We’ve been in Arugam Bay, on the east coast of Sri Lanka, since Sunday. This time, our itinerary is pretty laid-back: surfing, enjoying local cuisine, exploring the town—or as they say, “surf, eat, sleep, repeat.” After the somewhat quieter Sigiriya and Nilaveli, Arugam Bay is a different beast. But it’s also peak season for surfers here on the east coast, and for many, Arugam Bay is the place to be because of its many point breaks. You can really tell that on Main Street: there are so, so many tourists, surf shops and surf schools everywhere—the whole shebang, basically 🙂 There is just so much of everything.
That’s why we’re really glad that our place, “Stay Golden,” is a bit off the beaten path. And this place is in a whole different league than our previous one in Nilaveli: The owners, Angie (from Germany) & Rihan and their staff, really go out of their way to make sure guests have everything they need. The cabanas are equipped with everything you could possibly need, and there’s hot food available all day (perfect for those who want to go for a surf first thing in the morning). The food is fantastic—a mix of local cuisine and European dishes—so there’s always something for everyone. In addition to the pool, the grounds offer plenty of spots to relax, play games, or just unwind.
There are also lots of families with kids around the same age as ours, which is, of course, really nice for our kids. On our very first day, we met a family who actually lives just a few kilometers away from us as the crow flies—in the South of Stuttgart. What a small world… They gifted a suitcase strap to us, so we don’t have to go searching through more little luggage shops here.
Surfing here in Arugam Bay is turning out to be a bit more challenging for us than we expected. In principle, it’s fine for the kids (they’re usually still being pushed into the waves since they don’t have the strength to make it to the lineup yet), but even they had a hard time—namely, with the sheer number of surfers. We’ve been surfing at Baby Point for three days now (it’s a bit away from Main Point, which is a little too big for us right now), and every time the water is full of surfing newbies, aka “kooks.” That’s because a surfing lesson here 99% of the time means someone pushes you into the wave. Of course, that guarantees a quick sense of accomplishment, but it doesn’t have much to do with (learning to) surf. After a few pointers from the surf instructors, we were able to catch a wave now and then a bit further away from the beginners, but even there it was sometimes a bit of a scramble. On every wave that’s just barely surfable, there are at least two surfers, and even after the takeoff, you have to expect to slalom around the instructors and their students and you might just pick up a few more beginners along the way. The only thing that (sometimes) helps: give the surf instructors in your way a stern look—then they’ll keep their beginners on a tight leash. For them, this is normal—for us, it takes some getting used to. Compared to that, Fuerteventura is a joke. On top of that, the wave conditions on the first and third days were very borderline for us adults. We’re looking forward to checking out the south.
All in all, it was three very relaxing days with way too much good food—especially the homemade curry (which has to be ordered at least half a day in advance) is amazing. It’s so good that we’re even having it for the second time today. To top it all off, we were able to enjoy an Ayurvedic massage today (the equivalent of 17€ for more than 60 minutes)—it’s not entirely clear whether it hurt more before or after. Tomorrow we’ll head to Udawalawe via Yala.
