Day 52 - Ngapali Beach Day 3

Dana woke up feeling fine - hallelujah! - so she called Mr. Bean (name of the guy who,has the snorkel trip business - it's on his card - and he actually looks a bit like Rowen Atkinson), and we arranged for a pickup.

The buffet was particularly good, again with the backdrop of a calm morning sea...



and in addition to two guys doing omelets, they had a guy doing yogurt and muesli, as well as some new pastries, so...I had a multi-course breakfast, starting with fresh watermelon and papaya, and including really good coffee. It was all included in the hotel rate, and this is one of the cheapest places on the beach.

We got our stuff together and waited on the beach until Mr. Bean's guys picked us up in a covered boat, and we went south along the beach a bit to pick up two Finnish guys, then headed toward Pearl Island.



We first dropped in on the shore side of the island. The snorkeling was surprisingly good. The water was calm and clear, there was a lot of mounding and other kinds of coral (contrary to the LP's commentary), and there were many varieties of tropical fish, several of which I don't think I've seen before. Our favorite was one spotted like a leopard, although there also were some very nice angelfish and parrotfish. Sorry, no underwater camera.

We snorkeled there for over an hour and then moved around the island to the seaward side, where, surprisingly, the water was also calm and clear. We were in one of several bays formed naturally by rocky promontories that were like jetties.

We snorkeled there for another 45 minutes and then they took us for drive-bys of the two fishing villages, including the one I'd gone to yesterday. When we got back we were still full from breakfast and so snacked in the afternoon and lazed on the recliner cots while reading and gaming on the pads.

Never has the phrase "another lovely day in paradise" been more apt for me - even without the wifi. Come to think of it, devices don't really belong in paradise, if there is one.

We had a drink on the veranda of the restaurant while watching the sunset...


until the lights of the fishing boats filled the horizon, and then had an early dinner, escaping the puppet show, which, we discovered, is the same every night.



As we headed back to our room, we discovered that the wifi in the lobby was working well, so I actually managed to complete a day and post it, before things returned to the normal malfunctioning.

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