Travel to Jaffna in Newly Brought S 13 Train & Visit to 2 Islands in North

Year and Month	2019 February
Number of Days	2 Days ( February 01 – 03 )
Crew	3 (Between 9- 43 years of age)
Accommodation	Guest House in Jaffna
Transport	By Train Boat , Bus & Three wheel
Activities	Religious , Sight Seeing , Photography
Weather	Hot & Sunny weather
Route	Nawinna -> Colombo Fort -> Jaffna -> Kurikadduwan Jetty -> Nagadeepa Island -> Back to Kurikudduwan -> Delft Island -> Kurikadduwan Jetty -> Jaffna -> Colombo Fort -> Nawinna
Tips, Notes and Special remark	If you travel in “Uththara Devi” train reserve your seat early. Because heavy crowd for this train. Most of the time you will miss the morning boats to Delft because lots of Delft villagers for these boats. First priority given to them. Be prepared for such situation & always keep plan “B”.
Author	Sanjeewa
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Last month we saw news item that new train brought by Sri Lanka Railway Department & it deployed to Northern Line. This news item saw by our little one & on that time he wants to travel on this train. From 30th January this train starts his service to Kankasanthurei as “Uththara Devi”. We decided & arrange to visit to Jaffna within very short period of time. We don’t have enough time to book seats. But we took the risk & we start our journey on February 01st. We thought there will be fewer passengers for this train & we can find seats. But we realize our thought was wrong when we came to the Fort railway station. Huge crowd waiting for this train. The train fully packed within few minutes & we were get in to the train but without seats. Luckily our little one received little space for sit offered by kind person. At 11.50 a.m train start journey to KKS. It reached to Jaffna station at 6.40 p.m. It took more than 6 hours to reach Jaffna ,but media mentioned that it takes lesser time than this. After reaching to Jaffna first we search a place to stay. We found the place & after that we went to “Naga Viharaya” in Jaffna. We spent some time there & came back to room.

Next day morning we got up with big plans. We decided to visit Delft Island & Nagadeepa Viharaya. We took 7.00 a.m bus to Kurikudduwan ( KKD Jetty ) from Jaffna town. We came to KKD jetty around 8.00 a.m. At that time also boat to Delft was fully packed only with villagers. Navy officers only allow 100 passengers for boat & not a single outside traveler able to get on to this boat. Also more than 30 villagers unable to get in to boat & waiting for next one. They informed that another boat at 9.30 a.m. So we waiting for it but this time also luck not with us. That boat also fully packed with villagers. Some hot arguments arise with navy officers & travelers. Because not a single traveler can’t get into these 2 boats. Navy officers mentioned that last chance was 1.30 p.m boat. Nearly 60 -70 foreign & local travelers waiting for Delft boat queue. Still 9.30 a.m & most of the people changed their plans & return back to other locations. We also changed our plan & first went to Nagadeepa Temple. At that time large groups came to KKD jetty to visit Nagadeepa temple. We managed to get into the large “Semi Luxury” boat. Around 10.30 a.m we came to the Nagadeepa Temple & we spent nearly 2 hours there.

Again we came to the KKD jetty around 1.00 p.m. Navy officers surprised when they saw us when we in the queue in 3rd time.This time luck with us & can able get into the boat. After 50 minutes journey we came to the Delft island. Last boat leave from Deft on 4..30 p.m. Therefore we have to visit all places & come back to jetty before 4.30 p.m. We took three wheel near jetty & visit in the island. We manage to visit all important places in the island. After visiting all places finally we came to jetty 4.25 p.m. At that time passengers starts get into boat. Any how we were able to get into it. Around 5.20 p.m it reached to mainland. After came to jetty we walked around jetty & watch the nice evening views. We faced another big problem when we searched bus to Jaffna to KKD jetty. Soon after boat arrived to jetty last bus left from KKD jetty to Jaffna. Luckily one navy officer came to us & informs this to us. We don’t have any option other than get assistance from group of travelers came by vehicle. Luckily we found a trip bus returning to Jaffna. On that way we went to see monument in “Arali Point”. Around 7.15 p.m we came to our waiting place. After that we came to Jaffna town & had our dinner. Finally we came to bus stand & get into Colombo bound bus. It leaves 9.00 p.m from Jaffna & reached to Colombo at 3.30 a.m on next day morning. From Pettah we took a three wheel & get back home. We completed another memorable trip under lots of challenges. But finally we were able to complete it as we planned. Pls go through photos & share our experience. Will meet with another trip report in future.

Thanks for reading

Sanjeewa