Galle, Sri Lanka

Just to help clarify. I am in the port of Galle which is in the south of Sri Lanka. Magalle is the harbor portion of the town.

You can't cruise this country. The country is at war so restrictions and bureacracy are of the suffocating variety. The boat has to stay put inside a Navy compound.

While in Thailand I met a journalist that wrote an article about me. It is in a magazine for expatriates living in Thailand.

Jum to Magalle

I made it in yesterday. 16 and a half days. Seems the NE Monsoon died off early this year. I was warned to make the crossing before March, but it petered out even earlier.

I had bad luck with the gennaker. The spinnaker shackle opened after the first six hours of use and there was still too much swell until the tenth day to get up the mast. At least there was the current otherwise the passage would have taken longer.

Your first indication of a country's culture is how the fisherman treat you. Those from Sri Lanka were the most aggresive encountered. Collision course the second they hit the horizon. If you changed course 90 degrees they immediately changed course 90 degrees. I used the engine a lot, not to make progress, but to avoid extended sessions of having seven to eight males leering at the boat dangling coconuts and fish while making guestures of smoking. I engaged them a couple of times to not be a complete jerk about it, but it got old pretty fast...