Swimming and Ultra Light Shore Fishing at Kahawa Beach, Sri Lanka

As a part of our group’s rest and recreation, we decided to make a short swim on one of the many beautiful beaches of southern Sri Lanka last Sunday. Since we were at the Koggala Beach Park the other week, where I did some quick shore fishing as well, it has been suggested by some members to re-visit Kahawa Beach this time. We have been to the nice and highly visited swimming place one time and would like to check it out once again.

Like Koggala Beach, Kahawa Beach is particularly a safe, easily accessible and highly suitable swimming area, even for kids, frequented by many locals due to the natural pool that the rocks on the water several meters away from the beach creates. Basically, the place is offering quality swimming opportunities for families and friends, uninterrupted by the roaring waves pretty normal to most Sri Lankan coastlines. The enclosing rock is serving as a natural breakwater, providing protection for the pool of crystal clear water over fine white sand.

As featured before, Sri Lanka is a beautiful tiny island surrounded by rich waters offering an abundance of white sandy beaches, lush greenery, exciting water adventures and amazing marine ecosystem. It has a very healthy coral reefs and wide oceans providing shelters to numerous varieties of coral and sub tropical fishes and other astounding marine life. Kahawa Beach, though public and not really a top tourists destination, is aptly one of them.

While I have mentioned in my posts some well known and popular beaches in the past such as Hikkaduwa Beach, Unawatuna Beach, Bentota Beach and Koggala Beach, I considered Kahawa as also important and worthy of praises. Its fine white beach and clear blue water pretty much support that statement of mine.

Fooling Around at Bentota Beach Resort

Some friends from another construction firm implementing the other phase of our expressway project invited us over to play basketball and have small party afterwards. Sri Lanka is a cricket country as Philippines is a basketball country, so what you will find here is a lot of cricket courts and no basketball court. This makes basketball a thrilling event for us (basketball crazy generation) that we are willing to travel some 75 kilometers just to be able to play. Of course, the party afterwards is a welcome addition which we eagerly anticipated as well. :-)

On top of all, we were overly excited because their place is located in Bentota area where the known Bentota Beach Resort is situated. So we intentionally came early to enable checking the beach resort out prior to meeting our friends. True to what we heard and read, the resort is fantastic. Like Hikkaduwa and Unawatuna which I posted earlier, Bentota is also amongst the finest beaches of this country.

Especially for families, Bentota is a well sought after destination. Safe swimming conditions combined with fun water sport and exciting excursions are providing for the ideal background for a relaxed holiday. Being one of the most established beach resorts here, it is known for its professional touristic infrastructure. The many 5-star hotels are often built in picturesque locations and anyone can always drop in for a drink (even if he is not going to stay) to relax and enjoy the scenery.

With fun-loving Filipinos fooling around, the beautiful landscape can be instantly transformed into an even more awesome (or gruesome) sight, capable of drawing big smiles on our face and probably huge gapes from tourists. :-)

To replenish the lost energy frolicking, mocking and laughing, creating funny moments, it is but necessary that we fill our stomach. We all agreed to munch on something we seldom eat, PIZZA. Waves Restaurant located inside one of the fine hotels was just the right place. They have a huge oven specifically constructed for cooking pizza.

We ordered the house specialty jumbo prawn pizza, the popular ham & fresh pineapple pizza, some potato chips and soda drinks. We were lucky to have actually witnessed how the cook does their pizza to share with you, in addition to the pizza and sauce recipes I posted before.

Watching the skillful cook does his antics in making the pizzas drove us even hungrier. It is a good thing we just had to wait for a short 15 minutes to cook everything.

The pizza was good but not superb. They skimped on cheese and the sauce is somewhat ordinary. But the crust was thin & crispy just the way we like it and other toppings were tasty. We did enjoy though and regained energy to once more clown around and reserve some for the basketball later on.

After an afternoon full of laughter and fun, what could be better way to end the day than with a silhouette photo of the group? To act sentimental, pretend romantic and at the end have something to remind us of the silly moments, ridiculous actions, outrageous behavior and of course tighter camaraderie.

And as we were about to feel guilty that one of us will not be able to join the nostalgic image because he will be taking the shot, we realized we were wrong. Engineers are really adept at solving problems. c“,)

UnggoyGwapo fools.............I mean rules!!!

One Fine Day at Hotel Blue Note, Hikkaduwa Beach Resort

As I have featured before, Hikkaduwa (Sri Lanka) is the other beach area that we frequent whenever we have the opportunity and want to relax or dine. While there are so many hotels and restaurants located along the white sandy beach, we always settle to Hotel Blue Note. Aside from probably having the best beach front and cozy environment, their food is fairly appetizing giving enough reasons for everyone to consider a come back. While their menu is relatively limited, the few entrees are quite good and among the best you can find in the whole resort area.

