Whale Watching From Colombo

We set off for whale watching with Dansuhka. The ferry takes 70 pax, double Deck, 3 seats on each side. On the upper deck, the front of the ferry, bow were allowed to seat on plastic cushion on the ground. Lower Bow, can stand. Instructions were given before setting off at 7am. All on board must put on life jackets. When whale is sighted on the left, the left seat pax are to sit, while right side stand to view. Reverse the same if whale is on the right side. Motion sickness pills were given if required. Light buns, tea were served when the ferry take off. The journey on the ferry is rather rough due to the high speed. So advice to sit as we could from a far distance. Unlike pictures with whale flipping their tails, it was never the case. Just swim along the edge of the water and then submerged again. We also saw few dolphins along the way in the sea. The operators had earlier indicate they will try to view as many whales as possible. Sometimes there is no sighting, they will stayed on for up to 7 hours. The minimum 2 hours if there are sighting until we are all satisfied. Instead of whale watching, to me is whale chasing. It might cause stress to the whales.

Whale watching. We paid Rs6000 each for the 5 hour trip Boat has upstairs deck as well as downstairs. Served tea, a wholesome picnic box and fruit later. The sea was really rough. Fortunately the snug seats kept one secure. if one of the about 7 boats saw a ‘spout’ the boat turned hard and they all chased over, driving over where we’d seen the whale. We saw several spouts and the back of a whale twice. Saw Large Manta Ray and a delightful tightly grouped shoal of fish but was horrified that our boat drove right over both. There’s a sign in English near about respect and keeping 100 meters away but the boat drivers seem more keen to chase. Sad.

The tours are well run but are very long. Ours was 7 hours in very heavy seas and was quite an ordeal. Once out of sight of shore the sea was very rough, we were all very sick and the noise and smell of the engines was hideous. We got scarily close to several massive shipping containers as we were in the shipping lanes. We saw quite a few whales and although our boat was respectful and don’t chase them many other boats did. The whales are amazing but you realise by doing the tour you aren’t helping their conservation. They dive deep to avoid the boats. I think it is better to give money to a sea life charity and watch David Attenborough videos. I wouldn’t recommend the tours.