As we docked, we were surprised to see only a small group of people waiting for us, with three coaches parked at the bottom of the gangway. The few people there turned out to be our guides and tour escorts. There was no sign of the large group of immigration and customs officials who had seen us off in Chennai. Instead, we were told that a single official would arrive at some point during the day while we were ashore to stamp our passports. Everything here felt much more relaxed. For us, it was a breath of fresh air and our first hint that things in Sri Lanka were done differently.

There was a choice of tours today. The half day "Highlights of Trincomalee" or a full day tour to the ancient city of Polonnarawu, including a two hour drive in each direction. Geoff chose the highlights tour, which is detailed on this page. Bruce chose the full day tour, which is detailed on the following page.

This is the route map for the "Highlights of Trincomalee" tour. We began at the jetty in the bottom left corner of the map. Our first stop was at the military cemetery at the top, after which we followed the coastal road down past the Clock Tower to reach our second stop, the Wholesale Fish Market complex. From there and after stopping to feed some deer, the tour continued onto the tip of the Fort Frederick's promontory to visit the Koneswaram Temple atop Swami Rock. Officially, that was the final stop before we returned to the ship for lunch. However, we somehow made a small detour to the Trincomalee Railway Station on the way back. Neil’s passion for trains may have had something to do with that, and Geoff certainly seemed pleased as well.