Pigeon island aptly named by its colonizing pigeons is one of the marine national parks Sri Lanka has. This amazing piece of geography is blessed with coral reefs and marine life. Even though being colonized by British as a shooting arena in the colonizing days, this was declared a national park in the year 2003 taking to account the variety of marine life at the island. Pigeon Island consists of two islands; large pigeon island and small pigeon island. The large pigeon island is fringed by a coral reef, and is about 200 m long and 100 m wide. Its highest point is 44.8 m above mean sea level. The small pigeon island is surrounded by rocky islets. The national park is situated within the dry zone of Sri Lanka. Better exploration of Pigeon island is done through snorkeling, a round of snorkeling in the clear blue waters will reveal countless colorful coral reefs, and reef sharks (unharming) along with other types of fish swimming in front of your eyes. In occasions you will also be able to spot one or two green turtles and hawksbill turtles. Other than all this pigeon island is an important breeding ground for rock pigeons abundantly found around the national park.