Travel Log - Off to GIritale & Pigeon Island (Day 3 of the 3-day tour)

So it's been a long since I wrote the articles about the first two days of our three days holiday tour. If you read the previous articles you may already know that we (Husband & Wife) traveled to Sigiriya on the first day and then we went straight to Trincomalee for the second day's stay. In the same article, I mentioned that we will be staying in Giritale Hotel for the third day I was also hoping to complete the write-up quickly and I too got busy with some work so I could not focus on writing the article. So here with this article, I'm going to write about the 3rd day.

So regarding this holiday tour, we had planned and booked places to stay well in advance. But we didn't plan anything for the 3rd day stay. What my and wife discussed was to keep it for the moment and let's decide later. So we didn't do any bookings until the second day of our tour. On the second day when we arrived in Trincomalee, we decided to look for a place for tomorrow's stay. So we looked into Booking.com and found a better deal at Giritale Hotel. Since my and wife I haven't been to Giritale Hotel and even to the Giritale area, we decided to go there. We booked a Half board stay.

We stayed at Elegant Green Beach Resort in Trincomalee.

When we got up on the third day we straightly went to the beach. The beach was within walking distance of our cabana. So we went there and we saw that a lot of boats are either leaving for fishing in the deep sea or coming back after fishing. After exposing to the early sun for a couple of hours we came back to our cabana. The stay we had booked in Trincomalee came with breakfast. The previous night they gave us two options and asked us what we want to have for breakfast. It was either Thosai or String hoppers. So we decided to go for both options so that we could share both items. It seemed the hotel restaurant was closed those days and they were ordering the food from the outside place. After a good beach walk, we came back for breakfast and it was good as well. Then after breakfast, we stayed for some time in the cabana and got our things packed. Then around 9 AM we left the place.

Then our next plan was to go towards Nilaweli beach and Pigeon Island. I had been there previously but it was the first time for my wife. When we reached Nilaweli it was around 10 AM. Most of the travelers and travel groups had already left for pigeon island and they were enjoying it there. We have to take a boat from the beach to go to Pigeon island. Normally a boat can fit 5 people and they charge for the boat, not for the headcount. Since it was only us left there to take a boat the cost we had to bear was a bit high. So we decided to wait until another couple of people come. Luckily after around half an hour, another couple came to the place. They also wanted to go to pigeon island and we talked to them and decided to take one boat for us. Then we had to take a ticket from the ticketing counter which was located on the beach. After that, we need to show them to the boat driver and then we started traveling toward pigeon island. After around 5 minutes ride we reached the pigeon island. When we get down from the boat we took a couple of life jackets and snorkeling equipment from the boat driver. As I remember we had to pay LKR 500 for one set. For both couples, we took only 2 sets so that we could share them among ourselves.

The beach was so clean and clear. But the place was a bit crowded. Since it was a holiday many people had come there to enjoy it. Then we found a guide to do some snorkeling. My wife and I haven't done snorkeling before. So it was a new experience for both of us. It was a really good experience for us. Since the water was clean and clear we could directly see the sea bottom and were able to observe different corals and fishes. It was so beautiful. After that snorkeling session. we went to the other side of the island and had a good bath. For both of us, it was a memorable experience. After coming back from the island we found a nearby place to have a clean water bath and change ourselves.

Then our plan was to straightly go to the Giritale hotel and to stop at any places that we see on the road. So we stopped in a couple of places and took photos on our ride towards the Giritale area.

We had our lunch in a small restaurant and the food was not bad. Since we stopped in a couple of places it was around 4.30 PM when we reach the Giritale hotel. When we reach there the room was ready and we could directly do the check-in. We received a welcome drink while waiting in the lobby area and as I remember it was a Soursop juice.

Then we took our keys and went to the room. After an hour or so we went to the pool as well. Since it was the end of a long weekend here in Sri Lanka as per what the staff said the hotel had been fully booked during that weekend. Since we went there on Monday no one was there like the previous days. It was un and only another foreign couple in the entire hotel. We had a good time in the pool and we captured and experienced the sunset while there. It was a great view of the sunset with the view of Giritale lake on the side.

After the swim, we had a cup of tea in our room, and then it was time for dinner. We went to the restaurant and the foreign couple had already come there. Since there were fewer guests they didn't have a buffet and they offered us an ala carte menu. It's totally understandable and there is no point in having a buffet just for 4 guests.

So we ordered from the menu. The food was delicious and tasty. So we enjoyed the dinner and then took a couple of photos out there and then went to the room and we called it a day.

The next day we woke up a bit late and it was almost time for breakfast. Then we went to the breakfast and they offered either an English Breakfast or Sri Lankan one. As we did in previous places as well we opted for both since we could share it. So English breakfast was the same classic one with an omelet, sausage, baked beans, bread, butter, etc. Sri Lankan breakfast was also good and it came with String hoppers, dhal curry, chicken curry, pol sambol and etc. The breakfast was also good and tasty as well.

Then after breakfast, we did a little swimming in the pool and spend around an hour there. Then there came some monkeys and they started to roam here and there they seemed to be frequent visitors to the pool area. Since the area around the hotel was like a jungle it was natural for them to come to this area.

Then after that, we went to the room and started packing. Since we had a distance to travel to come back to Colombo we thought to check out around 11 AM. So we did the payments and all and started coming back to Colombo. We stopped a couple of places to take photos and other than that we drove the most of it.

Chanaka who is a friend of mine lives in the Alawwa area and we thought to visit him as well. So we gave him a call. He invited us for the lunch. So we visited him and had lunch there. After spending some time at his place we started coming back towards Colombo again.

Around 6 PM or 7 PM, we were able to come back to our places and we were kind of tired as well. Overall it was a good journey for both of us and it's the most distance that we had traveled so far those days. We both enjoyed ourselves a lot during those four days.

Hope you will also enjoy reading the article. Following are the links to the previous two articles.

https://www.sunkisseddiaries.com/travel-log-off-to-sigiriya-day-1-of-3-day-tour/

https://www.sunkisseddiaries.com/travel-log-off-to-trincomalee-day-2-of-the-3-day-tour/