did eventually go back to my room, I tried to encourage the dogs to come with me but they were happy to stay under the sun lounger. I do love a good Storm!!

Day 4. Interesting.

So it’s not letting me upload any photos at the moment, will do them later.

Author: hereandthereclaire

Hi, my name is Claire and I am 60 years young, welcome to my blog. I am new to the whole travel and blog writing world, so no judging! I recently made some big life changes, leaving my job in education and moving myself and my younger children to Newquay in Cornwall, I then started a business with some fantastic friends #coffeeonthecornernewquay. And now I am about to embark on my first big travel adventure...I would love to share this with you. Since starting this blog in 2018 I have made more changes, and now in 2024 I will be traveling full time for the next year! Please join me in sharing my Big Adventure! ❤️ View all posts by hereandthereclaire