Fun in the Sun

He told me that the boat could be hired for trips all around the island; whether it be from Port City to Bolgoda Lake or Bentota, Hikkaduwa, Galle, the Dondra Lighthouse, Mirissa, or Hambantota. He also sails up the east coast...

by Namalee Siriwardhane 

I was so excited for this adventure I could hardly sleep the night before. Six of us were invited to travel by a small boat named GRADY WHITE from Colombo Port City to Bolgoda. What fun indeed! In just about 2 hours we sped across the ocean, which was relatively calm, on a sun drenched clear skied Saturday morning. The time was perfect, nine in the morning is not too early nor not too late. The weather was flawless, not too cold and not too hot and as we sped through the waters, the weather became even nicer with the wind blowing through my hair. 

I sat in the front where I could see the ocean coming towards us and the captain, Captain Mark Scott, was obviously very experienced; he seemed to glide across the ocean where even the slightest wave seemed to throw the speeding boat up in to the air and then land flat as if we were doing a belly flop flat into the ocean. There were very few of those waves, instead the feeling was more akin to surfing. Just to my right was Colombo, full of its growing skyline of high-rise buildings swiftly fading into Wellawatta then Dehiwela and then Mount Lavinia. It felt like taking a train ride from the other side of the tracks, but much more fun and much faster. 
One of the passengers was from England and had brought a CD (yes, they still exist) of his favourite tunes which turned out to be a mix of the best of the 80’s and 90’s, again, perfect for our fun ride. Another a couple from Russia had found the tiny little fridge hidden away under the captain’s wheel. By the time we reached Bolgoda, the Prosecco they’d placed in the fridge was perfectly chilled and we all celebrated with a hearty ‘Cheers!’, except the captain. I guess he had to drive!
The young man who sat on the other side in front with me was a kind and helpful person, a lawyer, who has studied in New York. He didn’t seem to mind the sun at all and rode the waves like a champion while pointing out our location to me as we rode along. ‘That’s Dehiwela’, he would say. ‘There’s Mount Lavinia.’ I was genuinely surprised at how much beach there really was all along the way. It was beautiful! ‘But not very clean’, said the young man beside me. Well, that was true.
One more person was on board and in with his friendly smile and checked pink shirt, he would sometimes take the wheel in hand from the captain. 
The best things about the boat was that there was enough room for movement as it’s an eight people capacity boat with a removable canopy. Under each seat there was just enough space for luggage or other nick knacks.
Once we reached Bolgoda Lake the boat slowed down to an almost crawl. The captain came out to the front and sat down with his legs up and showed me how I should have sat through the ride. ‘Hmm…, not on the ocean,’ I thought, but now that we were in the river, I too put up my feet and looked around at the beautiful green leaves of the trees surrounding the lake. 
Captain Mark Scott is from Seattle, Washington, USA and has been doing tours on his boat from various ports all around. He has about 25 years of experience and was textbook for a captain on such an adventure. He  was kind hearted,  always alert. Everybody on board knows who’s in charge. 
He told me that the boat could be hired for trips all around the island; whether it be from Port City to Bolgoda Lake or Bentota, Hikkaduwa, Galle, the Dondra Lighthouse, Mirissa, or Hambantota. He also sails up the east coast to Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Pullumalai and all the little islands around Jaffna like Eluvaitvu and Kayts and more. If interested email on [email protected],  prices would be discussed when booking.

Bolgoda Lake was a nice and breezy way to end the voyage. Though we did speed our way into the lake, once on the lake we were gliding. I saw two hawks lazily soaring around above us and a lazy crocodile quickly going underwater as we drifted along. We went under the bridges slowly which gave us a small respite from the sun. Only then did I notice that it was indeed a hot day! There are a few places to eat and to stay on the lake itself and after going all the way to the end of the lake, we turned back and stopped for lunch at one of the places. 
The tourists decided to stay overnight at a clean place with a nice garden view of the lake. Finally, our captain dropped the other three of us off where it was convenient for us to catch a cab back and our trip was done. All that by two o clock in the afternoon. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and would recommend a boat ride with Captain Mark Scott to anyone who’d like to enjoy something a little different, a little fast and a lot of fun.