India, Sri Lanka and The Maldives - Days 65 to 67 - Sri Lanka to The Maldives

Day 65 continued 

Little baby turtles being released to the Indian Ocean

Out at 15.30 to the turtle sanctuary where there were about 10 turtles with various issues, missing limbs due to getting tangled in fishing lines, damaged shells from boat damage and one who's mouth had been damaged by plastic. The one with a bad mouth was being 'trained' to go vegetarian. The green sea turtle starts off life as an omnivore but goes vegetarian as an adult. This one's mouth doesn't close quickly enough, so it can't catch fish so they are weaning it on to sea grass a few years early. They will fit prosthetic limbs to the ones with enough of a stump once they have finished growing. So some of them can be rehabilitated, but not all, like the one with shell damage that probably had air ingress so constantly floats. Many of the problems are due to plastic, either fishing lines, hard plastic or plastic bags that get mistaken for jelly fish and eaten.

Baby turtles are white underneath

The centre also gets notified when people see eggs being laid. They all lay between 100 and 200 eggs at a time which are collected and reburied where they can look after them.

The centre cares for injured turtles, this one has lost a flipper in a fishing accident but they hope to fit a prosthetic limb in its place

We had all paid to release a turtle back into the sea, born yesterday and checked over they had practiced swimming, though not so much walking. As we put them on to the beach they obviously weren't quite sure what to do but they soon got the idea as they approached the waves. It was joyful to see these little things paddling away. We know their odds of survival are not high but at least we got them down the beach and away from the shore birds.

Jackie about to release one of our turtles

Our last activity was a river safari which was a bit rubbish. Noisy, smelly engines left us with headaches, while all we saw was a few langur monkey and a tree full of egrets. They did seem to love the tree though as dozens and dozens flew in, just to that one spot.

On our boat with Catherine and Peter

We had a brief stop at a cinnamon plantation which was interesting enough except I was distracted by the most gorgeous cat. I was very happy when he scrambled onto my lap when I went to say hello.

The other four with George on their boat

George had organised a seafood dinner which was lovely, our table was literally on the beach, fortunately we didn't have yesterday's rain, though the food would still have been very good.

Interesting demonstration of how cinamon is prepared on a short stop on an island

Day 66

But Jackie was a bit distracted by a cat that came and lay on her

Our last proper Sri Lanka day sees us driving to Colombo. We are currently all very quiet as our stops have been all 2004 tsunami related. A memorial Buddha donated by the Japanese, a graphic mural and a museum with some horrible photos and video. Of the 228000 people to die in the tsunami 38000 were in Sri Lanka making it the second worse hit. It was the site of the worlds worst train disaster as 8 carriages absolutely jam packed with people travelling on a holiday to see family was just washed away. 3 people survived the train, including a guard who went back to work amazingly, while 98% of the inhabitants of the village the train was in were killed.

It was a very cute cat

We finally arrived in Colombo and drove around the city, which could have been anywhere, except for the Buddha museum which had some amazing things in but was so hot Catherine a I just had to return to the bus.

Followed by a very nice sunset as we motored back across the lake

Please don't let it be that hot on the boat!

Good last meal out for Lucie, but for the rest of us it's not really goodbye

Followed by an excellent meal at a restaurant on the beach

Day 67

We'll arrive in Male in dribs and drabs, Richelle, Grant, Catherine and Pete have left for the airport (06.45) we arrive in Male about 14.30 and Robena not till after 18.00. We are expecting a quick look around and then an overnight in a fairly grim hotel before boarding out dhoni boat tomorrow. 

Saw this little Chipmunk/Ground Squirrel in a tree outside the hotel restaurant making such a noise, but we were all very amused at he way his tail raised at each squeak

Because we are on a boat rather than in a resort we don't think we'll have much (if any) WiFi. Music has been downloaded, we get three meals a day, plus afternoon tea. We can buy drinks and we all get on really well. Snorkeling, reading, crosswords and giggling here we come. We must try our hardest to include the 3 new people we are expecting. We don't even know if they know each other!

The Buddha statue donated by Japan and on the site of the train disaster where at least 1500 people died. The current railway track is just beyond. Apparently the train was being boarded in Colombo when word was received of an incoming tsunami but no-one was in the station masters room to hear the phone ring and, once the train had pulled away there was no way of letting them know they were heading to disaster. The first wave flooded the train but it remained upright so most people stayed on board for safety. The second wave was the huge one, termed the killer wave and it tossed the train away, ripping up the track like toys, killing all but three on board

This is the mass burial site where hundreds of dead are buried. The wall behind illustrates the carnage left behind. It was days before any rescue services could get here 

The red areas of this map shows the areas affected by the tsunami. It approached from the SE and washed around the island affecting all coastal areas except the far NW

The Buddha museum

This was more amazing than a photo can show

In the Buddha museum and this looks a bit star wars or Dr Who'ish

A copy of the jade Buddha that's in the Grand Temple in Bangkok

They are building (or should I say the Chinese are building) a new motorway in Colombo

This is a copy of the building where Ceylon was signed over to the British and was erected in 1950, 2 years after the country was handed back to them on this spot

There are lots of fine colonial era buildings in Colombo built by the Dutch and British but also this fabulous red and white mosque constructed in 1908. That's it for now, off to the airport. See you in The Maldives