Advice on Diving from Colombo, Sri Lanka

[kashyap.dalal]

Hi Nishan,

Found this discussion very relevant. I'm from Bangalore/India and wanted to plan a 3 day trip to Colombo mainly to do some good diving. Would love to do a mix of wreck diving and dives which have a lot of marine life to look at.

I got my open water diver certification in November 13 and this would be my first set of dives post that.

Is it possible to plan something in May with an existing group? I'd be travelling alone this time - so would need a diving partner.

Let me know if there is a mail id where I can contact with you separately to discuss this more.

 

[Nishan]

Hi,

May is off season for Colombo and the west/south coast. You can dive on the east if you like. ALso for Colombo the best diving is suited for AOW or more experienced divers, especially the wrecks. But on the east coast there are more shallow sites. You can PM me and I would be happy to provide further info.

 

[funscuba]

I dived in negombo in early january 2010, sandy bottoms and really nothing special, viz was ok good. I also dived in trincomale, nothing special aswell, viz not that great aswell.


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[Nishan]

What were the sites in Negombo? Trincomalee is not very good for fish other than the reef sharks at Pigeon Island. Its mostly some nice hard coral gardens in shallow water around Pigeon Island. Better for snorkeling than diving.

If you are an experienced diver some of the best diving is in Colombo diving the wrecks. Fish numbers are as good as any place I have dived in outside Sri Lanka. I would say better than most. Not many pelagics but lots of schooling action. You also see hunting tuna and trevally regularly. For some reason everyone seems reluctant to believe there is good diving in Colombo, maybe because its off a big city. But its one of the secrets of Sri Lanka diving and in season the viz can be good as well. Been 20-30m the last week.

Batticaloa also has some great wreck diving on the east.