Off the beaten path in Kayankerni

Large areas in eastern Sri Lanka remained inaccessible to outsiders for many years. Ravaged by war for decades the east coast is now safe and open to tourists. And with peace, the beauty of this area is making the news instead of tales of darkness and suffering. Shallow sunlit coral gardens with healthy corals and colorful reef fish are sure to put a smile on even the most jaded diver.  Kayankerni is a small, relatively unknown village north of Passikudah, that has some of the healthiest fringing coral reefs in Sri Lanka. Hopefully they will not be overexploited by the growing fishing and tourism industries like in other parts of Sri Lanka. Despite its negatives, the war ensured that many coral reefs on the east coast remained out of reach of illegal and destructive fishing fleets, mass development and irresponsible tourists that have degraded reefs in the south of Sri Lanka. Lets hope both the planners and the visitors act more responsibly to ensure that this last remaining bit of paradise is protected for future generations.

End of journey

Migrating over thousands of kilometers but returning to the same nesting beaches to lay their eggs, sea turtles are some of the great travelers in the animal kingdom. Considering their extremely long lifespan an adult turtle is likely to have journeyed across several oceans, visiting the waters of numerous countries through its lifetime. But all great journeys come to an end, and this ancient mariner finally came to rest on a sandy plain next to a wreck in Colombo. The final destination on a great voyage. Its bleached shell and bones the only testament to decades of ocean wandering. RIP weary traveler.

Rush Hour!

Its a Sunday morning and Colombo is relatively quite as I head down to the beach for my weekend diving. Out at sea, a stiff current is running north and schooling fish are congregating around reefs and wrecks. some seeking shelter from the currents, others looking to feed on plankton in the passing water column, and a few others looking to turn some of the smaller fish into their Sunday brunch. At Barracuda reef a school of fusiliers appears out of nowhere and stream pass us like rush hour traffic on a freeway, traveling south to some unknown destination. The fish have passed us almost as fast as they appeared but I was able to catch a few frames before they disappear into the blue. Down on the reef, there are no weekends as fish and other reef dwellers continue the eternal fight for survival.

Anguru Newa

The newest ship on the growing list of wreck dives around Colombo. After stories from fishermen and inaccurate coordinates the ship was finally dived in late January by Dharshana Jayawarden who posted a report on DiveSriLanka, and in February I had a chance to check it out myself. While not as visually appealing or awe inspiring as the popular Cargo Wreck or Medhufaru wreck in Colombo this is a fun dive in its own right. The ship is broken into two pieces with the stern and bow lying about 40m away from each other. But the intact sections provide a haven for marine life with schooling snappers, large porcupinefish, angelfish, sweetlips and a variety of other reef dwellers. Black corals adorn the sides of the ship and thousands of anthias and damselfish swarm around the top like butterflies. With a maximum depth of 26m this is an easy relaxed dive with plenty of photo opportunities.

A walk in the park

Jezeem joins the resident bannerfish for a Sunday afternoon stroll around the Medhufaru wreck off Ratmalana.

Pinnacles of life

A few kilometers off the coast of Hikkaduwa are three rocky pinnacles rising from a sandy seabed at around 35m, with the tallest reaching up to almost 18m. The rocks look bare from a distance, but closer inspection shows they are covered in orange cup corals and green tree corals. A few black corals, whip corals and sea fans grow in deeper water while soft corals adorn current swept rock faces. Fish life is profuse. Schooling snappers, a few large sweetlips, angelfish and coral groupers waiting in ambush. Groups of anthias feeding on plankton flutter around the pinnacle tops like underwater butterflies. Today four bluefin trevally make forays among the fusiliers and blue triggerfish schooling above the rocks in a hit or miss game of underwater potluck dining. Welcome to Kirala Gala, considered by many to be the premier dive site in Hikkaduwa. But regardless of which dive site is the best there's no debating that these submerged rocks are definitely pinnacles of life.

Rocking it in Hikkaduwa!

