Arrived Galle, Sri Lanka 06:01.98N, 080:13.99E
Meikyo
Phil and Sarah Tadd
Fri 6 Mar 2026 15:22
We anchored off Jungle Beach, just inside the bay, a recognised waiting anchorage, as entry to the harbour and marina is not allowed until after 08.30. We had no idea where in the ‘marina’ we would be or how we would have to moor. Some boats are med-moored stern toward the wall with an anchor out forward and some are alongside moored. We were waved toward a space between a trimaran and a monohull to moor stern toward a floating jetty. Then they changed their minds and waved us alongside the monohull as we manoeuvred round they decided to take us inside the harbour walls and moor us alongside the quay. We are in the corner of the harbour ahead of a commercial boat which has been here a long time. The surge of water that comes into the harbour means that we are continually moving and our mooring warps were quickly showing chafe from the concrete wharf. (We have now managed to put lots of plastic tube on the warps to protect them but not before two were almost chafed right through).
Our agent, Achintha, arrived with a cake and proceeded to deal with all the paperwork, much easier than India. There are a few boats here that we have met before but they are generally moving on in the next few days. We intend to stay up to three weeks which will take us to the end of Ramadan. Our next stop is the Maldives, and yachts which are already there are held up in harbour waiting for their cruising permits, these will not be issued until Ramadan finishes and the authorities there are back in office. We have looked around locally and tomorrow very early we start a six day tour. We will catch up with a full blog with photos after we return.