Unawatuna Things to Do

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When I was sifting through our photographs and working out what tips I would write, I imagined that as we spent 9 days in Unawatuna I would have lots to write!
Funny that, as it turns out I have only one tip!

Unawatuna is a small village and the beach is the main focus. It is quite narrow with beautiful sand, and now that a lot of rebuild has happened there are restaurants and accommodations back along the beach. (Unawatuna was hit badly in the Tsunami)
Sitting at the restaurants some days the sea would come up to my feet! We took long walks along the beach, swam in calm shallow waters, and chilled out on our terrace playing cards.

Unawatuna is a beautiful place - I will one day return for sure.

%c

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I did two dives, including wreck dive with Sea Horse Dive School. The owner Rohana, is helpful and very friendly. E-mail: krohana@hotmail.com. Each dive is US$30 and 5 dives US$125.

Another dive school in the other side of the beach is Submarine Divind School. The price is the same. E-mail: shirley_diving@hotmail.com

if you're in Unawatuna and you've got an hour free, visit the Calm spice garden for the best massage in your life! A mother and daughter do a 1hr, 4 handed proper Ayurvedic full body massage for 1500 rps. The spice garden is a 5 minute walk out of town on the main road, down the footpath to the hotel flower garden (if you've got a copy of the lonely planet,) but it's signposted from the road and it's painted bright yellow, so you cant miss it. The women only earn about $15 a month, so if you think they did a good job, feel free to tip them. They also do a range of other massages and herbal steam baths, but they know their stuff!

There really isn't much to do in Unawatuna other than top up your tan and relax. The village itself is very quiet and there's not much nightlife. You can go out on a boat or do some snorkelling but other than that the only place of interest is the Buddhist temple on top of the hill at one end of the bay. It's a short and easy climb up some steps. All there is to see is the imposing white dome but there is also a superb view - of peaceful Unawatuna bay itself to one side, and the rather more ferocious sea crashing against the rocky cliffs to the other. On a clear day you can sometimes see the outline of Galle fort in the distance. Worth the walk any time of day but its particularly beautiful to watch the sunset, when there are usually a few locals having a good time with a guitar and a few bottles of arrack.

The guys at Full moon resort saved this monkey during the Tsunami, and he is a hit here. Watch him do all the monkey tricks.

I did nothing but lazed in Unawatuna. The Full Moon resort was my abode, eat, sleep, read Paulo Coelho, sleep...eat..smoke..buurrrhhh...you wont get a better view!!

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A stroll up at western end of the beqach to teh top of the hill rewards you a pagada and a nice ocean view of the jungle beach on the other side.