Where better to photograph the typical rocky underwater terrain of Hikkaduwa than the aptly named "Hikkaduwa Gala" or Hikkaduwa rock. Smooth granite humps and scattered rocky boulders create an underwater landscape of small caves, canyons and swimthroughs. Coral growth is sparse but the rocks provide shelter to numerous reef fish, octopus, sea stars and sea urchins. Larger predators such as giant trevally and king mackerel make sporadic visits in search of fish that stray too far from shelter. With decent viz and gentle currents its a relaxed easy dive and a chance to experiment with some wide angle photography.

Gorgonian Garden

Off the coast of Colombo, Gorgonian Garden is one of our favorite dive sites. A garden of sea fans at a depth of around 35m creating a fantasy world of reds, yellows and oranges framed against the blue water. Sea fans are not uncommon on other dive sites around Sri Lanka but we have never come across such a dense aggregation of healthy fans. Some as large as a diver stand tall over the flat seabed, often with several feather stars sitting on top of them to find a good vantage point to catch passing plankton. Large sea fans tend to grow in areas subject to strong currents and this site is no exception. The local fishermen call the reef "Hulang Paraya" or windy reef due to its exposed location, and strong currents tend to sweep the reef on most days. However on our last dive we have near perfect conditions with flat seas, light currents and visibility of 20-25m.  The good conditions are ideal for exploring the reef and we chance upon a large coral head teeming with fish, an action packed oasis of life within the silent and serene world of sea fans.

Reflections

Either I have time travelled or else I have not been active in the water but its been more than four months since this blog has had a new post. I would like to think its the former, thus I have no reason to be depressed for not diving much, but unfortunately I have to admit its been the latter. Sitting in Sweden trying to finish off a PhD that seems to be eroding my brain rather than enhance it, my thoughts turn to the tropics. Its east coast dive season in Sri Lanka now. And whether its the shallow coral gardens of Pigeon Island and Batticaloa, or the black coral forests enveloping the majestic HMS Hermes, the tropical Indian Ocean seems a lot more inviting that the cold Baltic Sea outside my window. The ocean is so close, yet so far away.

Time to head east

The Southwest Monsoon has set in on the west coast so its time to head over to the east coast. Looking forward to a season of discovering some new dive sites. With more areas opening up its time to explore the fringing reefs between Trincomalee and Batticaloa.

Medhufaru

In February we dive the wreck of 'Medhufaru', a Maldivian ship sunk off Mt. Lavinia in 2009. In less than two years the wreck has become an oasis for marine life. Thousands of fusiliers school around the wreck while colorful reef fish swim around like marine butterflies. In its death, the ship has given life to the ocean. What was once a symbol of industry and engineering is now a piece of living art, providing sustenance to fishermen and enjoyment to divers. 

Worm dance

Polyclad flatworms closely resemble nudibranchs in external appearance. The main distinguishing characteristic is the absence of external gills that are found on nudibranchs. This species is known for its free swimming behavior that makes it appear as if it is dancing in the water. It will actively swim in the water column to move from part of the reef to another. The worm dance may be a popular break dance move but flatworms give it a whole new meaning!

Angelface

Close up of a semicircle angelfish (Pomacanthus semicirculatus). This species is common on coral and rocky reefs in Sri Lanka, being most common on reefs with ledges and caves, as well as shipwrecks. Large angelfish are territorial, and males tend to defend a harem of several females. They are capable of making a loud clicking or thudding noise with their swimbladders and it is not uncommon for divers to hear this if a large angelfish is disturbed. Angelfish posses a cheek spine, as is visible in this photograph. This is the main distinguishing characteristic between angelfish and the closely related butterflyfish that do not posses such a spine.

Back to Cargo Wreck

We never get enough of the Cargo Wreck. Just 20 minutes boat ride away its got to be one of the best wreck dives in Sri Lanka. Whether you are a tech diver looking for a wreck to penetrate or just a casual diver looking for a fish filled dive the Cargo Wreck ticks all the boxes. With everything from resident pipefish and marble rays to visiting eagle rays and tuna there is something to see no matter what the sea conditions or visibility is like. After hundreds of dives here I'm still not tired. In fact, the more you get to know the wreck the more enjoyable it seems to become.

