01/02/19

I have just spent two weeks in Sri Lanka, it is a tremendous country and well worth the visit, the people are very helpful and friendly and I barely scratched the surface in two weeks, I’ll definitely be back.

Agents: I used Sri Lanka Shipping, details as follows:
Mr Rodney

Sri Lanka Shipping Co Ltd.
P O Box 1125, Robert Senanayake Building.
46/5, Nawam Mawatha, Colombo 02.Sri Lanka.
Tel: (94) 112336853
Fax: (94) 112437420
E Mail: lankaship@slsc.lk

The service was great, friendly, good communication before arrival and rates were good, I paid $200US all in(port & agent fee’s) would absolutely recommend.

check in: Have a sense of humour and you’ll be fine, it’s a bit of a palaver and Everyman and his dog coming on the boat, but they are all very welcoming, I sailed into the bay at 8 am on a Saturday morning and was all checked in able to go ashore by 11 am.

Galle Harbour: Ita a dirty commercial port, so your boat will get dirty from cement dust etc, no one was mooring stern to when I was there but it was busy, I was out in the main harbour rafted alongside someone else as the “marina” area was full with commercial boats and pleasure craft, there is lots of surge throughout the harbour but use plenty of fenders and protect your mooring lines and you’ll be good to go, fender boards are super useful here, if it’s busy, you will be rafted up. I left the boat here for a week and went touring and it was fine.

There is only one toilet block with two toilets and one shower, not the cleanest place in the world but better than nothing.

SIM cards and stuff: there are tuk-tuk Guys outside the gate who can help you with laundry, SIM cards and anything else that you need, and just like everywhere else you’ll pay for it, but if you can’t be arsed doing your own laundry or indeed need anything else, one of those guys will help you out, I used a chap called Ekka, his number is 0723371116, friendly and reliable, the laundry was quick and efficient.

All in all, a great country and totally worth the stop, I’ll definitely be back

Posted on behalf of John Cheng

I have seen some comments in noonsite regarding the local Agents in Galle, Sri Lanka. I have been in Galle with my sailing vessel Andrano and appointed Agent “Windsor”. On the VHF I heard one of my friends in Galle and try to contact Windsor Yacht Agency and due to some failure of their mailing connection, he could not contact them and appointed another Agency for an agent.

Just a few hours later he contacted me and informed me that the agent was so expensive and bad service. I explained how you will get excellent services, friendly and low cost, quality services. Please appoint Windsor and their contact details as below for your reference. Their charges will not change and Fixed rates US.$. 225.00 for including all Inward and Outward Customs Charges, Agency fee, Harbor Dues.

Contact Details: windsorreef@dialognet.lk / windsorreef@yahoo.com (You can email now its working email addresses.)

Phone: 0094912248804

That the owner of the Windsor Yacht Agency Mr.Windsor past away and his two sons operate this company very well.

Thank you
John Cheng SV. Andrano

1. The marina is average in terms of the environment. There are a lot of floating rubbish manly plastic bottles on the sea. Galle is a pleasant city and relaxing. We like it very much.

2. We used Tango as an agent. The service is good. They help to arrange repairs to our refrigerator, sail and varnishing. Ask the prices before confirming the service as I considered that they should cheap but turned out to be not as cheap as I thought though still acceptable.

The owner (Chatura) and staff of the Tango are honest people. We met some in the previous ports in the Middle East that we suffered a lot in terms of time and costs. Much more expensive than sailing in the Mediterranean in terms of port charges or agents’ fee.

We used Tango Shipping Agency, they provided a good service and catered for all our needs on time. The agency fee is fair and they helped fill the gas bottles, discard the junk and arrange a good round tour to the rapids for kayaking. The staff is very cooperative and they provide timely service.

Posted on behalf of Maurice Wainwright – New Marina
1. At last a marina is under construction in Galle. It is located immediately south of the New Pier behind the floating pontoon. The concrete piers are being built and eventually, the entrance will be excavated into the harbour. It is scheduled to open in April 2015. Whether this happens remains to be seen, but at least a start has been made!

2. At the risk of promoting one agent over another, I would recommend yachts to use Windsor Reef. Firstly they are probably the most organised and knowledgeable and secondly their offices are not more than 100 metres from the harbour entrance. The other agents tend to be in town which can be a long hike in the heat and humidity of the island. Windsor is no more expensive than the others. Yachts should be wary of agents’ boats coming out to sea to meet them to sell their services. Windsor can be reached on VHF Ch 69.