Nilaveli
This 30km stretch of beach is one of Sri Lanka’s finest beaches, with fine, powdery white coral sand and clear blue calm waters where you can wade out to sea at waist level for hundreds of feet. Pigeon Island off Nilanweli is a fantastic snorkeling spot, deriving its name from the blue rock pigeons that breed on this island. The reef along Nilaveli is outstandingly well-preserved and is home to a dazzlingly colourful collection of tropical fish.
Aside from the popular historical sites at Trincomalee visitors to Nilaveli can visit the ancient ‘Girihandu Seya’ in Thiriyaya, considered to be the first Buddhist stupa built in Sri Lanka and dates back to the 7th or 8th Century and according to legend contains a hair relic of the Buddha.
The sea around Nilaveli and Trincomalee is littered with ship wrecks as well as remains of Japanese Zero fighters which bombed the massive fuel silos near the harbor during WW2.
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