Mirissa - easy livin'

 Surfing Mirissa

Mirissa has two reef spots. The main spot is easy to surf but the second is really shallow at some points.

- Main spot -

 

Getting there

Enter the little road from the main next to the tattoo studio. At the junction turn to the right and then take the first left. You will find the point after 30 meters. Besides the restaurants there is also a little kiosk to buy water, fruits and coconuts. We do not recommend the juices… I tried one without sugar or honey and it was NO pleasure.

 

 

 

Surfing it

There are three ways to enter/exit the reef. The easiest way with no risk is paddling around the big rock formation (1). The second is between the rocks on the beach and the wooden stick the locals rammed into the sand (2). Be careful there will be some rocks to avoid! And the last way is on the right side over the shallow reef but it is only safe on high tide and if you miss the line you can easily damage your board or yourself (3). Only surf behind the yellow line marked in the next picture.

red = entries, do not cross the yellow line...

On most of the days you can surf a right hand on the right side. But every now and then you will find an a-frame entering in the middle and a left hander starting besides the big rocks as well.

Tim surfing the a-frame

 

surfing a small right

As Mirissa is a tourist place you can find yourself in a crowded line up sometimes. Though in January it was never too much.

For our experience the spot works better if the swell hits the coast from south-west than straight from south.

Mirissa is known for it's sea urchins so take care and try to avoid getting in contact with the reef or you might end up like me went off surfing for about 6 days... The spikes hurt!

here we is the uncut spot clip.

 

 

 - left spot -

Getting there

You can find the spot by entering the little path from the main showed in the picture below or just walk along the beach.

 

Surfing it

Enter the reef from the right side. The left side is really shallow. First watch some other guys surfing this spot before going in. It can be fun on bigger days as well!

 

 

Accomodation

Prices will vary from 1000 LKR for non AC room to western prices in the bigger hotels at the beach. We had a really nice stay at “Mother’s House”. The owner is such a friendly guy who offers rooms from 1000-1500 LKR w/o Breakfast. He owns a varan that sometimes walks along. If you are lucky you can also feed a "Günther" the monkey that visits the place from time to time. Ok well we have to admit that we gave him that name... ;)

Günther at his best

The best way to find a nice place is to to check out different places and chose the one you like. It should be no problem getting here w/o a reservation. Tough in December it might be better to book a room with AirBNB for the first day or two because it is the peak of the main season.

Food

The whole day you can buy rotis, rolls or pastry from the “tune bread” tuk tuk’s. Those tuk tuk’s are around for some years now. They play a loud song that will burn into your mind and connect it to food ;)... The tourist price is sometimes twice as high as the local price which should be around 25 LKR. We managed to get the local price so it’s worth a try.

Restaurants

Amarasinghe Guest House. There are three Amarasinghe in Mirissa. We tried only the one which is the hardest to find. It is pretty well hidden inside the backland like 3-5 Minutes from the mainroad (with tuktuk or scooter). Better ask a tuktuk driver. You will follow a sand road for like 2 minutes don’t worry. Even it is a little off the ocean it is really worth getting there. It was the best rice n curry we had so far and we tried some in four weeks ;)... 290 LKR for the veg curry is a really good price and the grow lots of veggies in their garden.

Dewmini’s Roti shop: Really tasty, good prices and nice people. Do not miss it. Amazing Rotis, good juices delicious fruits and awesome kottu/fried rice. Our favourite place for breakfast and lunch. (If you are Vegan order the sweet roties without that milk sirup they put on top and do not worry about the "honey", it is coconut sirup...). Try a Banana roti with added Coconut! So good!

Fried rice at Dewmini's. Yummy!!!

Dinu’s place near the main spot. Good rice n curry. A bit more expensive like 600 LKR for veg curry. The woman who owns the place calls herself Mama. She is really nice.

Conclusion

We love Mirissa so much! It has some amazing restaurants and one of the best coast position for a base. It is in the middle between many good surf spots. You can easily change daily destinations without driving to long. There are good accommodations to choose and it’s own surf spots are quite nice as well. Choose Mirissa if you wanna go for a surfari to check out what the coast has to offer.

If you are an absolute beginner we would rather recommend Weligama or the beach breakes near Matara to start surfing. 

If you only need a few really good reef spots go for Midigama. Nice spots and good waves!

Stay stoked