Day 22

Got up at 7am for an early breakfast of waffles, hash browns and some amazing pineapple jam on toast (never heard of it before, but I highly recommend it!). Took a quick stroll around the island again as it was low tide, so there was a little bit more island to walk around. I was saddened to see a lot of large plastic bottle and other rubbish had washed up on the shore overnight – so I started gathering it up to put it in the bin. We had seen a lot in the ocean on the way to the island too – it's incredible to me how people can litter.

Carrie and I were going on another snorkelling expedition, but this time from a boat, which took as further out into the ocean. We were leaving at 9.30am and when we arrived at the jetty, the guy who did our induction had just come back from a dive, so Carrie asked if he was our instructor too. He didn't really understand though, and thought she was asking him if he'd like to go snorkelling with her! We got in a speed boat with an Indian couple and headed about five minutes from the island at high speed. The snorkelling here was amazing. The ocean was a lot deeper and the fish were even larger as a result. Off to the sides there were often patches of dark blue/black ocean – nothing there but sharks the instructor told us. The other couple gave up snorkelling after ten minutes, so then we had the two instructors to ourselves. They were trying to get me to dive down so I could see an octopus in the coral – but I was rubbish at it. Just kept bobbing to the surface – I blame the fins! They both thought it was hilarious that I just floated! We only had an hour, which just flew by.

On our way back to the chalet we were looking at the turtles on either side of the wharf – and we got talking to another guy visiting the island. He said he had just been snorkelling with them directly from the beach – so we decided to do the same! The water was super shallow – so we just floated along and hovered nearby as they gracefully glided along, stirred up the sand and ate the plants on the sea bed. They quite often had a few fish swimming underneath cleaning their shell. They are truly amazing to see up close – they have big, wandering eyes, patterned skin, wrinkly necks and some had massive shells – the primary one we followed was at least as big as the turtle who was nesting the night before.

Then we headed back to the chalet to sit outside in the sun – but it was so hot we only managed to last half an hour. The sun was behind cloud cover too – but we were sweating everywhere! We then

headed to lunch – today I had buttermilk prawns, which were absolutely delicious, and the sauce was incredible.

After lunch I visited the reef guardian centre, as I wanted to adopt a turtle nest. There were lots of interesting stats and specimens dotted around the centre. There was a massive drop in nesting turtles from 2013 – 2014 - down from over 800 to around 300. This was because 500 turtles were illegally poached by the Philippines, with the poachers even venturing into the protected marine park. So sad. I got to choose the nest I wanted to sponsor, and wrote out a plaque to attach. My nest is number 282 and contains 128 eggs – I will get photos when they hatch. I went into the hatchery to get a photo with the nest. One of the other nests had movement – so the lady let us poke our finger in the sand, it was a bit like feeling a baby move. But then the sand started to bulge like they were about to burst through (which takes them up to seven days from the bottom of the nest) – so

the lady piled more sand on, pressed it down, and told them to take a nap. It was too early in the day for them to emerge – which would further reduce their chance of survival.

Went snorkelling again in the afternoon, except all five of us went this time. The other guys felt more comfortable in life jackets, and this time we went to the right of the jetty – the coral was very close to us again. Vijan had a penchant for splashing a lot and kicking me – he has no spacial awareness! This time I got to see five clownfish, long and thin piper fish, puffer fish, a scorpion fish, a ray/shark which blended perfectly with the sand, and Vijan was lucky enough to see a reef shark! He wasn't so keen – so didn't hang around to point it out to us! We were out for around two hours this time – the sea was a lot rougher and there were a few jellyfish today. They are huge and translucent – I swear we saw one that's body was as big as a car tyre. I just floated and watched it moving – it's body practically

see-through except for some thin blue within the tentacles.

Then it was back to get changed for dinner. A storm had been brewing for a while, and we just managed to reach the restaurant before the heavy wind and rain started. It was amazing sitting on the lounge chairs, with the warm wind in our hair, watching it unfold – the perfect way to end a great few days. Dinner consisted of potato soup as a starter (it was absolutely amazing, and the chef wrote out the recipe for Steph after she asked for it), followed by salt and pepper squid. We had arranged a birthday cake for Steph – and all the staff brought it out and enthusiastically sang Happy Birthday. They even had a guitar – they seem to love guitars here! It was chocolate sponge with cream icing – and very nice!

The only downside to the whole trip was trying to pay! What a nightmare! Firstly they forgot some stuff off our diving bill – which perhaps we shouldn't have mentioned, because it took forever for them to contact the dive master and check. There was a lot of confusion – and card payments need to be done over the phone and with a manual slider machine – no chip and pin. Then it wouldn't accept my debit card – so it took 45 minutes to pay! Luckily Carrie lent me some cash so I could pay that way. No wonder they say not to leave it till morning. It was lovely having a shower and finally washing all the salt off though! It rained heavily overnight – it was lovely listening to that and the lapping waves.