Whale watching in Mirissa

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wilder-beast migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
7
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
2
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
6
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling food market
4
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
2
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
6
Overall Score
The highest score of nature or culture, + fun factor, + avoid the crowds, + the highest score of world famous or unique. Then turned into a score out of 100. More details at the bottom of the page
57 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
continent
Asia
country
Sri Lanka
Length of time
1 day or less
Rough cost
Obviously people have different tastes, so this will depend on those tastes, but this is a rough idea of price of the whole experience based on 2 people able to split the accommodation costs and excluding travel there and back
$ 60
Time of year visited
December
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RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site
244th/372 This travel experience's ranking compared to all the other experiences on this site
Top 70% SUMMARY RATING: Worth doing

Summary

Mirissa is one of the only places in the world you have a good chance of seeing Blue Whales, the largest animal to have ever lived, as well as Fin Whales (second largest) and Sperm Whales (the largest toothed predator).  You’re practically guaranteed to see hundreds of Spinner Dolphins, Bottle-nosed Dolphins coming to swim with the boat and Pilot Whales (to the extent that many operators will refund you if you don’t) … but, ultimately it’s worth a roll of the dice for the chance to see a Blue Whale

 

  • Chances of seeing a Blue Whale – the waters off Mirissa often host the largest number of Blue Whales, so you’re in the best place for them. But … I think a lot gets lost in translation for your chances of seeing them. The tour operators talk of refunds if you don’t see the whales, but that includes Pilot Whales which, although really cool and 2/3 times the size of a Bottlenosed Dolphin, are less than 1% the size of a Blue Whale. We, for example, didn’t see any of the Blue / Fin / Sperm whales

 

  • Which operator – I visited Dec 2022 when it was very quiet so only 2 boats operating, but I could see 60+ moored. With that many, you will for sure get bad practices of how operators approach, scare off and change the behaviour of the whales. So it makes sense to go with a responsible operator. I went with Raja and the Whales – Raja sticks to the international standard, really cares about the whales and is great for a chat about just about anything whale related (breakfast and other foods included, they’ll pick you up at 6am). Others highly recommended were Kumara and the Whales and Jetwing Eco

 

  • Time of year – December and April are the best time for chances of seeing the whales

 

  • Where to stay – heaps of options in town. I stayed at JJ‘s Hostel, which was like an upmarket backpackers with nice private rooms

highlights

#1 Seeing up close the Pilot Whales coming up for air. So close you can loudly hear them breathing

#2 Bottlenosed Dolphins playing alongside the boat throughout the day

#3 The beautiful views all along the southern Sri Lankan shoreline

#4 The hundreds and hundreds of Spinner Dolphins jumping and spinning from the water

Experiences nearby

The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

Score Detail

Background - how many times have you asked someone what a travel experience was like and the response was "amazing" or "awesome"?  That response is nice to know, but it makes it hard to differentiate that experience compared to others.  That is exactly what these scores are trying to do - differentiate the experience by giving a score out of 10 based on 6 categories and then giving an overall experience score

This overall experience score is calculated by:  take the highest of the "Culture" or "Nature" score (1-10) + "Fun factor" (1-10) + "Avoiding the crowds" (1-10) + highest of the "Unique" or "World Famous score" (1-10).  Then convert into a score out of 100

Extra detail - the logic being that I find all of the 6 individual scores important, but I don't want to mark an experience down just because it doesn't cover both "Culture" and "Nature", or because it isn't both "World Famous" and "Unique".  Take the examples of Safari in The Serengeti and walking through Rome - they both appeal at opposite ends of the nature / culture spectrum, and you can have a fantastic time without needing to appeal to both sides.  So, their overall scores aren't penalized for their lack of one or the other, and I've done the same for "World Famous" vs "Unique".  But . . . I do think that the "Fun factor" of an experience is important, irrelevant of other factors, and so is "Avoiding the Crowds" (or where there are crowds that add to the experience).  So, both of these scores are standalone