2005 in Retrospect
The December and November Report
Rain! Rain! Go away!
December has been such a awful month! Rough seas, torrential
downpours. It has been raining cats, dogs and donkeys! Looks like the
season is delayed but there seem to
be a silver lining in the dark and foreboding clouds. We had reports from
Yala that the sea looked absolutely fantastic. Looks like the good weather
is creeping up from the
bottom and heading north. And it is the first anniversary of the Tsunami
9.0.
Diving in Unawattuna
We explore Unawatuna
in the early November. Unfortunately the season is still not in full swing
and the conditions (visibility) were not good enough for us to take good
pictures
and apart from a preliminary report about the region we couldn't do much.
Expect a more detailed report in January 2006.
Eco Club Cleanup
About twenty volunteers converged on the beaches of Hikkaduwa for a reef cleanup organized by theEco Club.
The October and September Report
The West Coast Season Starts!
The dive centers from Beruwala
to Unawatuna are
now open! We will bring you more information on the Unawatuna dive sites
this season! On November 5th & 6th the Eco Club
we has organized a Reef Cleanup & Coral Study at Hikkaduwa
Beach as well!
Return to the H.M.S Hermes
We return to the most intriguing wreck dive in Sri Lanka, the H.M.S Hermes, off the coast of Batticoloa, for some fantastic dives!
The August and July 2005 Report
Diving in Trincomalee
We continue to get reports from divers of excellent dive conditons in the east!
Updated Fish & Coral ID section.
We have re-engineered this section for better performance. Know your fish!
The June 2005 Report
Colors Beneath the Sea - Underwater Photography Exhibition
Visit
the National Art Gallery for "Colors Beneath The Sea", another
underwater photography exhibition by the eminent diver photographer Nisha
Jinadasa.
See stunning visuals of rare marine fauna at this event which will be
held from 16th - 18th of June 2005. Above: Nisha pouncing on a Marble
Ray at the Third
Reef, Negombo.
See this picture from Nishas eyes at the Art Gallery at Anandakumaraswamy
Mawatha (Green Path), Colombo 7.
The May 2005 Report - East Coast in action!
The first ever PADI Instructor course
in Sri Lanka
The Instructor
Development Course (IDC), IDC Staff Instructor Course (IDCSI), Emergency
First Response Instructor Course (EFRI/CFCI) and MSDT prep courses will
be
offered for the first time in Sri Lanka late this year. The courses will
also be available in local languages.
Batticaloa
We explore the H.M.S
Hermes off the coast of Batticaloa
on 14th May 05. Visibility is 50M+ and as a result not much fish life
(Apart from the millions of Fusiliers
and Snappers
of
course). The wreck is as beautiful as ever and completely unaffected by
the Tsunami. We explore the rear deck and the anti air craft gun. Click
here to visit the worlds first purpose
built Air Craft carrier.
Trincomalee
As of 10th May 05, Scuba Sri Lanka has started
operations in Trincomalee (East Coast) at the Garden Inn Hotel behind
Nilaveli Beach Hotel. They report amazing visibility
isolated seas in pristine condition. Nilaveli Beach hotel will be reopened
by August 05.
IUCN is planning a cleanup mission to Trinco to remove
any debris from the reef. Initial reports indicate that there is no damage
to the Coral Reef. We will have verified reports
soon. The cleanup will start Friday 13th to Monday 16th. Contact Marten
Meynell +94 776 329230 (Mobile) Email: mcm@iucnsl.org if you wish to join
this operation
(Marten requests divers with experience who are comfortable handling knives
and maintaining buoyancy with additional baggage holding cleanup debris).
South West
Some Dive
Centers in the south are still diving (International Dive School,
Ypsylon Beruwala does
a 8.30 AM Dive). Admittedly the conditions aren't that great in the South/West
now.
But sometimes dives in the off season are quite exciting
with the variation of fish life if you are willing to brave slightly rough
seas (like our dive in Beruwala
last May).
The April 2005 Report
The
end of a season in sight!
In the west coast, the great sea seems to be getting restless day by day.
The end of a season in the West Coast is beginning of fun on the East
Coast! The Hotels in Trincomalee
are back in Business.
We will return to the beautiful East Coast once the diving starts in May
this year.
Unfortunately we will not be doing a trip to the Great Basses this year. Next year? Definitely!
Fish & Coral
Identification
New and updated Fish
& Coral Identification pages! Now, try and identify the fish you
see faster!
The Mar 2005 Report
PADI Sri Lanka
Members Forum
Paul S Morral, Director, Sales and Field Services PADI Asia Pacific. The
objective of their trip was to evaluate the damage to the dive centers,
reconstruction progress and
educate members on how PADI
The Last Frontier: Third Reef Negombo
Twenty Kilometers away from land, we visited the Third
Reef of Negombo! Click
here for pictures
Third Reef: White-spine Surgeonfish
Bubbles and Batfish: Absolutely crystal clear blue water.
Most hotels and Dive Centers are now open! Click Here for more information.
The sands of Kalpitiya
An amazing journey to Kalpitya in the post Tsunami era.
Review the 2004 updates to the home page.
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