sLOVEnians travel

Sri Lanka is a super diverse country. They have good hiking opportunities, gorgeous beaches, amazing wildlife and incredibly tasty food. Our friends, who lived on Sri Lanka for a couple of months were raving about surfing there. We were determined to learn as well.

Actually, to be totally honest with you, we tried surfing before in Peru. It went well but somehow we were too afraid afterwards of the waves in Hawaii, Australia and Bali to continue.

Now was the perfect time and place.

Weligama beach

We went to Weligama beach on the southern coast. We searched online which schools should be good and just went to one. The instructor was really friendly and we negotiated 2000 rupees pp for 1,5 hours. Deal.

He prepared the boards and gave us surfing t-shirts. After a short theoretical introduction, it was time to hit the waves. It was cool to be able to reach the bottom all the time, not to waste energy and time on paddling.

After the first pushes from the instructor it was time to catch a wave on our own. At first it was hard to determine if a wave was ok for surfing or not, but after a few tries we both made it – we both caught our own wave, stood up and rode it. What a feeling ❤

In Weligama we saw many surf schools offering not only lessons but accommodation and food as well. Just search the web and I’m sure you will find something.

Arugam bay

The other famous place for Surfing in Sri Lanka is Arugam bay on the south-eastern side. About 14 days after our successful surfing in Weligama, we arrived to Arugam bay.

Confident that we can conquer the waves on our own, we rented a board (1^st mistake – as a beginner never rent a hard board!) and went down to the beach. There mistake nr.2 happened – if you are somewhere for the first time and don’t know the waves and the current, start slowly. But noooo, we went right in and of course Jure got hit by the board into the face, so we had to go to the hospital. How it all turned out and how the hospitals in Sri Lanka look like, we described in the article Healthcare and visiting a hospital in Sri Lanka. 😊

BUT Arugam bay was still super impressive. The main surf point was amazing and watching the pros riding the waves gives me still goosebumps. Directly in the bay is the baby point, outside the bay to the right is the main surf point. But there are also sooo many surf spots just a short drive from the village and of course for all levels.

We enjoyed the surf scene in Sri Lanka and we are determined that next time we’ll go to a surf&yoga camp for a week to improve our skills. 😉

Here you can watch our Vlogs from the east coast of Sri Lanka and from the Southern beaches, in both vlogs are sections with surfing 😉