South Coast Sri Lanka - brief report - good surprises

[pelan-pelan]

We dived in Madiha Polhena. The fish life was a surprise. Excellent diversity of reef fish and all very big. Banded shrimp looked bigger than my hand. We also saw cobia and tuna. Boulders and sand shutes. The morays were outstanding and often seen out swimming. Nudibranchs too. A nurse shark was reported sleeping under rocks on one dive. The impression was that the area was not heavily dived, and that the fish were flourishing. We wish we could have stayed longer and dived more.
Drawback is the season - which will end in April.
We dived with a small but very committed operation - Polhena Diving. They carry out beach and reef litter picks. Diving is from a small boat. If more people book in they run a second boat and bring in another dive guide. Guiding was careful, helpful and alert. Snorkelling is very good and there is some surfing.
We stayed at Beach Inns which is just a few steps away from the dive centre. Try and get a sea view room. The food is very good. Owner-managed. Bikes, scooters, tuktuks - no problem. Laid back quiet area away from the main road, comfortable to walk out to local bars.

 

[flyboy08]

I tried to Dive there, but I got as far as Goa only....it’s on my bucket list.

 

[Randunu Dimeshan]

We dived in Madiha Polhena. The fish life was a surprise. Excellent diversity of reef fish and all very big. Banded shrimp looked bigger than my hand. We also saw cobia and tuna. Boulders and sand shutes. The morays were outstanding and often seen out swimming. Nudibranchs too. A nurse shark was reported sleeping under rocks on one dive. The impression was that the area was not heavily dived, and that the fish were flourishing. We wish we could have stayed longer and dived more.
Drawback is the season - which will end in April.
We dived with a small but very committed operation - Polhena Diving. They carry out beach and reef litter picks. Diving is from a small boat. If more people book in they run a second boat and bring in another dive guide. Guiding was careful, helpful and alert. Snorkelling is very good and there is some surfing.
We stayed at Beach Inns which is just a few steps away from the dive centre. Try and get a sea view room. The food is very good. Owner-managed. Bikes, scooters, tuktuks - no problem. Laid back quiet area away from the main road, comfortable to walk out to local bars.

oh hey Randy here. It is great to hear that you loved diving with us!

 

[Randunu Dimeshan]

John and Julie???? Ahahaha this is a nice reunion!!!

 

[pelan-pelan]

Hope you are getting guests back into Sri Lanka. Your dive season in the south starts in October? I'm not sure. Is that right? Do you guys operate on the east coast during the "other season"?

 

[Searcaigh]

Only a 4 hour flight for me.

I did HMS Hermes a couple of years ago and would like to get back with a better plan to include other diving.