Tangalle'd up in Blue (the Tangalle area)

Two chairs, a palm tree, a beach and the sea....more views along the coast around Tangalle

It was raining hard again as we got into our tuk tuk but it cleared up as the day went on. This time we got our driver to take us around a few places on the way, so we had a drive round Matara Fort, which was ok, but nothing compared to Galle. We also wanted to check out the beaches at Polhena & Medewatta, which were nothing to write home about, then onto Dondra to see the lighthouse which is at the southernmost tip of Sri Lanka, again nice, but I guess once you’ve seen a few lighthouses, you pretty much know what to expect. We tried to explain to Curtis what a lighthouse was, and more importantly, about The Lighthouse Family, and that if we ever caught him listening to them he would be ostracised and his inheritance given to a donkey sanctuary. Some parents keenly await their childs first words wondering “will it be Mamma, or Dadda”. Me, I’m kinda hoping for Motorhead, or Anarchy…. Is that so wrong?

The many faces of the Curtster (Pt. 2). Delirious for some reason, lost in cushions again and it's all too much for some...

We wanted to spend some time along this section of the coast, as it’s supposed to be lovely, so we thought we’d find somewhere to stay in Dickwella (just before Tangalla) to check out the beach there, but after looking at 3 or 4 well below average hotels, some wanting $60 or $70 for a basic room, we decided to keep going till we found somewhere we liked (and was affordable). This turned out to be an old resort hotel (the Maharani) on a pretty, small beach called Nakulagamuwa. Again, there was one other couple we saw there. It wasn’t cheap ($65 half board), but it was ok with a small pool, which we didn’t get the chance to use as it rained again late afternoon. At dinner we had three waiters standing around waiting to serve us, which was a little uncomfortable, but I guess they were going for the attentive vibe.

The Goyambokka Guest House an interesting sign outside a posher resort along the way...

Next day we left for the Tangalle area proper and ended up checking into to a lovely little guest house at Goyambokka Beach called, wait for it…. The Goyambokka Guest House. obtuse, or what? At 3000R a night, it was cheap and very good value. Mind you they showed us the best room in the house, which was lovely, but had about 30 mosquitoes chilling on top of the mozzie net, just biding their time, and after splattin’ about 20 of them, and still finding more, we opted for the room next door, which was mozzie free and cheaper anyway. Too late for Susan, tho, she got bitten several times, and Curtis got his 2^nd proper bite. We knew the little fella would get some bites whatever we did, but with each one you feel a bit sorry for him, and 2 bites in a month was better then expected. Susan seems to attract biting insects (I think they can taste the Scottishness), while I seem to repel them. Maybe I should bottle my own sweat and sell it online. It’s Organic ya know! When I was travelling with Shay it was the same story, I could be lying naked covered in chocolate sauce (easy ladies… and some gents), and Shay could be in the next bed inside a mosquito net, wearing a diving suit and they would still find a way to bite him and then come and lie next to me for a sleep.

The beach along from Goyambokka & let's face it, you've got to have the obligatory palm tree shot....

Anyway, Goyambokka Beach is really nice, one of the best we’ve seem so far, small, undeveloped, a nice stretch of sand too, with just two small food huts and a small cabana resort fronting the beach. Even better, the coast east of here consists of lots of small coves with nice beaches, easily walkable until you get close to Tangalle itself. One to watch I think.

This is also where Susan decided to give Curtis an unscheduled dunking by falling over in the surf close to Tangalle Bay Resort. Apart from getting a bit of a fright the little fella seemed unfazed by the experience and we walked through the foyer of the fairly posh hotel dripping sea water and trailing sand behind us – nobody said a word!

Fishing boats near Goyambokka. The tres posh Tangalle Bay Resort with their infinity pool. We get the same at home if you fill the bath right to the top and then lie right down low, and it's cheaper.

Tangalle town itself is quite nice, a fairly easy going place compared to some Sri Lankan towns, they even have a cinema, but the film didn’t have English subs. Shame, I would have quite liked to check out a Sri Lankan film. The poster showed a boy, a young monk, a tank with loads of people on it. Intriguing, but I’ll bet you they still find an excuse for dance rountines and a nice wedding….

The local cinema in Tangalle, was very tempted, but my Sri Lankan wasn't up to it! Me and the boy...

After another night in  Goyambokka we headed on to check out Medaketiya beach just North of Tangalle with a view to staying there for a couple of nights. This is the backpacker area around Tangalle. Nice enough area strung out along the beach road, cheap fan rooms, you wouldn’t exactly call them clean, but ok if your on a budget, plus cheapish food. Nothing much appealed to us tho’, so we had some lunch and went straight on to our next destination a little further along the coast.

We were due to meet a friend Stuart and his family at the Mangrove Gardens Resort in a couple of days and he’d stayed there before and had recommended it so we thought we’d just go straight there and hole up for a few days. We stayed in these big, very high ceiling-ed chalets, a bit of a treat but it was really nice to kick back somewhere for 4 or 5 days. We didn’t really do a great deal for the 4 days we were there, it’s nice to slow it right down sometimes.

Yet more deserted beaches. Curtis "oi. I can still see you baldy". Curtis loves a sleep in a tuk tuk. Strange boy.

We did go and look at Rekewa, one of the last South Coast beaches mentioned in the guide book and it was lovely, nothing on there at all apart from 2 private villas, but no guest houses or food shacks. In fact the beach was empty until one of the guys working on one of the villas came out to chat to us. It’s a famous beach for turtle watching, they come up the beach around midnight  to lay their eggs and head back to the sea again. But this is one of the stretches of beach we were told that had quite a bit of land for sale on, seems that once again money takes preference of nature…. We also went to look at some land back in Goyambokka as we’d liked it there, the last 2 plots on the beach. One was very small and dropped down steeply to the rocks and the other was way too big, the owner was asking for $1 million US. Bit out of our range!

One of the cabana resorts North orfTangalle. OK. can call it a Lizard, or a Water Monitor, but to me it's a damn crocodile!

The next day we checked out some of the other resorts, Ganesh Gardens was very nice as was Lagoon Paradise, where I saw a Crocodile in the lagoon, well, it might have been a big lizard (se below) but the setting was really nice. All the cabana resorts have done a great job of providing a really relaxed, back to nature (at a price) feel. All wood bridges across the lagoon and little food huts on the beach.

We met up with Stuart, his wife Heather and 2 year old Jake a few times over the next few days, nice guys. We didn’t do much but chill for the next 2 days but had a great time dong it. After that (and some internal debate) we said our goodbyes, and started off for Ella in the Hill country and ultimately our last beach destination, Arugam Bay.