2006 in Retrospect

 

December Report: The tourist season begins in Sri Lanka

Dehiwela Cargo Ship! - The last dive for 2006

Away from the busy tourist area, right near the city of Colombo we explore an unknown cargo ship off the coast of Dehiwala. This is large!
The wreck is in fantastic shape lying on its port side at 31 meters and starboard side at 22-21 meters facing East to West. Pictures soon!

Canoe Rock 3

We return to the famous and beautiful Canoe Rock at Bentota for a fantastic dive! See the short movie "Trevally at the Canoe Rock" in our movie page!

The SS Rangoon and the Talpe Reef

We make our first trip of the season to explore the SS Rangoon and the Talpe Reef in Unawatuna. The season was still settling in and we had a fantastic first day at the SS Rangoon! What a beautiful wreck! The Talpe Reef wasn't at its best but we had great fun in the quite strong surge!


The conditions were prefect when we explored the historic SS Rangoon

We are surrounded by a huge school of Trevally at the Talpe Reef!

November Report: The first dive of the season!

Return to Kiralagala, Hikkaduwa

Finally, amidst fierce currents, we descend at Kiralagala in Hikkaduwa for a fantastic first dive of the season!


Divers hover over Kiralagala at around 25m. The rock itself is 40m deep.

A Giant Moray eel greets us with a smile!(?)

October Report: The west coast dive season almost here!

Send in your dive movies!

We are happy to announce our new movie section! Send in your SCUBA movies about Sri Lanka and we will stream it through YouTube!

Waiting for November and finding your roots

Divers, time to get your gear out of the closet and get it in shape! Few more weeks to November and some dive centers are already open!
We will bring you reports about diving soon! Meanwhile, have you taken time to find out where you come from? Join the exciting National Geographic Geographic project and find your ancestors migratory patterns from sub-saharan Africa 60,000 years ago! Yes, under the skin all of us are Africans!

September Report: The sinking of the Amanth Sah

Blast from the past!

A fellow diver sends us these amazing topside pictures of late 19th century Colombo Fort & Galle Face! Sorry, the aqualung wasn't invented those days so nothing from down below.

Possible new wreck to dive?

The Bangladeshi vessel Amanth Sah has sunk off the coast of Koggala last Thursday (7th of September 2006). The Sri Lankan Navy has rescued 34 crewmen from the ship after it developed technical difficulties. The ship started to sink upon hitting a rock while being towed to the port of Galle amidst rough seas. The Sah was sailing from Myanmar to Mumbai and transporting timber when this incident occurred. This has also resulted in some pollution to the area and the Navy, local environmentalists have conduct initial cleanup operation to minimize the damage to the shoreline by oil slicks.

We have not yet determined the exact location or the depth of the wreck though unconfirmed reports indicate that the wreck is at 80m of depth.

Off-Seaon Dive Training

Dive training for PADI Rescue, EFR, Dive Master and Nitrox will be conducted from 10th to 24th of September. The training will be conducted by the veteran Dive Instructor Felician Fernando. If the sea is not calm enough for training will be conducted in the Negombo lagoon. Contact us for more information.

August Report: Calm before the storm?

The sea seems to have suddenly calmed down, perhaps opening up the possibility for some diving and maybe giving hope for many divers suffering from severe cases of DDS (Dive Depravation Syndrome). But it is yet to be seen. We will bring you reports if any diving is possible in the next few days closer to the poya day. It is a new month and lets hope & pray for peace in the East Coast, for many more reasons than just for diving.

July Report: Diving at a standstill

Rough seas in the west coast and political instability in the east coast

It is the east coast diving season till November. The seas in the west are rough and only one dive center (Ypsylon) braves morning dives in Beruwala. Click here for dive centers in Beruwala. The diving conditions are perfect in the east. Unfortunately it is out of bounds because of the deteriorating political situation in the region. All the dive centers are closed and we don't advice travel to those regions until further notice. We have also cancelled the expedition to the H.M.S Hermes in Batticaloa scheduled for the 21st of July 2006.

EFR Course on the 20th in Negombo

A special Emergency First Response (EFR) course, which is a prerequisite for the PADI Rescue Diver certification will be conducted by PADI Instructor Felician Fernando on the 20th of July 2006. A course fee of Rs. 9,500/= will include the participants manual and the certification card.
Contact us
for more information.

April Report: The descendents of Ali-Baba, Sinbad & Aladdin


One of many beautiful caves found at the Great Basses. [Picture: Nishan Perera]

Return to the Great Basses.

