Whale and Dolphin Watching in Sri Lanka,

Sri Lanka.

Whale and Dolphin watching in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is becoming a major spot for watching Whales and Dolphins. Sri Lanka is situated within international whaling commission’s protected zone in Indian Ocean . West coast in locations from Alankuda beach in Kalpitiya,Mirissa or Dondra Point of down south, east coast of Trincomalee in Sri Lanka is the main ports of Whale and Dolphin watching in Sri Lanka. Whale and dolphin sightings are additionally available in the western coastal cities of Alutgama, Ambalangoda and Hikkaduwa.
A high concentration of blue whales and sperm whales has been spotted in the seas off Dondra Head along the deep south coast of Sri Lanka during the months of January to April.Alankuda beach in Kalpitiya is the best places if you are interested in seeing dolphins. During November to March is the best season to go Dolphin Watching off Kalpitiya. Whale and Dolphin watching is also possible during June to September off the eastern shores such as Trincomalee .

Migration Path of Whales

Whales like deep waters. Whales communicate with sound. They use long songs and clicks and noise from ship propellers create a lot of background noise that could disrupt their communication.

Off Dondra Head or Mirissa the continental shelf narrows sharply. Marine biologist Anderson believes some of the blue whales off Dondra Head could be resident whales while others could be migratory ones crossing over to the Arabian Sea from the Bay of Bengal. He suspected that in January they would be passing Sri Lanka on the way to Bay of Bengal and in April they will be passing Sri Lanka again down the south coast passing Maldives to the Arabian Sea.

Commercial whale watching in Sri Lanka was first mooted in the 1980s following documentation of whale sightings in the Trincomalee bay by marine biologists of the research vessel The Tulip. They found out that blue whales and sperm whales were coming into the Trincomalee harbour using a submarine canyon. Whales of Trincomalee had also featured in the award winning film "Whales weep not", the first underwater filming of Sperm whales in their natural habitat. Though Trincomalee was earlier tipped to be a whale watching hot spot, security restrictions had shelved projects to develop whale watching in the area.

The Voyage of Odyssey, the second research vessel to do research on marine life off Sri Lanka's southern coast in 2003, had also documented whale sightings."To see a Blue whale at sea is something most of us can only dream about. To see more than one in a lifetime is a rarity reserved for a fortunate few," Genevieve Johnson, a research crew member, was quoted as saying in one of the reports in 2003.

Whale Watching in Sri Lanka

Recent sightings of whales in the southern seas were reported by a group called the Mirissa Water Sports, funded by the firm Loadstar. They have been documenting whale sightings since April 2006. It is these sightings that had confirmed Marine biologist Anderson’s theory of whale migration around Sri Lanka during January and April.Increased sightings of both blue whales and sperm whales off the southern coast have now opened up a window of opportunity for whale watching tourism in the island's Deep South. With infrastructure and vital data at hand whale watching tourism is gathering momentum in the south.According to marine biologists, the deep sea off Dondra Head is one of the best locations to watch whales in Sri Lanka because of its close proximity to the coast.

Hotels related to

Whale and Dolphin Watching in Sri Lanka

-	Coral Garden Hotel	-	Hikkaduwa Beach Hotel	-	Coral Sands Hotel
-	Blue Corals Hotel	-	Amaya Reef	-	Lanka Super Corals
-	Club Oceanic	-	Hotel Nilwala	-	Hotel Dream Beach Resort
-	Lanka Princess Hotel	-	Asian Jewel Hotel	-	Ganga Garden Hotel and Restaurant
-	Hotel Palace Mirissa	-	Mirissa Hills	-	Mandara Resort
-	Alankuda Beach	-	Mahoora	-	Max Wadiya
-	Tropical Beach House	-	Dickwella Resort and Spa	-	Giragala Village
-	Jetwing Lighthouse	-	Ocean Vew Cottage	-	Dalawella Beach Resort
-	White House Villas	-	Madushani Ayurveda Spa	-	Nilaveli Beach Hotel
-	Sunils Beach Hotel	-	Drifters Hotel & Beach Restaurant	-	Ella Adventure Park
-	Kalla Bongo Lake Resort	-	Hotel Nippon Villa	-	Hotel Suite Lanka
-	Plantation Hotel	-	Madampa Lake

Highlights of

Sri Lanka

» Common Blue Whale

The Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is a marine mammal belonging to the suborder of baleen whales. At up to 32.9 meters (108 ft) in length and 172 metric tons (190 short tons) or more in weight, it is the largest animal ever known to have existed.

» Bryde’s Whales

Bryde’s Whales are small by rorqual standards—no more than about 25 tonnes—prefer tropical and temperate waters to the polar seas that other whales in their family frequent; are largely coastal rather than pelagic, and although they retain the characteristic plates of whalebone that the baleen whales use to sieve small creatures from the waters with, their diet is composed almost entirely of fish.

» Sperm Whale

The sperm whale is a species of marine mammal, a toothed whale with the largest brain of any animal. The whale was named after the milky-white waxy substance, spermaceti, found in its head and originally mistaken for sperm. The sperm whale is the only member of the genus Physeter. It is one of three living species in the sperm whale super family, the others being the Pygmy Sperm Whale and Dwarf Sperm Whale.

» Fin Whale

The Finback Whale (Balaenoptera physalus), also called the Fin Whale, Razorback, or Common Rorqual, is a marine mammal belonging to the suborder of baleen whales. It is the second largest whale and the second largest living animal after the Blue Whale, growing to nearly 27 meters (88 ft) long.

» Killer Whale

The killer whale or blackfish is the largest species of the dolphin family. It is found in all the world's oceans, from the frigid Arctic and Antarctic regions to warm, tropical seas. Some killer whale populations feed mostly on fish while others hunt sharks and marine mammals, including sea lions, seals, walruses and even large whales.

» Bottlenose dolphin

Bottlenose dolphins live in groups called pods that typically number about 15 dolphins, but group size varies from solitary bottlenose dolphins up to groups of over 100 or even occasionally over 1000 animals. Bottlenose dolphins, the genus tursiops, are the most common and well-known members of the family Delphinidae, the family of oceanic dolphins. Recent molecular studies show the genus contains two species, the Common Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and the Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops aduncus), where previous thought was that this was one species.

» Spotted Dolphin

The Spotted Dolphin (Stenella attenuata) is a species of dolphin found in all the world's temperate and tropical oceans. The species was beginning to come under threat due to the killing of millions of individuals in tuna purse seines. The 1980s saw the rise of "dolphin-friendly" tuna capture methods in order to save millions of the species in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

» Striped Dolphin

The Striped Dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) is an extensively studied dolphin that is found in temperate and tropical waters of all the world's oceans.

» Spinner Dolphin

The Spinner Dolphin (Stenella longirostris) is a small dolphin found in off-shore tropical waters around the world. It is famous for its acrobatic displays in which they will spin longitudinally along their axis as they leap through the air.

» Fraser's Dolphin

Fraser's Dolphin or Sarawak Dolphin found in deep waters in the Pacific Ocean and to a lesser extent in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans.

» Risso's Dolphin

Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus) is the only species of dolphin in the genus Grampus. Risso's dolphins are usually dark gray with extensive white scarring. The scars can be scratches, splotches, or circular marks and, in some animals, can be so extensive that the entire body appears to be white.

References

www.wikipedia.org
www.nara.ac.lk
www.polarconservation.org/news/pco-news-articles/whale-watching-in-sri-lanka/
www.sinhalaya.com/news/english/wmview.php?ArtID=15249