6. Over the sea; Under the sea

It was an early start on the transfer to day. Turns out ‘swim ready’ just meant they took you on a boat with your luggage, which they whisked away as soon as we reached the island and then I didn’t see again until just before dinner. I was ready with even more baggage with my dive gear out in a separate bag and then all my other bags and luggage ready to leave my hotel this morning - so much so that I had to bring it all to the top of the stairs down from my room then do several trips up and down to get it down the check out. One of the hotel men helped me with the last bit and then offered to walk with me to help me wheel / carry it all over to the dive shop. I arrived looking like I’d brought my staff to attend to me!

Fortunately, before I left, I found the hotel did hot water and I managed to get a bit of milk from them too - much to their horror when they saw me add it to my flask of tea. Milk in tea seems to be a very British-only thing. Which is weird because it’s a drink sent straight from heaven!

As we got on the boat, we were warned we might have to stop a couple of times on the way if anything get caught in the propeller! We were all a bit confused by what that meant as we set off …. until 10 minutes in and we stopped for a big plastic bag to be cut from the prop that it had got tangled in. The sea is so full of plastic and rubbish here. It’s is not good and very sad to see. What’s even worse is that our incredible dive beach resort is directly next to a local village with houses built on stilts on the shore…and rubbish and litter absolutely everywhere all around. I can’t help but feel we should be doing more … such a juxtaposition between westerner tourist wealth and poverty and living conditions that are common here - literally either side of the jetty to the dive platform. I think a serious amount of work on educating people is needed - along with an actual system and infrastructure for collecting and dealing with litter and mega support to fund it all. We take for granted all of our litter bins, collections, the tip and ‘bin day’ ….is it right to judge and be so horrified by the litter when you consider how we might fair if we didn’t have a waste disposal system or collection or were left to our own devices to manage our waste? Let’s face it, many Brits, even though not strictly left to their own devices, are hashing it all up a treat!

Anyway, the dive resort is lush - right on the beach and then accommodation in a selection of luxury huts. We have set dinner times, set times to meet at the jetty for each dive activity and then large amounts of free time for reading our books. It’s kind of like the residential trips we take year 6 children on, only with out a zip wire and for grownups! For lunch today there was either rice or noddles and then egg curry. Actual whole boiled eggs in a curry. The lady explained to me there was egg curry … or for vegetarians, tofu noodles?! I didn’t like to speculate too much on what that must meant the egg curry also contained! For our dinner we had fried chicken and chips & an offer of token salad -  much more in keeping with the school residential theme.

They don’t have milk here, only milk-powder creamer type stuff. And then to add insult to injury, there is only the weird Asian version of Lipton tea. It’s not actual tea. It’s not ok. Fortunately, I have my own supply of tea bags that I shall use - and in doing so,  do my bit to reduce my suitcase contents and luggage weight. Those tea bags are quite heavy! So it’s Yorkshire decaf and powdered milk tea for now. It’s going to be difficult to cope but I shall have to be strong and solider through!

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Second day of diving and some more round the local island. Plenty of turtles, beautiful puffer fish, a big cuttlefish and many little nudis! A nudi, short for nudibranch, is similar to a sea slug - but often with bright colours and some amazing shapes and designs. Our dive guide today was very good at spotting little critters hiding away in holes and showing us tiny stuff - I think he was a little disappointed when he asked for any special requests and I went for puffer fish! He diligently pointed each and everyone out to me though 💙. After a couple of attempts at pronouncing my name, which he seems to have trouble with for some reason, he just called me ‘beautiful mermaid’, which I decided I was happy to answer to. He also took to checking my air gauge at the end of each dive and giving me a shake of the head and a little round of applause. They have all the charm, these guides …there is a tip box at the end of the week although I’m sure there’s no link!

Conversation with a man from Belgium this morning who was exclaiming about how much he appreciated the first hot drink in the morning.

Belgian: Mmm don’t you just love that morning coffee?

Me: well I’m British, so I love my morning cup of tea

B: but coffee first thing though?

Me: oh no, tea for me

B: so this tea,is it …. (Pauses to try and find a word)

Me: delicious? Yes!

B: right

Tomorrow I’m off to Sipidan island for a day diving there, which is very exciting - it’s the reason I came to dive in this part of the world. It’s a 6.45 boat so I shall certainly be taking my flask of delicious tea with me for that!

The WiFi here is sporadic and not great …. There may not be any photos or only very few depending on what I can upload. I may have to share photos once I’m back on the mainland in a week if I can’t do it here!