Surfing in Sri Lanka in February

Nothing changes in the water between January and February. The north-east monsoon has blown since November and still reaches the south coast as an offshore, so the mornings stay clean and the count barely moves: five days out of seven at Plantations in Midigama, four in Weligama bay. What you lose is mostly afternoon wind, rarely a flat sea.

What changes is the calendar on land. The fortnight around New Year is the busiest of the southern year and February sits clear of it. It is still high season, rooms are priced like it and the good camps fill, but the Christmas visitors have gone home and the line-ups at dawn are easier to share than they were six weeks earlier.

That makes February a good month to base yourself in Midigama if you already surf. Four reefs break across two kilometres, all on the same swell and the same offshore, and most people stop at the first one, so a peak with a handful of people on it is realistic. Every one of the four has rock in the line-up, which is why a first trip still belongs at Weligama, fifteen minutes east along the coast, where the bay is sand and works at every tide.

The easy way down is the train. The line from Colombo runs beside the water for the last stretch into Ahangama and Midigama and costs a fraction of a transfer. By road, Weligama is two and a half to three hours from the airport. The sea is 28°C, the days are the same length as in July, and nothing in the water will tell February from January. Book the bed before the flight: February is still high season, and the camps that were full at New Year fill again.

If you already surf, February in Midigama gives you January's waves with the New Year crowd gone. Plantations comes up clean five days out of seven, level with January, and the days it loses go to wind rather than to a flat sea. It is still high season, but the peak of it has passed, and with four reefs across two kilometres you can usually find a peak with only a handful of people on it.

The four break on the same south-south-west swell and the same north-easterly offshore, so the choice is about shape. Lazy Left peels. Plantations breaks both ways. Rams Right is short, hollow and shallow, the one wave on the island that is strictly for experts. Coconuts closes the run at the eastern end. All four have rock in the line-up; Weligama, fifteen minutes east, is the sand if anyone in your group is still learning.

The reefs are a walk apart, which is rare on this island and the reason people come back to Midigama rather than somewhere prettier. You look at all four before breakfast and paddle out at the one that is working. Take the train down: the line from Colombo runs beside the water for the last stretch and costs a fraction of a private transfer.

The trade is the evenings. Midigama has two or three kitchens, a scattering of guesthouses and nothing after nine, and the people who return come for exactly that. If you want a night out as well, sleep in Ahangama, a few minutes west, where the rooftops and cocktail bars are, and ride to Midigama for the dawn. The Rock off Kabalana beach is there too, a both-ways reef peak with urchins on the bottom, for the mornings you want a change from the four. Either way, book early: February is still high season, and the guesthouses nearest the reefs go first.