SNORKELLING IN THE INDIAN OCEAN

WEATHER: Cloudy and a little cool

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Snorkeling in the Indian Ocean

BUMMER OF THE DAY: The weather was shite

BUYS OF THE DAY: Getting my washing done for 8AUD

WORD OF THE DAY: We wish the weather was better

IRISH WORD OF THE DAY: Bad - boat

ANIMALS SEEN TODAY: Fish, fish, fish, water snake, fish, fish, fish, star fish

CAMP SITE RANKING:  Same hotel still 5 out of 5 stars – even though it seems we don’t have hot water – small price to pay I think.

Even though we were back at the room just after 1am, Leese and I stayed up till just after 2am talking about what drunken people love to talk about sex, relationships and men.  The good thing is we even remembered the conversations we had this morning.  It was great to have a great drunken night, remember what happened and not be a burden on people – awesome…..

Breakfast was served between 7.30 and 10.30am.  We had booked a ½ day snorkeling tour that left at 8.30am, so we headed down at 8am for what hoped to be a great hangover feed.  We were a little disappointed when we got ‘an’ egg and 2 pieces of the crunchiest toast I have ever eaten, served with a bit of dodgy fruit, it was eaten, food is food and then we set off to the water to board our boat for the snorkeling.

I am not sure what I expected with what sort of boat we would be travelling on, but it literally was just a tinny with roof on it.  It was big enough for the 9 of us, but I guess I was sort of comparing it with the pirate ship in Greece.  So once we were all aboard, we had to motor to another resort to get fitted up for our snorkel gear and then we hit the sea for another hour to get us out to the atoll where we were to snorkel.  This is a pretty big deal for me; I am not an ocean swimmer AT ALL.  Sean said he would be my snorkel buddy if I needed one, so I popped on my fins and jumped into the water.  It was so cool and since I am not a snorkeler I was pretty impressed with what I saw, but for those that have done it before said it was a little boring.  I didn’t need Sean, which is really cool and I was able to swim all on my own some.  The coral wasn’t that great, but the fish were amazing and we saw all sorts of colours.  We even saw a sea snake, which freaked me out a little, but he was moving in the opposite direction.  I may have been the only one that had snorkel gear that worked; the rest had leaky masks or snorkels that didn’t work.  We were in the sea for around 90 minutes, when we noticed how far we had drifted from the boat, so we decided to start making our way back.  The current was quite strong but all of us except Killian made it back okay.  He got a cramp and had to be picked up by another boat and bought back to ours!  Too funny!!!  The island that we were swimming in front of we found out was private property, Sarah went to have a rest on the beach and this man with a stick came over and told her to back off.  Okay a little protective, but then another guy went to do the same thing and these 2 European guys came over and told him off, he gave some lip back and then the guy jumped on the phone.  Talk about over re-acting, but I guess if I owned an island I wouldn’t want people walking around on it either I suppose.

So after getting back on the boat and having a drink we decided to head back.  The weather was starting to close in and the sun was now gone.  Of all days for the weather to be shitty, just like we had in Ibiza and in San Sebastian, beach day’s equals bad weather.  Oh well, we are still in paradise, so I won’t complain too much.  It started to rain the last 10 minutes of the journey, with the waves really starting to roll, so we made the right decision in coming back when we did.  I am glad I went snorkeling; it was a massive achievement for me, as I really am paranoid of getting eaten by something in the ocean, so it was a big deal for me.  The fish were amazing and to have them swimming right near your face, so close you could touch them was pretty cool.

So with the weather all shitty, there really wasn’t that much to do except sit under the restaurant area where I blogged, people went for a sleep and also interneted.  It was nice to be able to do nothing, so bad weather or not, just to be off the truck and free time was amazing.

Dinner and drinks was pretty low key and we were tucked up and in bed by 11pm.  I guess it is always the way after a big night and the whole resort was a lot quieter as well.  Weird that a busy night was a Tuesday? 

It is sad that we have to leave tomorrow, but all good things must come to an end.  I have really enjoyed Zanzibar and it would be a place that I would come back to again definitely.  It really is paradise here and I am now getting excited for the Seychelles and Reunion Island next month based on what I have seen here!