I had all the intensions of diving when east coast season started in 2023. I couldn't do much in west coast season this time since Sawanthi went through a surgery and needed a lot of rest, leaving me to play the typical family man role, for a change. By June, I was more than ready. While we are based in Colombo, east course diving always comes with logistics issues.
When I prepare for the trip, both Devana and Niro volunteered to drop me and the gear to Trincomalee which I denied since its sounded too much of a ask to me. Then plan turned out to be a different one which is I am to take a bus from Colombo to Trinco but they will join me at the last day of diving so we all driving towards Batticaloe to continue our excursion on land. That's gonna be my first trip that connect underwater expedition to a land excursion which sounds fascinating.
I picked the early morning bus from Fort to Trinco and reached my accommodation, a shitty place called Natraj Guest House, just after midday.
Ocean had been pretty calm for weeks and had changed a couple of days before. I wasn't aware of the real ordeal until I plunged into the water. Surface swell was intense, but I managed to descend holding the floating mooring line laid by Sri Lankan Navy to reach underwater museum. Though it was a sunny day, beneath the water was dark since surface movement of the ocean obstruct the light.
After doing some shooting, in below average conditions, we entered a shipwreck where we felt sudden change of water temperature. I felt cold currents going through, but we were safely encapsulated inside the wreck. When we left the chamber and come out of narrow opening, we started to encounter the gale force of the current. I wasn't ready for that. I managed to hold a rustic metal railing still fitted to the wreck. My hand got cut and could see my blood flowing in curvy pattern. Blood was more maroon than red. Anyway, now I am stationed against the current. I had at least 90 bars of air in the tank. Then I saw our diving leader, Tharanga Malli as well as the Dutch diver who was the other member of the team were also hanging by the railing.
Then I saw Tharanga wanted to start swimming. I was sure that current was not something we can easily deal with. Then I signaled him to go ahead and evaluate it. I didn't want to drain my energy. While getting old, I always think of saving the energy since that is crucial, not like when I was in my twenties. After a couple of failed attempts, Tharanga too gave up the idea of swimming away. After awhile, we knew we were loosing air fast. Then we three hold by hands and let go of the wreck railing, resulted taken us very fast with the current. Though terrified, it was such a strange feeling. I felt like an astronaut on free fall towards the endless Milky Way!
After current is subsided, we made a surface marker and ascend to the surface. Since surface was choppy getting to the boat too was quite a challenge. I saw a couple of other dive boats in a distance and watching at the struggle we were going through. Later on, our skipper said they left the site saying conditions are too dangerous.
That was my first day of diving which tried my endurance. Came ashore exhausted yet feeling accomplished by the tough experience. Had a good lunch prepared by Kalu's team and done some resting which was essential.
My other objective of this trip was to explore the seabed near the Koneswaram temple in Swami Rock. This seabed should be hiding all the past secrets of the events took place around the sacred area. As per the legend, Portuguese destroyed the temple and threw the sacred objects and etc. to the ocean in seventeenth century. This part of the story is connected with early expeditions of Mike Wilson & Arthur C. Clarke which I have written about at least a decade ago.
Day before the dive, I visited the Koneswaram temple with Tharanga Malli. Scenery was splendid. Later on I had the opportunity of listening to a talk by Angeline Ondaatje who has explored this place extensively since her childhood and also done quite a research on history. One important fact she mentioned was this view had been a splendid one before recent constructions obstructed it. So beauty we see today is just the remaining of a big breathtaking picture.
Next day I dived the ocean adjoining the base of Swami Rock. Conditions were not the best, but much more manageable. Apart from fauna and boulders, we also saw some statues. What we saw weren't the historically important ones, which I am told by marine archeologist, Rasika Muthucumarana later on. Anyway, I was happy that I could explore a place I always wanted to. A couple of good underwater photographs I took were the bonus!
Same evening I joined our diving crew for a beer and learned more about the area and history. Koneswaram temple we see today is a very recent establishment. History we should be concerned about is something different. There are politics around this. Some Tamil leaders were behind the new establishments and some had opposed the idea. Nevertheless, importance of studying the history of this site is of paramount importance.
As I finish the diving I was expecting my other collogues who were driving from Colombo to pick me and drive towards Batticaloa for the second leg of the trip, but on land this time.
As planned we headed to Batticaloa. Actually, I never been to Batticaloa before. Even the township itself had a character of its own. Jewellery shops and whatnot are open till late and the town was alive like a big city. Tharaka, a friend of Niro who is a high ranker in Petroleum corporation in the region, kindly allowed us accommodate in his bungalow. Not only that he also arranged a nice evening by the lagoon with drinks, so we all were indulged and had a great conversation. One other guy who met there was Dasun, who is a Army officer. While we were spending time by the lagoon, we saw small boats passing by those involve in catching crabs and fish with traditional methods. They only carry a small kerosine lamp. Boats were spotted from the far like scattered bunch of fireflies in the dark.
Our guys are interested in history as a fact. So they decided to explore a couple of historically important places. Given we didn't have much time, we could only explore Thoppi Gala (තොප්පිගල) and Kusalana Malei (කුසලාන මලෙයි).
Kusalana Malai was a interesting site with ruins of ancient monuments mostly made of granite. It seems to have converted to a Hindu shrine in recent times. It sounds like some people wanted to reflect different picture. So this is directly connected to ethnic tension still irrupts time to time in eastern province of Sri Lanka. Anyway, we were warned to visit the place without getting attention of nearby communities. As we heard, they didn't like archeologists and journalists to visit these places because it can have adverse effect at their attempt of deformation of history.
One other objective of the visit was to make connection with Coast Veddas to find out more about this. Especially, Channa had read and explored quite a lot about history of indigenous people of Sri Lanka and he was very keen on meeting Coast Veddas.
Coast Veddas are supposed to be lower class of different Vedda groups in the island and their roots may have diverted from interior Veddas long ago. Like Veddas in Dambana (දඹාන) has closely connected with Buddhist culture, Coastal Veddas had connected with Hinduism since their territory was surrounded by Hindu community. Channa's theory is Coast Veddas may have some ancient practices those were vanished from other communities long ago.
After knowing our enthusiasm, Tharaka introduced us to a professor in Eastern University who has been gathering information about whereabouts of this community and he gave some valuable clues where we should be searching for. Anyway, we realized its not a simple task that could do without spending a significant amount of time at it. We had to give up the idea, though reluctantly.
Following day, after having a great breakfast, we left Baticaloe, saying bye to Tharaka and Dasun for the great hospitality. We were actually thinking of returning in some point because its a different region that needs a lot of time to explore.
Our team, except for me, are friends with officers of Department of Wildlife since they have consulted the officers during their diploma program conducted at University of Colombo. They thought it could be a good idea if they can pay a visit to Yala Galge wildlife range office on our way back and to see their "Students". Whatever said and done it was a very long route. That return journey was eventful!
Niro wasn't well and by the time we noticed he wasn't in good shape at all. Then came a tire puncture. Not to say we all were exhausted. After a while, Channa was vomiting by the side of the road. To add more bitterness, our van was stopped by Police and fined for speeding. Anyway, we made back to Colombo safely, but exhausted as could be.
Travel to east always add something special to the portfolio of experience and this was nor difference.
