Sri Lanka December
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I liked the prestation offered by Sea Horse Diving Center at Unawatuna.
The diving was pretty decent, and without being spectacular, you can enjoy some nice reef diving over there. I saw Manta rays on 3 consecutive dives, so it is difficult to not appreciate the location.
If you want to dive around Trincomalee, I recommend to contact Rohan at Tacloban Divers.
Very small groups and tailored diving according to your needs.
The diving was pretty decent, and without being spectacular, you can enjoy some nice reef diving over there. I saw Manta rays on 3 consecutive dives, so it is difficult to not appreciate the location.
If you want to dive around Trincomalee, I recommend to contact Rohan at Tacloban Divers.
Very small groups and tailored diving according to your needs.
drk5036
Contributor
Which side are you talking about?
On the North-East of Sri Lanka, there is a mix of reef, slope and pinnacle diving with the usual tropical fish hanging around. I believe it is possible to see some pelagic when you got lucky but I didn't see any when I dove there (2 different short trips in this part of the country)
On the south coast, you have more options in term of diving, with even some small wrecks which are now completely destroyed by the current and time.
I remember doing some very nice drift dives with decent corals and fish schools. And as said previously, I got lucky enough to see Manta rays on 3 different dives, and 2 consecutive days.
I dove twice in Sri Lanka, in October 2013 (Trincomalee and Unawatuna) and in August 2016 (only Trincomalee)
drk5036
Contributor
Nishan
Contributor
East has mostly shallow reef diving with some slopes and pinnacles around Trincomalee. There is some nice reef and wreck diving around Pasikudah but not many dive operators. Batticaloa and further southeast has nice diving including the HMS Hermes and other WWII wrecks but they are deep tec dives. Dive season on east is April to early October.
Thought I'd round this thread out with a brief report from my trip for the benefit of any future divers.
We ended up doing eight dives in total in mid-December. Two in Hikkaduwa, four in Unawatuna and two in Colombo (Mount Lavinia).
In Hikkaduwa we dived with Dive For You. Their shop is based on the beach within a hotel complex. The team were all very friendly, professional and safe. Dive briefings were thorough and rental gear looked almost brand new. We did two dives on rocky reefs with some nice swim throughs. Low to moderate numbers of fish - we did see a few fishing boats around. The DM explained all the shops in Hikkaduwa recently signed a letter asking the government to consider designating a no fishing zone around the dive sites.
We dived with Submarine Diving In Unawatuna. They were also a good shop with a helpful team - the owner took close care of my partner on our first dive (despite her being a better diver than I am) and they clearly cared about their customers and the diving. Rental gear was good quality and dive briefings thorough. We did two wreck dives (SS Rangoon and SS Orestes (aka No Name Wreck)) plus two rocky reefs. The wrecks are 150+ years old so not in the best condition but they were still excellent dives with good fish life. The rocky reef dives were similar to the Hikkaduwa sites, though we probably saw more aquatic life in Unawatuna with a turtle, humphead wrasse, potato grouper and stingray the larger ones of note.
We ended our trip with two dives with Island Scuba in Colombo. They're based in Mount Lavinia which is south of the city centre. We dived Pecheur Breton (an 88 metre cargo ship lost in 1994) and Medhufaru (77 metre cargo ship lost in 2009). I don't have a huge number of dives under my belt (these were my 40th and 41st) but these were incredible dives and probably two of my favourites. Pecheur Breton lies on its side with three cargo holds opened up by storms, making for an awesome (and very easy) swim through the hull. Medhufaru is sitting upright with a partially collapsed hull. Both sites were full of fish life. We had excellent visibility and no current. We were gutted we only had one day to dive here as by the sounds of it there's easily a weeks worth of excellent wrecks to dive. Can't recommend it enough. We'll definitely be back.
As for Sri Lanka generally, it's a beautiful country with incredibly friendly people, amazing food and rich culture. If you get a chance to visit, don't hesitate.
We ended up doing eight dives in total in mid-December. Two in Hikkaduwa, four in Unawatuna and two in Colombo (Mount Lavinia).
In Hikkaduwa we dived with Dive For You. Their shop is based on the beach within a hotel complex. The team were all very friendly, professional and safe. Dive briefings were thorough and rental gear looked almost brand new. We did two dives on rocky reefs with some nice swim throughs. Low to moderate numbers of fish - we did see a few fishing boats around. The DM explained all the shops in Hikkaduwa recently signed a letter asking the government to consider designating a no fishing zone around the dive sites.
We dived with Submarine Diving In Unawatuna. They were also a good shop with a helpful team - the owner took close care of my partner on our first dive (despite her being a better diver than I am) and they clearly cared about their customers and the diving. Rental gear was good quality and dive briefings thorough. We did two wreck dives (SS Rangoon and SS Orestes (aka No Name Wreck)) plus two rocky reefs. The wrecks are 150+ years old so not in the best condition but they were still excellent dives with good fish life. The rocky reef dives were similar to the Hikkaduwa sites, though we probably saw more aquatic life in Unawatuna with a turtle, humphead wrasse, potato grouper and stingray the larger ones of note.
We ended our trip with two dives with Island Scuba in Colombo. They're based in Mount Lavinia which is south of the city centre. We dived Pecheur Breton (an 88 metre cargo ship lost in 1994) and Medhufaru (77 metre cargo ship lost in 2009). I don't have a huge number of dives under my belt (these were my 40th and 41st) but these were incredible dives and probably two of my favourites. Pecheur Breton lies on its side with three cargo holds opened up by storms, making for an awesome (and very easy) swim through the hull. Medhufaru is sitting upright with a partially collapsed hull. Both sites were full of fish life. We had excellent visibility and no current. We were gutted we only had one day to dive here as by the sounds of it there's easily a weeks worth of excellent wrecks to dive. Can't recommend it enough. We'll definitely be back.
As for Sri Lanka generally, it's a beautiful country with incredibly friendly people, amazing food and rich culture. If you get a chance to visit, don't hesitate.
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