Whale Watching Cruise Mirissa - 1 Day

A couple of kilometres beyond Weligama, the picture-perfect swathe of sand at the village of MIRISSA was formerly the island’s most famously “undiscovered” beach. The days when you could expect to have the place almost to yourself are long gone, but although the village now attracts a steady stream of visitors, its beach remains one of the prettiest in the island, with a narrow strip of sand backed by a dense thicket of coconut palms which manage to camouflage most signs of human presence.

Mirissa is also the starting point for trips to view Sri Lanka’s most exciting new wildlife attraction – blue whales , which between December and April can be seen just a few kilometres offshore (see “On the trail of the whale”). With whale-watching still in its infancy, trips are for now run only by Mirissa Water Sports which can prearranged after you book. Boats leave from the village’s picturesque harbour, in the southeastern corner of Weligama Bay around 1km west of Mirissa beach, and can be arranged via any of the guesthouses in town.

The fact that all the guesthouses here are concentrated in a much smaller area than in Weligama means that Mirissa is a bit livelier, though it’s still pretty comatose. There’s reasonable swimming , though conditions vary considerably along different parts of the beach, so it’s worth asking at your guesthouse about where’s safe to swim before venturing into the water. You can also snorkel here, though you won’t see much apart from the occasional pretty fish. Snorkelling “safaris” and numerous other watersports , including sport fishing and sea ayaking, as well as cruises around the bay and beyond, can be arranged with Mirissa Water Sports.