Then the curfews began.....Dodging police and reef rash in Sri Lanka

The last and only flight not to be cancelled had to be ours. Olly and I were feeling lucky in the most empty Gatwick airport we had ever ever seen.

Three weeks of ridiculous shredding in Sri Lanka awaited us, probably not exactly what the rest of the world had on their minds as they hoarded bog roll and hand sanitiser.

We picked ut this spot called Midigama on the map, we didn’t know to much about it other than Google earth told us it had plenty of reefs and what looked like a handful of banging point breaks. Hit the nail on the head, our homestay accommodation was in front of a sweet right, which was next to a left, which was next to another reefy right which of course was next to another left…… you get the idea.

So week one, it was like groundhog day, get up so early my brain rattled getting out of bed. Surf till our faces melted and then get breakfast, go back and surf until it was so hot you had to get out, in fear of your feet cooking in the boat. Take a nap, read a book and race back to the beach for a sun down surf, milk it till its so dark you get worked and think about popping your skirt, don’t swim and go home for a swig out of that oversized bottle of whiskey Olly convinced me to buy. Hit the sack and repeat.

Then the Curfews began.

28 days later 2.0, that what it felt like. Police outside the front gate, restricted to the property compound for three days at a time with a six hour window before the next three day curfew. The Wifi was about as good as a scalextric set without power! I dreamt about surfing, read books, took cold showers, drank from the whiskey bottle and waited for the curfew to break. When it did, it was like utopia, shred your face off for the full six hours and then race back to the house before the cops confiscated our boats.

Sri Lanka is an island, sheltered by and from the rest of the world. As we sat in blissful ignorance, the rest of the world seemed to fall apart, flights stopped, country’s isolated, continents shut their doors. It was probably time to get out.

Some how we managed to bag the very last flight out of Sri Lanka back home to Blighty.