Friday, July 8 – Today is like a Saturday at home since weekends are Friday & Saturday here. Its also the day, like Christians and Sunday church. Due to this, not all boats travel on Fridays, but Im glad this island was one of those that did. I was able to sleep a little longer today and got out of bed at 7:30. Breakfast was quick, with a couple of fried eggs on toast and some vegetable curry with chapati bread.
It was a little rainy so I went back to my room and puttered around on the internet before giving snorkeling another go. I had dreams last night of enormous sharks and harrowing circumstances which made me a little nervous, but decided to be brave and go again.
I felt incredibly lucky that two women arrived on the beach, snorkels in hand, shortly after I did. No one was around yet and Id rather have someone notice that Im around. It looked very much like it was about to storm or have a great big downpour, but since I was going to be wet already, it was fine.
were all heading out and a bit over towards where I was yesterday. It started out the same though, several minutes of not being able to see much past my own hands, freaking me out, convinced I would never find what I was looking for and instead swim right into Jaws mouth. I did of course find the right spot, and almost instantly I saw the turtle again. That was very chill and peaceful. And I was finally able to get pictures. I saw all the same fish as yesterday, including the small sharks, plus a couple anemone with clown fish. I swam closer to the port area than I had yesterday and all of a sudden there were two seemingly enormous sharks that strolled by and then off into the gloom. I decided it was maybe a good idea to start making my way back in the other direction again. The two women had moved on around the port but I wasnt going to go that way. There was another family snorkeling nearby, though, so again I felt pretty safe.
like someone was cutting metal with an electric saw. It must be incredibly annoying for the wildlife under the sea to contend with this all the time.
I had a nice snorkel overall, spending an hour in the water. I would have liked to have seen the turtle again, but it was great that I did see it today at all. When I got out of the water, it was incredibly sunny with blue skies. What a change from an hour earlier! The two women also got out around the same time I did and I heard them speaking English. I stopped over by them on my way back to say hi and thank them for accidentally being there when I needed some distant supervision. We had a nice chat and then I had to be on my way.
Back in my room, I showered and finished the final packing, hanging my swimsuit and dress in the sun to dry a bit first. My hotel was very kind to let me stay in my room past check out since no one was checking in today. I ate the last ramen, made tea, and chatted with Jeroen. He will
I had to leave a little earlier than expected due to the half an hour earlier, but it was not a problem. By then, the weather has changed again and was incredibly windy with some drizzle. I walked over to the other hotel with both backpacks, despite them saying they would fetch them for me. It really was no problem. A couple other men from the hotel were waiting for the boat as well. It turns out they were there for some type of environmental conference this week.
I got a lift to the speedboat and waited inside with others until it showed up. Several of the guys who work in the hotel were there to see us off and got me and the other men on the boat first. service indeed. I sat next to one of the men I had met earlier and after we were on our way, I read a little and slept the rest of the way. It was not nearly so bumpy as my ride to Ukulhas but lots of water rolling over the sides and top, it
I had two hours at the airport before I could actually go inside and three hours before the flight.