On the day after full moon we return to the Great Basses lighthouse and
conduct three additional dives. Even though there is some surge and the
waves break fiercely on the ridge, the conditions are next to perfect. The
water is gin clear and we can see right to the bottom. Once below the
waves we explore many fantastic overhangs, swim-through's and some
beautiful caves right under the reef.

In our last dive we encounter some medium sized Potato Cods amidst a
congregation of biggest Giant Trevally we have ever seen. One Cod is
particularly curious. It lies still before suddenly opening its wide mouth as
if to speak and watches us with great intensity.

Surely, these are the descendents of Ali-Baba, Sinbad and Aladdin, the
three gregarious Potato Cods recounted in the Treasure of the Great Reef
by Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Click here for more information about the amazing
history surrounding the Great Basses.

 
Great basses - Diving in the garden of eden

We conduct three fantastic dives at the historic Great Basses light house. Designed and built by Sir J.N Douglass, the engineer of the Trinity House, the Great Basses light house went into operation on March 10th 1873 and has been operational ever since then until the Tsunami 9.0. Rumor has it that it is shutdown these days. But confirmed reports indicate that the beam from the light built by Michael Faraday still searches the night skies for wayward ships. Technical difficulties prevented us from getting the photographs we hoped for; though we managed to get some shots of the light house and what we called the "curios koran" (above right). This Koran Angel was playing a game of hide and seek with us, displaying an amazing degree of curiosity and making poses for the camera. Click here for more information about the one of the best dive sites in Sri Lanka.

The March report

Unawatuna: The SS Rangoon & the coming of the Jelly Fish

We dive the historic SS Rangoon amidst hundreds of thousands of beautiful Jelly Fish!
Beruwala: First dive at the Mada Gala


We return to Barracuda Rock (Top Left) and also explore Mada Gala (Top Right) for the first time!
Third Reef: A close encounter with the giant kind!
We encounter the biggest Marble Ray ever (Top Left) and other types of Ray at the exotic Third Reef, Negombo!

The February report

Clean up the Beach in front of Kinross, Wellawatte on Saturday 18 February 2006 @ 9am.

Unawatuna: The macro haven at Talpe Reef
 
Return to Unawatuna for a hour long dive at the beautiful Talpe Reef.

Hikkaduwa: Black Tip Reef Shark sightings!

Chandima Liyanage captures two Black Tip Reef Sharks on film at the Hikkaduwa Bay! He says that the conditions in Hikkaduwa has been perfect during the last few weeks.


SAY NO TO SHARK FIN SOUP! Click Here!

WELCOME 2006: The January report - Return to Bentota & Beruwala: A new dive site!

The Snappers at the Canoe Rock.

The all new Malu Gala. An electric Torpedo Ray by Jayesh Nanayakkara.

We discovered a new dive site in Beruwala and quite unimaginatively named it the "Malu Gala" the Rock of Fish! And fish there were!
We also dived at the irrepressible Canoe Rock (Above Left) at Bentota. Click here for more pictures!

 
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Welcome to Sri Lanka! The best location in the Indian Ocean to Scuba Dive in the warm tropical seas and wonderful beaches. Sri Lanka offers some great Wreck Diving experiences such as the H.M.S Hermes, SS Rangoon, H.M.S Conch, The Earl Of Shaftsbury, H.M.S Diomede, and some Surat Silver Coin wrecks at the Great Basses & Little Basses Lighthouses off Kirinda and Yala. Sri Lanka offers many courses such as PADI Open Water, Advanced, Rescue, Dive Master but yet to offer NAUI, PSAI, TDI, SDI, Nitrox, Trimix, Heliox, Solo Diving Technical Dive Courses or Liveaboard Diving. Shore diving is a possibility. Sri Lanka also is famous for whale migration, dolphin watching and also shark sightings for Great White Shark, Blue Shark, Mako, Tiger Shark, Black Tip Reef Shark, White Tip Reef Shark, Manta Rays, Moray Eels, Puffer Fish (Fugu), giant turtle. Some dive sites are better than Maldives, Great Barrier Reef, Yap, Truck Lagoon. The H.M.S Hermes is a fantastic and exciting dive. The H.M.S Vampire which accompanied the H.M.S Hermes is yet to be found. Surat Silver Coin treasure was found by Sir Arthur C. Clarke and Mike Wilson at the Great Basses Ridge. The coins were minted by Aurenzeb, the son of Shah Jehan who built the Mumtas Mahal (Taj Mahal). There are also wrecks of Japanese Zeros in the China Bay and Marble Beach area. The statue of lord ganesh can be seen at the Swami Rock dive in Trincomalee. pigeon Island in Trincomalee is also famous for great diving and snorkeling.