June 24,

We, okay yesterday was a laid back Sunday. Sri Lankans, mostly were still celebrating their holyday. We had fend for ourselves for breakfast. Actually we did a brunch, going out at 1000, to see what was available. Along the way, Jeff picked me a very interesting, little bouquet of different flowers. They have so many bushes, all blooming and decorating their side streets and their yards.

We finally found an open place, Nilaveli Moon Restaurant. Jeff had two fried egg sandwiches (that was one order), tea and a lime juice. I had the fish sandwich(es, again two sandwiches, one order), tea and pineapple juice. Mine, actually, was a sandwich of chopped fish-cabbage vinaigrette salad – very tasty! Finished we went back to our place and booked the rest of our places to stay here in Sri Lanka. That always involves time – sorting through all the vast options of places!!

Then we went back out around 1600. The beach is definitely way less crowded – so all the locals could be because it was a weekend, because it was a holyday or the combo therein. It is not a daily/nightly thing. We meandered about and decided on K.K.R. Restaurant. I had Chicken fried (it came with a plate of stir fried veggies in rice, very nicely decorated). Jeff had a large heaping plate of Chicken Kottu, also nicely decorated. We split a large water. Finished, we went to the store for ice and did a brisk walk back to return with some ice.

We talked with my mom and her husband on WhatsApp, then later caught our church family back home on ZOOM. Then bed by 2230.

Today, Jeff woke at 0400 – just awake and could not go back to sleep. I awoke at 0600. We went ahead and got about, had a light breakfast of the last of muesli and some yogurt. We headed out in the car to Poseidon Diving. Arrived at 0800 and got our gear fitted – BCD, masks and fins. Then we put our BCD's on an air tank. It is only Jeff and I and a three man crew: one boatsman, a helpers, and our dive guide, Praveen. Tanks were full and all is working. Praveen then drew out our two dives: Knife Rock and White Rock, on a dry erase board. He did say he likes to go slow. Yeah! So do we! All set, we went out to the boat by 0830. It is small, but the right size since it is only Jeff and I. We helped launch the boat, all boarded and we set out. We arrived at the site, dropped anchor, geared up, and in the water by 0850. Praveen did warn us the visibility is not the greatest due to the winds, which we had figured. He was right, it was pretty bad – not as bad as when we did our refresher in Goa. As we descended to 10m (33 feet), the sight lines were better, but… not up to snuff! The first dive was 53 minutes with overall depth of 15m (49 feet). We saw lots of healthy (and some dying due to warming of the oceans) coral formations – soft and hard. There were several small neon blue fish and others, throughout the dive. Also saw anemones and clownfish (the kind of fish Nemo was). I saw a very long-legged starfish. Praveen pointed out some nudibranchs, three moray eels, and a bomb. You read that correctly – a BOMB! It was from their Sri Lankan Civil War. It was about 2 feet long. I kept my distance from that! We ascended and did our safety stop. I used 90 bar of air, still doing better than Jeff!! HEE-HEE! But women use their air more efficiently in diving then men do.

Anyway, we loaded up in the boat and moved to the next stop. We were anchored in and had to take a break, due to needing some time between dives (This is called a surface interval – it has to due with nitrogen build up in our bodies from diving at depths). We ate a couple of cookie/crackers and I had an apple. At 1020 we do our descent into white rock site. Again visibility is poorer than we would like, and actually, the water is surgy. Again saw more small neon blue fish, with others. I saw squirrelfish, big clams, and many small starfish – babies compared to the one in our first dive. We both saw and studied a large very pink hard coral formation. It is so bright, like Pepto-Bismol bright pink!! Crazy, color in the ocean! Praveen saw and pointed out a Hawksbill turtle, that was taking a siesta; a swimming small stingray; a large boxfish of some sort; a rockfish; a lionfish (and we saw another lionfish later); and lastly, (another war or fishing leftover) possibly a stick of dynamite embedded in a cement block(?)!! We also saw quite a few longfin bannerfish (similar to Scar in Finding Nemo). As we made our way back to our anchor line, a smaller trevally fish followed us a bit. At the line, we spotted a filefish – I like seeing these. Once up, we asked Praveen about something we saw and pointed out to him. It was a type of worm -long, white and semi-translucent; and very segmented. This dive was 50 minutes long with depth of 11m (36 feet), and I started with bar 200, ending with 120. Jeff had some trouble with his mask fogging up on him during the whole dive, otherwise no problem. 

Back at the beach, we helped bring the boat in. This took, like ten of us. Well 9.5, I don't know how much I helped. They unloaded the equipment. We bought a dive log book, so we look more official. I filled out the info. Praveen signed my entries and Jeff paid him, because we decided not to go out tomorrow due to the poor visibility conditions.. We thanked everybody and left. We definitely recommend Poseidon Diving – the were professional, have good equipment and just nice people!

Arrived back at our place, and showered. Turned back and went out for lunch. We went to Jey's (not Jay's) Restaurant. I had tuna, olives and tomatoes pasta with a papaya juice; Jeff had chicken and noodles (his first option they did not have) with a lime juice. Plus we had a large bottle of water. The meal was more pricey than most – 4,500 Rupees ($14.74), but it was good. Finished we went back to our place and I blogged, Jeff took a much needed little nap. Plan on a light dinner.