The port was a short 30 minute drive away from the main town of Jaffna, in a small beach town called Kankesanturai. We had visited the night before for a swim and to soak up our last sunset in Sri Lanka, one of the most beautiful we’d had so far. We also took this as an opportunity to scope out where we needed to go the following day. We had a 1 PM departure, so we arrived at 11 AM to begin the check in process. The port is part of a navy base, and from the number of staff in uniforms, you could definitely tell!! It was hard to know who was army, navy, port authority etc, but there were definitely a lot of them. Immigration and customs was easy and fast, with much smaller lines than you would experience at an airport. We were the only people there that weren’t Sri Lankan or Indian, so we got lots of smiles and attention the whole way through. After about 20 minutes, all the formalities were done, and we were waiting in a very cold departure lounge for another hour and a half until it was time to board. After eating amazing food all throughout Sri Lanka, our final meal consisted of different types of plain white bread and muffins, and Nescafé coffee. I couldn't believe I had eaten my last hopper without really memorialising the experience!!

After 90 minutes of sitting around, all of a sudden things started to move very fast. Everyone was up and out the doors before we even realized what was happening (we had both been plugged in writing and researching), and suddenly we were being told to hurry hurry! We still had our big bags so we were jammed into the middle of a bus to take us the two minutes over to the boat. Then, excitingly, we boarded the boat to India! Somehow we managed to be put in premium economy (by ourselves), not sure if this was our tickets or the fact we were the only white people… the seats were comfy and we had great views out to each side. Unfortunately you couldn’t go outside on this ferry, but we watched Sri Lankan land slowly fade away as we heading further across the Palak Straight. Throughout the start of the trip we were visited by a number of passengers from downstairs, many who were vlogging or FaceTiming friends and family. The boat between the two countries is still a bit of a novelty! They showed a great Bollywood style film on the boat (with subtitles), that was very dramatic and most entertaining, and we were served rice and curry for lunch. Josh had a nap (I was too engrossed in the film), and before too long we were sailing parallel to the Southern coast of Tamil Nadu, making our way to Nagappatinam.