Dive Sites in Trincomalee

Trincomalee was known as Gokanna/Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters and the major resort port city of the Eastern Province.  With the largest natural harbor in Asia. Exposed to  the Bay of Bengal enabling  large vessels to dock. The Tokyo Cement factory owned by a Japanese firm and the Prima Wheat flour factory a German firm use the harbor frequently.  A tropical warm weather prevails around the year with beautiful sandy beaches and Turkish blue waters. The  Hindu temple on top of the swami rock had one thousand pillars was destroyed by Portuguese  in 1622.

Dutch built  Fort Frederick, in  (1676) During World War II,  British had their naval headquarters of  SOUTH EAST ASIA. .The naval base remained in until  1957. The  government of Ceylon abrogated it’s defense agreement with Britain and took over the base.

At present it’s an Army base. Their MOTTO is ” when the going get’s tough the tough gets going !

Lover’s Leap is a cleft on a rock situated a few meters away from the famous Koneswaram Hindu Temple.

The story of Lover’s Leap Trincomalee is a sad  tale of unrequited love. A true story attested by an inscription on a pillar on Swami Rock.  Francina van Reed, the daughter of a high ranking  civil officer of Holland. She was in love  with a young Dutch officer who broke off the affair and returned to Holland.

Forsaken and fraught  she stood atop Swami Rock as the ship carrying her fraudulent lover passed beyond the horizon. With her sincere sorrow, she flung herself from the rock into the  sea below – a sheer clif of 120 M.

A plaque is placed  with the fateful date of the tragedy is noted as  24 April, 1687.

According to the Ramayana, the cleft is made by King Ravana. The mother of king Ravana had practiced the worshiping of God Shiva. When she was very ill, King Ravana lifted the shrine rock and at that time Lord Shiva made him to drop his sword. This resulted in the formation of a cleft on the rock and  named it  “Ravana’s Cleft”.

 Francina van Reed the daughter of a high ranking Dutch civil officer who was in love with a Dutch solider who had to leave back to his home country after the tenure of his service jumped off the rock when the ship carrying her  lover passed beyond the horizon.

Ceylons  under water movie Ranmuthu Duwa (English: Island of Treasures) was the first color full-length movie  produced by Shesha Palihakkara in 1962. Directed by Mike Wilson, who also made his debut as a feature director. The film stars some of those who would go on to become big names in the Sinhala Cinema, such as Gamini Fonseka, Joe Abeywickrema and Jeevarani Kurukulasooriya in the leading roles. Playback singing was by Nanda Malini, Narada Disasekara and W.D. Amaradeva. Lyrics were written by Mahagama Sekara. It was an instant hit among the audiences and some of its songs are still famous today. 

A temple was erected below Swamy rock to feature under water scenes. Some of the statues can be seen lying at a depth 0f 12m  The coastal areas around the town was devastated by the  Indian Ocean tsunami 26th of Dec 2004..

Tourism is being developed. Some of the finest beaches in the world have been re opened for tourists, The famous Marble beach is near the  China bay air Base The fascinating under water world gives the divers and snorkelers an unforgettable experience.

SWIM WITH SHARKS 

The famous coral island dive site offers an adventure swim with 1.5 m to 2 m long Black Tip reef sharks – good even for beginners.

SLNS Weeraya (formally HMCyS Weeraya) (P311) – Shanghai Class fast gun boat commissioned on 1972 Feb 22 and decommissioned on 2020 Oct 12 Sunk in Ocotber 2020 in Trincomalee to form a dive site and fish breeding ground. Gun boat has rendered a valuable service to the nation over four decades. 

To the top of the Monkey island is 11 m. Bottom of the sea bed is 24 m 

Wreck SLNS Jagatha (P315) – Shanghai Class fast gun boat commissioned in 1980 and decommissioned on 2020 Oct 1 Sunk in October 2020 Just 10 m to 20 m away from  wreck WEERAYA

Over all length is 38.78 m Beam  5.41 m Speed 52  -125 – 135 tons 

A valuable contribution for tourism !! In Trincomalee

UNDER WATER MUSEUM  18m 

Swami rock – Ganesh Statues
Multilevel site 25m, 18, 12, and 6m

Swami rock – Nursery slope
6 – 12 m
Magnitude of juvenile fish

Fort Fredrick point Depth
6 – 18 m
Big boulders and drop offs

Uppuveli House Reef – 1 km from the beach
5 – 10 m
Excellent corals

EEL Rock – 2.5 km from Uppuveli
12 – 18 m
Famous for Morays

Fort rock – 3.5 km from Uppuveli
28 – 34 m
Excellent marine life

Cannons
42 m

Pigeon Island West
1 – 12 m
A fairly large rock is visible from the land. Site is good for snorkelers as well as for open water divers. Some of the largest table corals, stab horn corals leaf corals, many varieties of brain corals and lots of mushroom soft corals can be seen.

Pigeon Island – 12 km from Uppuveli
– Snorkeling Spot –
Shark Point

More often divers can see black tip reefs sharks at a depth of 1 – 3 m visiting the south eastern side of the island. Certified snorkeling guide to accompany. You can find more information on our “Pigeon Island Tour” Page

Sardine Tooth (Sala pallu known in tamil) – distance from Hotel Chaaya Blue is 15km
1 – 12 m
Famous for the soft corals

Pinnacles – 2 km from Uppuveli
1 – 16 m
Just 10 min by boat from Hotel Chaaya Blue has got three pinnacles. A good site to conduct the under water navigation training dives.

Uppuweli Coral Bed – 1.5 km from Chaya Blue
Good place to see the coral in the only glass bottom which operates from chaya blu.

Kotuwe Gala – 5 km from Uppuveli
Not very far away from the swami rock. The reef is situated in front of fort fredricks from which the name was given.

Swami rock – West
3 – 16 m
The west side of the swami rock. Depth starting from 3m and goes don to 16m. A very good open water training site. Special care has to be taken since a lot of fishing boats go near the temple to dash a coconut on the wall as a ritual. Dive boat to remain vigilant at all times.
Swami Rock has a good land scape. Visibility variable 5 – 15 m. Good marine life.

 
 
 
 
 
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Ein Beitrag geteilt von SäsHáã FerŋäŋDŏ (@sashaafernando) am

Erakandy ship wreck
14 km

– More information yet to come – 1o m to