Sinking Ship on Whale Safari

Aside from the stunning beach, Mirissa is also known as a great starting point for dolphin and whale watching. In fact, these waters are recognized as one of the best places in the world to see the largest mammals on the planet – the blue whale. From January to March, you have the best chance of encountering these magnificent creatures. This attraction is relatively new, as the presence of blue whales in these waters was only discovered in 2006. A trip out to sea costs between 5000 - 8000 rs per person. We only paid 5000 rs, on the condition that we wouldn’t ask the other tourists how much they paid. Some had forked out as much as 8000 rs! Most places charge around 6500 rs for a ticket, but it seems some tourists were willing to pay a lot more. It’s best to make sure you’re on a big boat – not a smaller speedboat, as the waves can be gigantic even on a calm day. Our boat was tossed around from side to side, front to back. Several people got seasick and ended up throwing up. We first headed towards a dolphin territory, where hundreds of playful dolphins followed our boat. Huge pods leaped gracefully towards us. The boat rocked wildly in the waves, making it a tough battle to keep my camera steady and snap some decent photos. Our crew set out a fishing line while we cruised around. They got a bite, and the captain became distracted. He struggled to reel in the fish and forgot to steer the boat. With good visibility out on the open sea, it seemed almost impossible for him to steer us directly into another boat – but that’s exactly what he did. There were only two other boats in sight, so you really had to be unlucky to collide with another. We ended up with a hole in the bow, but the captain just shrugged it off with a “no problem.” We continued on to the whale territory. After about 30 minutes, we struck gold. Water sprayed into the air, and the back of a blue whale surfaced. We had only seen the whale for about 5 minutes when the captain asked us all to move to the back of the boat because we were taking on water and were about to sink. We still had about 25 km to go back to the harbor. Again, the captain reassured us with “no problem, no problem.” But how could we keep trusting him when he had sent his crew below deck with buckets... Fortunately, we hadn’t spotted any sharks in case we had to swim in those towering waves. We began to see the harbor again. The closer we got, the less likely it seemed that we would have to swim. To everyone’s relief, we made it back safely. But a sense of frustration began to spread. People had paid a lot of money, and they wanted to have spent more time out on the water with the blue whale if we hadn’t collided with another boat. They demanded a refund of 1000 rs per person. We were a bit more indifferent since we hadn’t paid as much for the trip as the others. Some companies offer a free trip the next day if you don’t see a blue whale. Most tourists can’t take advantage of that, though, as they need to move on with their travels. Others might lose their enthusiasm after battling those giant waves just once. Wednesdays and Fridays are the big going-out nights here in the country. So the locals were throwing a party at one end of the beach. They cranked up the music and had a dance competition down by the water’s edge. We celebrated our last evening by the sea with a butterfly fish – 1400 rs. It was so big that there was enough for both of us. It tasted amazing, yum! :o)