Diving & Snorkeling
Sri Lanka is a wonderful place
for scuba diving and snorkeling. There are several dive sites
along the island's coastline which give you an opportunity to see
a fantastic marine life such as coral, ship wrecks, myriad
tropical fish, coral fish, angle fish and puffer fish.
Hikkaduwa
and Tangalla on the west coast are pretty good but Unawatuna
on the south coast and Nilaveli on the east coast are
even better.
At Nilaveli beach, you can take boat out to
Pigeon Island, not far north of the beach, which is said to be a
fine place to go snorkeling.
Other significant snorkeling sites
are the Coral Sanctuary in Hikkaduwa where water is not
so deep and plenty of coral are kept safe, at Mirissa
where the water is clear, and at Polhena near Matara.
There are also several interesting wreck drives at Unawatuna around
Galle south of the island whereas Weligama and Tangalla
provide good places for scuba dive.
Along the west coast the best
time to dive and snorkel is generally from November to April. The
seas are calmest from April to September along the east coast.
During this season, many dive operators offer PADI courses
for beginners as well as experienced people. There are wide
selections of dives including open water, wreck dives, night dives
and dives for those who just want to try dive out. Costs are
varied depend on the completeness of equipment offered by the
operator and the popularity of the place.
Diving shops where you
can hire and buy diving and snorkeling equipment can mostly be
found in Colombo and in major west coast resorts.
|
