On January 26 we left India for Sri Lanka. Though we have a ten-year visa for India, we have to leave every 180 days and come back when we want to stay longer that six months. I was one day beyond the 180 days and payed the price for not counting closely. They eventually let me go, though they spent half an hour telling me I had done a bad thing. I will not do it again. Some months have 31 days so you cannot just go from July 26 to January 26. Besides they count both the day you arrive and the day you leave—that’s where they got me with an extra day.
That all aside, we spent a day north of the capitol, Colombo, in an uncomfortable hotel. The next day a taxi drove us east across the island to Arubam Bay with its empty, off-season beach. We settled in for 23 relaxing days in the Galaxy Lounge after a one-night-stay at a not-for-us place a few doors down the beach. Petra scouted out the Galaxy early the next morning. Enjoy and unwind as we did.
On the way to the east we stopped in the mountains for tea. This tree was out the back window of the restaurant. (28 Jan 2015)
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These trees formed the south end of Arugam Bay. They were from the first day our reminder that we were on a tropical beach. (19 Fef 2015)
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We could sit or walk forever on the long beach. Swimming was another thing. The surf was heavy. Petra went in the water often, though never for long. I went in only once to test it out. That was enouth. After April the high season begins here. Many come. Then this area is said to be one to the ten best surfing places in the world. No crowds when we were there. (19 Feb 2015)
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Arugam Bay beach farther north. (19 Feb 2015)
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These were our homes on Arugam Bay. We spent most to the time in the white cottage on the right (where Mike is sitting). We had to vacate it for the loft room on the left for three days while someone who booked the white place lived there. Though we loved both, the white cottage was our favirite. The surf sounded heavily in our ears all day and night in both of them. (13 Feb 2015)
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This is the simple interior of out cottage. The mosquito net was a valuable necessity. We could likely not have existed there without it. (1 Feb 2015)
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There were almost no seagulls in Arugam bay. As in many other places they were replaced by hundreds of crows. This one sits in the tree outside our loft. (8 Feb 2015)
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Petra rests on a chair with very long arms that allow one to rest their legs on them. We saw these chairs in many places in southern India and Sri Lanka. (8 Feb 2015)
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Sitting in her chair, Petra watches wave after wave like this one beat at the shore. (8 Feb 2015)
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The Arugam Bay restaurant was our lounging and eating place. The wi-fi like the power there gave us intermittent service. (13 Feb 2015)
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As you look closer into the Arugam Bay restaurant, you can see Petra laying in her favorite position. This is where we ate, read, and used the internet. One evening a storm raged and the wind blew the rain in and across under the roof so far that we were on the far side behind a barricade of cushions and still getting wet. There were no lights.(30 Jan 2015)
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This was our view from Petra’s vantage point in the last picture, the Arugam Bay surf, always pounding in. (3 Feb 2015)
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Petra begins her walk along the beach one evening. A large inlet lays to the left and the sea to the right. (8 Feb 2015)
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Petra took long solo walks up around the beach and back to watch the sunset most evenings. While she was gone I sat on our bench and held the premium place for dinner an hour later. Were I not there, we would have to take secondary seats. (31 Jan 2015)
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The large inlet on the other side of our long beach was more active than I suspected. One day the barrier beach sand breached and the water flushed out of the inlet into the open ocean. It flowed for several days and then the breach closed itself as mysteriously it had opened in the first place. It was not difficult to walk across the flowing water. (19 Feb 2015)
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Sunset on our last day on Arugam Bay. Our escape to the beach was over. (19 Feb 2015)
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We took a taxi to the mountains as we left the Bay of Bengal. These are the mountains of Ella on the east side of the central range of mountains. We stayed a couple days in Ella to catch a train west. (20 Feb 2015)
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A tree below our hotel in Ella. (20 Feb 2015)
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The depot platform as we waited for the train to Kandy. (22 Feb 2015)
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