Sperm Whale Alley

Roughly 15 kilometres offshore from Batticaloa, the Sri Lanka continental shelf drops abruptly from 100 metres to several thousand metres along a submarine escarpment that concentrates deep-water prey and draws sperm whales on their seasonal westward migration. Between December and April, sperm whale sightings from the surface are reliably reported on calm-day excursions, and in-water encounters — where whales log at the surface or rest in their distinctive head-down sleeping posture — occur several times a season for liveaboard operators who know the area. The site is in open ocean, with no reef or bottom structure within recreational depths, and is dived primarily from liveaboards; the experience is one of open-water freediving or scuba in the presence of the world's largest toothed predator.