Yesterday, took a snorkeling trip. Left before 11 am and headed by boat to Turtle Bay, across on the other island. The bay lived up to its name. Gigantic sea turtles, two of them. They weren't bothered by us very much, but slided away if we go too close. Way cool.
The trip would've continued to Shark Point and other places, but there was some smoke coming up from our beach, and we decided to check out if it's anything serious. I thought it was someone burning garbage on the beach or some early lunch BBQ with bigger-than-usual catch. However, headed back to the beach and indeed there was something going on.
Serious, yes. This is the picture of the chalets as we found them. Ours is the second from right.
So all we could do was to grab a bucket and get in line passing water from the sea to the huts, trying to constrain the fire. And we succeeded in that, the main building (restaurant; other of the two places selling beer on this beach [conservative islamic region, remember?]).
The fire had started in chalet 11, we were staying in 9. But still the staff had managed to pull almost all of our gear from the hut, save for some items of clothing and electronic gadgets, couple of books, and my cellphone. So don't bother calling me, this time the ignorance of your calls and messages is not intentional.
So we had to find another place to stay in, which wasn't as straightforward as one might think, since nearly all the places had already shut down for the monsoon season.
Later that night we did a survivor / fire rescue workers party at the best restaurant of the beach. The restaurant was open for the last night, and they only had one beer left. I drank it and took some decisive action. After going combing down all the beach, I managed to purchase 2 cases of beer from the burned-down restaurant (guess who was the hero of the moment!) and I'm proud to tell you, none was left this morning.
The survivors here, at the end of the evening, some already missing: Victoria (sweet and utterly charming lass from UK), Simon (great bloke, see his around-the-world adventures on Hallidays Adventures), Hannah (beautiful and fun redhead with a stunning smile from UK), Philip (a good man, originating from Texas), Tea and me.
Today, we wanted to continue the snorkeling trip that was cut short yesterday. And I'm very happy that we did. Saw amazing-coloured bays, loads of various-shaped and coloured fish, the giant turtles again, and then the sharks. We were joined on this trip by Victoria and two guys, from UK and Sweden. If any of you should ever be in need of pictures of black-tip sharks on coral reef, just let me know, I'm sure one of my 300-or so pics will suite your needs just perfect.
Tomorrow we are leaving this exceptional island (with a promise to the burned-down place's owner to return some day) and try to get to Langkawi, an island on the other side of Malaysia. Since my cellphone thingy is no more (they're just so last season!), the location map probably wont be updated anymore.
So that is our last two days. How was yours, my hearties?
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