The Surfer Beach Camp

The camp

Beach Camp is The Surfer's main house, run by a man born in Weligama, and it sits right on the bay: under a minute from your room to the water. TS2 guests eat and take their lessons here, and guests from all three houses meet here for the big nights.

The day runs to a clock. Yoga at half past six on the roof or the garden deck, breakfast, then the lesson at nine, on foot to the sand. The afternoon is yours, pool, hammock or town, and the evening starts up again at half past six. Beginners stay out front: sand with no reef under it, eight- or nine-foot foam boards, four students per ISA-certified instructor. People who already surf alone go guiding to the Midigama reefs, Lazy Left, Coconuts, Plantations and Rams, and by boat to the ones further out. In January, Plantations works five days out of seven, with hardly anyone on it.

Evenings mean game nights, quizzes, karaoke, themed dinners, films, acoustic sets from local musicians and a rooftop bar, with the odd boat party or pool party. Most guests arrive alone, and plenty bring a partner who does not surf. At ten, the house goes quiet.

The camp is open from 1 October to the end of April, and the swell is most consistent from December to March. No dinner on Sundays. TS2, the sister house, is a hundred euros cheaper in the dorm, but you cross the bay morning and night. To be where everything happens, sleep here.