Blue Note is a cabana-type hotel with a pleasant restaurant serving European cuisine. It is equipped with just a few but well-maintained rooms which are always full during tourist season from November to April. Walk-in booking during such period is very unlikely to be accommodated. The same white sand on the beach covers the front yard of the Cabanas. The majestic king coconut trees in and around the place provide the much needed shade keeping the rooms cool and comfortable.

One fine day we visited the place. Since it is just 10:00 in the morning when we arrived and we are really not so hungry, we just ordered sandwiches and drinks. The game plan is to have light snack while heavily enjoying the beach, the water and everything in between.

As always, I ordered my favorite Hawaii Toast, a thick slice of white bread with lots of crispy bacon, thick slice of cheddar cheese, slice of fresh pineapple and some special sauce baked until bread is toasted and finished by topping with sunny side-up fried eggs. Others just ordered a simple Egg Sandwich and lots of drinks. Each order has a side dish of fresh vegetable salad.

Another tasty order which I had before is their Mixed Grill which consists of grilled chicken, sausage, beef and fish along with fried egg, French fries and vegetable salad.

One of the attractions of this hotel, specially their cabanas, is its fantastic view of the lovely beach and crystal blue sea. It is nature at its best, right in front of your room.

Once your eyes are caught onto the sceneries which are charming, enchanting and mesmerizing, you cannot help but take a closer look.

And as you move nearer, the excitement will tend to escalate as you will discover that everything is beautiful. Even the forming and breaking of white bubbles in the sea is such a sight of interest. Even the equally spaced and architecturally arranged pointed grills offer an aesthetic view worthy of an even closer watch.

And you will confirm, the atmosphere is so refreshing. The water is clear. The sand is smooth. The beach is flawless. The waves are voluptuous. Yes, the landscape is spellbinding.

But pardon me, I can’t speak about the tourists clad in skimpy outfit, as I told you before, this is a child-friendly blog. c“,)

A Calm Afternoon at La Frage Brasserie, Unawatuna Beach Resort

Whenever it’s Saturday, everyone in the office is afflicted by the smile bug. We can’t blame them. After the exhausting week days, Saturday’s coming brings reasons for jubilation. It’s but natural. Saturday is considered a gift..........to all of us............a time to rest...........a chance to relax...........a period for recreation.

And that’s exactly what we do during some Saturdays. We go to the beach….……dine for good foods………..watch the sea…………frolic by the sand…………. have some moments of solitude……..…find ourselves…….……gain inner peace…….….recover strength……………renew energy…………. and prepare for the next demanding week days. Life is a Cycle. No doubt. c“,)

One calm Saturday afternoon, we visited the place called La Frage Brasserie. It is amongst the few fine restaurants located in the famous Unawatuna Beach of Sri Lanka which I featured in my previous post. The place is cosy, scenic, overlooking the bay and has good ambience.

As always, the beach is lovely. The water is calmer than most beaches. The sand is fine. The people are warm.

We opted for Chateaubriand Steak, Grilled Pork Chops, Jumbo Prawns, Spaghetti Bolognese, Potato Wedges and refreshing drinks. The food is good. Not excellent but pleasurable.

It may be simple by somebody’s standards. But it sure did make our Saturday GRAND. The foods…….…the drinks……….the jokes………..the laughter………..the moments………….the friendship…………

And yes…………the view…………..

Need I say more? :-)

White Sandy Beach & Coral Reefs of Sri Lanka: Simply Amazing

Sri Lanka is an island in the Indian Ocean surrounded by the rich waters of Bengal Bay to the southeast and Arabian Sea to the southwest. This tiny but naturally beautiful island offers an abundance of white sandy beaches, lush greenery, exciting water adventures and amazing wildlife.

It also has very healthy coral reefs and wide deep waters providing shelters to numerous varieties of coral and sub tropical fishes and other astounding marine life.

Among the well known coral reefs and popular beaches in the southern part which are close to my residence are those of Hikkaduwa and Unawatuna. Their fine white beaches and clear blue waters attract thousands of tourists every year.

Hikkaduwa which is among the first tourist areas developed is one of the most visited beach resorts offering several water activities. Angling is one but it’s still on the early stage with vast potentials for development. It is famous for its reefs and fishes. The reef, which runs parallel to the shore and a few meters below the water, can be explored with snorkel and flippers, or in a glass-bottomed boat.

The famous & lovely Unawatuna Bay located in the bursting City of Galle is protected by a vast reef which provides safe retreat for swimmers, light surfers and beach watchers. The tranquil and gentle wave plus the truly fine white sand qualifies it to one of the world’s best destinations.

I feel very lucky to have fished these waters several times with pretty impressive results. Schools of gamefish abound which provide the fights all anglers are dreaming of. Even from the shoreline, surfcasters and shore anglers will not be disappointed.

At the end of each day, when your body desires an absolute rest and relaxation after all those tiring but extremely pleasing activities, you can always sit back, sip your favorite drinks and be enchanted watching the mysterious beauty of the sun setting.

Sunset in Hikkaduwa

Sunset in Unawatuna