West coast season begins!

The winds have abated giving us flat seas on the west coast of Sri Lanka, but the rains have persisted into late November. Visibility is still low on inshore reefs but there's still plenty to see. The nutrients have been attracting large schools of fish, and as usual the small critters are out in their numbers. This is the perfect time to get out the macro lens as we wait for better visibility and great dives in the coming months.

Boiler Wreck

The 'Boiler Wreck' is in fact the wreckage of two separate ships whose identity remains unknown, possibly because very little effort has been made to investigate them. With the aura of the HMS Hermes, all other wrecks around Batticaloa are easily overlooked by most divers. But this is a great dive site with large boilers from the steam driven engines, propellors and scattered bits of wrecked metal overgrown in coral. The wrecks are located just south of the Kalladi lighthouse, and sit on the shallow reef running parallel to the shore. Both the wreck and the reef provide a habitat for  a variety of hard corals and interesting fish and macro life. A resident school of yellow lined goatfish hang out near the bow while colorful tropicals such as angelfish and butterflyfish glide among the corals. Look closely and you will find tiny porcelain crabs within the coral heads and colorful nudibranchs among the rubble. Lizardfish, sand perches, gobies and blennies compete for attention from critter fans. Most of the reef and wreck lies within a depth range of 5-8m, with a maximum depth of only 10m. So this is an ideal site for new divers to explore an interesting wreck or for experienced divers to off gas after diving the Hermes or deeper reefs further offshore.

Batticaloa Blues

After a two year break I returned to the wreck of the 'HMS Hermes' off Batticaloa. Calm seas and an absence of any wind foretold of good diving conditions, and good conditions they were for sure. Almost no currents and gin clear blue water bathed in sunlight. Drifting in open water felt like being an astronaut in space with nothing below, around or above other than vast blue emptiness and shafts of light that seemed to penetrate as deep as my eyes could see. The ocean had given me a "moment". Nirvana could surely not be much better than this!

Marvels of evolution!

Sharks are one of the great successes of evolution on earth. A basic design so good its remained unchanged for millions of years. Ruthlessly persecuted by humans due to a lack of understanding and indiscriminately slaughtered to satisfy the growing need of people craving shark fin soup these beautiful creatures are now a rare sight in most waters. Shark numbers in Sri Lanka have declined drastically and now they can only be seen in a few places around our coast. Black tip reef sharks such as this can still be seen in places such as Pigeon Island and Bar Reef, but like many other species their future remains uncertain. In his book "Reefs of Taprobane" Arthur C. Clarke states that in his first dive in Sri Lanka he got better pictures of sharks than in two years on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. A sharp contrast to the present day, where in most parts of Sri Lanka, seeing sharks is as rare as seeing a mermaid!

Pigeon Island

Healthy coral reefs abound in the shallow waters around Pigeon Island in Trincomalee. Once devastated by a Crown of Thorns starfish infestation these reefs have now recovered completely. But this balance is now being threatened by an increasing number of human activities. Despite being declared a National Park in 2003 fishing including the use of dynamite is still openly carried out on these reefs. Large numbers of visitors are also polluting the island, walking on the reef and removing corals as souvenirs. Still beautiful, this enchanting yet fragile paradise is threatened once again. As is often the case in Sri Lanka, action is lacking from those in charge and only time will decide how long paradise lasts..........but hopefully the future will hold more than a few old photographs.

Goatfish Pyramid

Yellow striped goatfish are common, nocturnally active reef fishes found on many Indo-Pacific reefs. During the day they tend to form small schools, sheltering among reefs and wrecks before dispersing across reef flats at night in search of invertebrates. At times they may form large mixed species schools that include similarly patterned blue striped snappers. This small group formed a loose pyramid, creating a sharp contrast against the deep blue waters and providing a great photo opportunity.