Since when does it rain in monsoon season?

Michael (my host dad) and a loggerhead turtle

Stilt Fisherman

So apparently its monsoon season.  Some of you must think I’m crazy for going to an island during the 3 months of flooding rain.  Although given the weather we’ve had I was beginning to think everyone was lying to me.  We’ve had nothing but sunny skies.  Well this morning the heavens opened and it rained.  And I don’t mean a pathetic drizzle, I mean full sheets of water coming down.  It’s actually quite refreshing as it brings some relief to the heat and humidity.  Although somehow water just poured down inside my room.  Hmmmmm. Don’t think that is supposed to happen.  Just had to move all my bags away from the waterfall from my ceiling.  In the afternoon we went to the turtle conservation project in Habaraduwa.  The project takes sea turtle eggs and reburies them on project grounds so that birds and other predators don’t get to the eggs.  Once they have hatched they are stored in big saltwater tanks until they are big enough to be released without fear of predation.  I think the guide said that there are 7 types of sea turtles in the world and you can get 5 of them in Sri Lanka (Green Turtle, Loggerhead, and the one with the ridged shell are the only ones I remember).  We also witnessed an escape attempt by a 20 kilo turtle (that’s the weight of my luggage) who attempted to launch himself over the side of his tank ninja style.  Alas, he was unsuccessful.  Apparently some of these turtles can reach 250 kilos (no idea what this is in lbs, someone do the conversion, maybe 2.2 lbs to the kilo?!?). That’s massive. On the drive home we stopped to see if there were any stilt fisherman out in the ocean but the water was too rough.  The basic idea though is that fisherman lodge these massive poles in the water and then they sit/stand(?) on them while fishing…sounds uncomfortable but would love to try!