Matara - Bad weather, no whales, but Salties (saltwater crocodiles)

The next section of the route was completed very quickly, it's only about 50 kilometers from Tangalle to Matara. We could squeeze in a sight to see. In this case, it was the Dondra Lighthouse. Well, it's a tower. There's nothing around it. But we've seen it. Matara is a relatively large city with 50,000 inhabitants. The traffic is really hellish, and it's going to cost us a lot of nerves in the next few days.
Still, arriving was nice; our accommodation is located at a small bay, we have plenty of space and no one bothers us.
Unfortunately, the weather is really messing up our plans. We primarily came here for the diving and snorkeling opportunities, but the sky is clouding over and it's raining and raining. Visibility for diving is a well-meaning five meters. We'll save that for another time.
We need a bit of time to regroup, as we are quite disappointed. In the rain, everything looks terrible, the place is quite built-up, and our clothes won't dry due to the insane humidity. Everything's a mess.
The only solution is to move forward and just look at things.
First, we explore Galle, a former Portuguese, then Dutch, then English fortified city, whose old town is really well preserved and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Old buildings and streets mixed with a bit of shopping and a lot of restaurants and cafes, really very nice.
Then we take a crocodile tour on the Nilwala River, the local river of Matara. Here, there are saltwater crocodiles that can grow up to five meters long and occasionally snap up an unfortunate resident. Exciting and macabre, just the day before, a human leg was found 20 km upstream. Sascha even dropped a fishing line into the river. A big fish immediately took the bait, everything ripped off, the lure disappeared, and we didn't even see the fish.
Next, our means to brave the rain was a whale tour. Perhaps not entirely thought through. Because bad weather also means a lot of waves. So, we didn't see any whales, but we did see some vomiting tourists and a few dolphins. Well, we participated. Quite expensive for that. 50 dollars each for a rather queasy stomach after 7.5 hours on this boat.
Rain, rain, rain, morale at rock bottom. In the evening, we wade through huge puddles, mud, mud, mud. Mosquitoes are happy. Clothes damp to wet. Annoying.
When the rain finally eases, we drive to beaches a little east of Matara. Finally, a bit of vacation feeling again. After almost two weeks, we are looking for a coffee, which is not easy to find, but after walking up and down the beach, we find one. Happiness can truly be quite small sometimes. We find the good coffee (which is rare here, but we found a good one for once) at a hipster/surfer beach (Hiriketiya). Mmm, you have to like the vibe. So swimming is rather inappropriate with all the boards around.
But there is a beach (Dickwella Beach) that you can climb up and down the hill, and suddenly, the heart feels light again, the water is bubbly, and now and then, the sun even peeks through. We spend the last two days here during the day, even though getting here is really a nerve-wracking experience; the people go crazy in traffic. You think it can't get worse, but oh, two mopeds suddenly come out of nowhere and, oh, there’s a bus in your lane that forces us to swerve. It's really quite terrifying. On the last day, we're going to do a fishing tour on the Nilwala River tomorrow; Sascha was hooked by the bite during the crocodile tour. 2 hours on the river, no fish, but great encounters with the Salties again!

Still, there is the pain of goodbye when our tuk-tuk suddenly leaves without us. We booked the pickup in Matara. We will never forget Rocket. We are thrilled with this way of traveling; you avoid the whole transport mafia, can leave whenever you want, and take all your stuff with you. It's really great. We want a tuk-tuk in Germany!!!!