Wayfarer (Dive and Discover)
THE DEEP WATERS TRAIL
PKG 08A --- The Wrecks of the Eastern War
May -- September · East Coast · 8--10 days
PKG 08B --- The Coins, the Reef & the Southern Sea
November -- April · West & South Coast · 8--10 days
Overview --- Why Two Windows
Sri Lanka sits in the Indian Ocean at the intersection of ancient trade routes and two world wars. What that means underwater is extraordinary: WWII aircraft carriers, Royal Fleet tankers, a Dutch Catalina flying boat, Mughal coin ships, and reef systems that sustained fishing communities for centuries before scuba diving existed.
The island's dive seasons are almost perfectly counter-cyclical. The east coast --- where the WWII wrecks lie --- is calm from May to October when the south-west monsoon closes the west and south coasts. The west and south coasts --- Bar Reef, Hikkaduwa, Galle, the Great Basses --- are best from November to April when the north-east monsoon keeps the east coast rough. Between them, PKG 08A and PKG 08B give Ophiro a dive-focused product that is bookable for over ten months of the year.The island's underwater layer is the most literally buried of all its layers. This journey goes there.
Window
comparison
PKG 08A --- East May to September. HMS Hermes, Catalina Y-78, coast wrecks RFA SS Athelstane, Pigeon Island, Arugam Bay. Cultural Triangle on the drive in.
PKG 08B --- West November to April. Bar Reef, Hikkaduwa, & south coast Unawatuna, Mirissa blue whale, Great Basses Reef coin ship, Kirinda/Yala.
Seasonal logic East coast wrecks run opposite to west/south diving season --- between them, almost year-round coverage.
Best for Certified divers (all levels) seeking wreck and reef diving. Couples where one partner dives. Return visitors. Guests who want the island from below.
PKG 08A · THE
WRECKS OF THE
EASTERN WAR
The world's first purpose-built aircraft carrier lies at 53 metres. The island does not mention it in the brochures. Ophiro does.
Three ships that did not survive April 1942. One flying boat that landed in the wrong sea in December 1943. All lying in clear warm water off Sri Lanka's east coast, in an area that sees calm seas only between May and September. HMS Hermes. RFA SS Athelstane. Catalina Y-78. And the reef at Pigeon Island that gives beginner divers and snorkellers an experience entirely their own. This is not a journey for one kind of traveller. It is a journey built so that every guest --- whatever their certification level --- encounters something they will not have words for when they return to shore.
Package
overview
Package name The Wrecks of the Eastern War
Route Colombo → Sigiriya → Minneriya → Trincomalee → Pigeon Island → Batticaloa coast (HMS Hermes) → Pasikuda (Catalina, Athelstane) → Arugam Bay → Colombo
Duration 8 days minimum / 10 days ideal
Season May -- September (east coast dive window)
Territory Wellspring --- Ancient · Layered · Rare
Dive levels Technical certified: HMS Hermes, Catalina Y-78, Athelstane. All levels: Pigeon Island reef, Arugam Bay. Non-divers: snorkelling throughout.
Best for Certified divers · Technical divers pursuing WWII wrecks · Mixed-certification groups · Curious Retiree · European guests 10+ days · Return visitors
PKG 08B · THE
COINS, THE REEF &
THE SOUTHERN SEA
A Mughal coin ship discovered by Arthur C. Clarke. The largest coral system in Sri Lanka. An 1870s lighthouse standing in the middle of the open ocean.
The Great Basses Reef lies 9 nautical miles offshore from the small fishing town of Kirinda on Sri Lanka's south-east coast. It is accessible by boat for approximately 50 days each year --- the narrow inter-monsoon window between mid-March and mid-April when neither the north-east nor the south-west monsoon is blowing. The most famous wreck on the reef is the coin ship: a 24-gun Mughal trading vessel of Emperor Aurangzeb (1658--1707), discovered by Arthur C. Clarke and Mike Wilson in 1961, lying at 20 metres in a surge-prone passage of reef with thousands of silver coins originally recovered. The Great Basses Lighthouse --- a Victorian granite tower built in 1873, 37 metres tall, standing in the middle of the sea --- is visible from the Kirinda shore on clear days. This package builds to the Basses through some of the finest reef and wreck diving on the west and south coasts.
Package
overview
Package name The Coins, the Reef & the Southern Sea
Route Colombo → Kalpitiya → Hikkaduwa → Unawatuna / Galle → Mirissa → Kirinda (Great Basses) → Arugam Bay (optional) → Colombo
Duration 8 days minimum / 10 days ideal
Season November -- April (west & south coast window) · Great Basses: mid-March to mid-April only
Territory Wellspring --- Ancient · Layered · Rare
Dive levels All levels throughout. Great Basses: experienced divers only (shallow but strong surge). Hikkaduwa coral gardens: beginner-friendly. Unawatuna Rangoon wreck: intermediate.