Covering the East coast

I have been to Trinco about 5 years back but at that time we couldn’t enjoy much because of the situation there. After the ruthless war ended we were given the chance to visit all parts of Sri Lanka. Visiting Trinco again has been in my plans for quite a time, but for some reason I couldn’t make it happen. About three weeks back Ranga called me and asked about the Trinco trip to be planned for the long weekend in September. Since I had no plans on that weekend I agreed to go. The initial plan was just 3 days but later we changed it to 4 days which will enable us to visit more parts of the Eastern Province.

There were few friends of mine who went to Trinco recently and I called and asked them about the whereabouts. We went on a shopping round on Thursday evening to buy stuff needed for the trip.

We left Colombo at 3.00am on Friday 4th September 2009. I thought the roads will be deserted but it was not. We learnt that many people are going to Trinco just like us. We stopped near the ‘Kanthale wewa’ for breakfast and continued the journey to Trinco. It was around 7.30am when we arrived at Trinco.

Since the entire day was there for us we went to the Nilaveli beach located about 15km north to Trinco. The beach is absolutely amazing compared to the beaches down south specially the area around Pigeon Island. We took a boat to the Pigeon Island from Nilaveli and stayed there for hours. After that we went looking for a place to eat but unfortunately there weren’t any. We went further northward about 30km to see some ancient temple but the road condition was way too bad and half way through we decided to come back to Trinco and rest.

Pigeon Island from Nilaveli Coast

Pigeon Island

At around 5.30pm we went to the beach at Trinco just to see what’s there. It’s a mini Galle Face green with a better beach where people actually go for a swim. The sea is very calm it was more like a swimming pool. Since we didn’t have any proper food for lunch we went to a hotel at Trico and had a great dinner.

Saturday 5th September 2009, we got up early as 5.00am and went to a place called ‘Koneswaran Kovil’ where you can see the sun rising from the east coast. Dharshana have already organized us to visit the Tricomalee naval base, the naval base is one of the largest natural naval base in the world. We were taken to the naval museum and it was stunning.

Trincomalee Fort entrance

Cannons at Trinco Fort

Items at Naval Museum

Pre WW-II Naval Artillery

Saturday evening we were planning to visit Muttur but the boat services were overcrowded, instead of going to Muttur there was a special boat service covering most of the Trinco harbor so we decided to go on that.

View from Muttur Boat

Navy patrol boat

'Seruwila II' boat

Saturday evening also we went to the Trinco beach and chilled there for a while. Since we had to travel about 300km the next day we went to sleep early. Sunday 6th September 2009, early morning we got up and by 5.30am all of us were ready to go to Pasikuda. From Trinco if we have taken the coastal road the distance is less, but the roads were not in good condition. So we went all the way back to Habarana and from there through Polonnaruwa and Manampitiya we went to Pasikuda. The beach there was even better than in Trinco it was not deep whatsoever. After that we went to Batticaloa and had lunch. From there we went to Ampara and reached Dharshana’s cousin’s place around 4.30pm. Chilled there for a while and we were on our way to Arugam bay.

Surfing at Arugam bay

Surfing Video

Around 7.30pm we reached Pottuvil and from there we went to Arugam bay. The place was a mini Hikkaduwa with more space to breath. The hotels and guest houses were all occupied though it was the end of the season. We were on the beach chilling till 1.00am and went to sleep. Got up a little late Monday 7th September 2009 and went back to the beach. Early morning is the best to surf and the waves were ideal. If you love surfing this is the best place you’ll ever find. There were more than 50 surfers and most of them were foreigners. We had breakfast from Arugam bay and we were back to Ampara. From Ampara we took the Maha Oya, Mahiyanganaya road to Kandy. Traveling through Mahiyangana Kandy road is like watching a movie, relaxed where you can enjoy every moment without any stress. We stopped for lunch on that road and went hit a buffet with some excellent food. After arriving at Kandy we directly came back to Colombo around 7.30pm.

This is officially the longest road trip I’ve even been on. 1288 kilo meters covering 7 provinces out of 9 in Sri Lanka and almost touching the rest of the provinces (Sothern & Northern).