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After much rumour and speculation, the day has finally come where I provide my accounts of this truly spectacular trip, we've both been so fortunate to experience. Also, never one to let people down I thought it's time to step up to the plate.
In all honestly this is one of the most daunting moments of the trip, Kat has become somewhat of a master blogger. I'm sure an employment offer from Lonely Planet is just around the corner. In a certain sense I hope that's not the case as hitting the homepage yesterday has somewhat inflated her ego, and led to a detailed critique over her latest entry last night whilst Kat sipped away at her new found poison 'the Singapore Sling' while I slipped away at a somewhat camp Blue Lagoon which had Kat reeling in regret at not picking up the camera before we left to dine.
I'm digressing now I'll get on with the reason I'm sat at this terminal.
Today began with yet another early start although not as early as those experienced to catch the crack of dawn flights which at the time of booking felt like a good idea. Making our way to breakfast we came across a gang of monkeys taking the opportunity to plot up their next act of mischief, this had Kat and I stood still in our tracks while we admired their acrobatics. We started to wonder whether these were the same excitable bunch using our roof as a playground which would explain the thumps and bumps, we've become accustomed to hearing throughout the day.
Once breakfast was out of the way we made our way to our snorkelling trip and got fixed up with our gear which when I donned, I was no longer just Lee but 'Scuba Steve' with my trusted sidekick 'Morkel the Snorkel'. We bagged prime seats on the speed boat and enjoyed our journey across the crystal-clear waters as Tioman slowly reduced behind us as we jetted off towards Coral Island.
Itching to get in the water Morkel the Snorkel made her way to back of the boat to ensure she'd be one on of the first in to view the coral and an elegant dive was not far behind. Once in Kat obviously thought that a little re-arrangement of her bikini bottoms was required, unfortunately for her this was not the case and led to a half moon which the people of Hoi An would have been proud to celebrate. I promptly followed to share the 'bum' news. Our first snorkel led to scenes we've only seen captured by Blue Planet with majestic coral waving around freely while fish ranging in all shapes and sizes with magnificent colouring swam around us. Nosy black and white zebra fish were bold as brass swimming right up to our masks while shoals of electric blue Neons moved in perfect unison. Vivid green and turquoise parrot fish with their bright red lips (or Joker fish) and billions of others with every colour of the rainbow and more besides joined the throng.
Warnings are scattered around the resort making guests aware of the presence of sea urchins this has led to several discussions over what we believe them to look like. Yet to see one and still intrigued these mystery strangers soon revealed themselves. They are possibly the most sinister creature I've ever seen with piercing neon blue and orange eyes, a black circular body similar in size to a tennis ball with hundreds of pencil length spikes primed to attack any unwelcome on comers.
The snorkel trip consisted of three dives in total with a second dive located only 300m away from the first, despite this short distance we were greeted by even more spectacular specimens and one hell of a current which even tested out our guide. The third dive was a swim I was not looking forward to, not only were our arms feeling like jelly legs it was also the location of 5ft long sharks, I am not going to tone this down I pretty much wanted to piss myself to be honest. As soon as the guide pointed us in the direction of where the sharks roam, I hastily set off in the opposite direction, fortunately no sharks were spotted.
Hello, tis Kat here, despite doing an excellent job, Lee is a little worried about the pace at which he tells the tale (but doesn't he tell it amazingly!) so I have been drafted in to take over for a wee while. Now watching lee blog has been the hardest thing ever, I do not for a moment doubt his skill he is a hell of a good writer, if he gives himself the opportunity! Our styles of writing are opposite ends of the spectrum, mine is like a verbal haemorrhage of information, pretty much tumbling out of my head and onto the page, much like I talk I imagine. Lee, however, is much more methodological, reading and re-reading each paragraph, often returning to what he had written and deleting it. Watching him drove me a little potty to be honest, he was deleting really good stuff, proclaiming it to be rubbish and I threatened to remove the delete button after a wee while. Quite rightly I was dispatched to take pictures of the sunset as I was driving him bananas trying to convince him not to delete yet another hellish good paragraph! But I admit it feels good to be back in the driving seat, Lee's blog is amazing, but I enjoy writing about our trip and to Lee it feels like a whole heap of pressure which he's not really enjoyed!
Anyways, post snorkelling trip, we were totally pooped, I'm not sure whether it was battling the strong currents, the inordinate amount of sea water we had inhaled or the sheer relief at not meeting Jaws' cousin (the whole time I was at that spot my crazy mind could not help but sing dur, dum, dur dum, Lee confessed to beat boxing at this point cos it sounded good through the snorkel, although the only thing I could hear through the snorkel was the Darth Vader breathing which is a littler spooky!) Anyways, we headed out to Tekek to pick up few more of those duty-free beers which are so cheap and so lovely that it's worth the walk. Though boy was its hot today, so hot in fact the tarmac on the road was melting, which is a bit tricky in flip flops, I jumped a mile when I managed to flip a lump of molten tarmac under my bare foot!
Anyways beer purchased we headed back, chuckling at the Tioman version of a petrol station, (shacks and stalls selling old mineral water bottles filled with petrol, no such luxury as pumps here you just unscrew the lid and pour it in! We arrived back hot and very, very sweaty and did what anyone else would do in our oh so difficult and hard living conditions, we cracked a beer on the balcony before heading down to catch some more rays on the beach! We could do this as we had been super careful during the snorkelling, slapping on the factor 40. I had attempted a similar snorkelling trip on my previous more ouchy visit to Tioman but didn't enjoy it at all as every time I put on the mask I would pop the blistered sore skin on my face and the salt was agony, this time I am proud to say I was so careful and could actually pay attention to the fish instead of wondering whether I was steaming in the water!
So now, lovely people it is to dinner and drinks, it is such a hard thing to have such a busy, busy schedule you know, we may just be able to squeeze in a beer later, or maybe a paddle we'll just have to keep an eye on the clock to see if we can fit it all in! It has been a spectacular day, just when we thought we couldn't see any more amazing things we stuck our head underwater and discovered whole new world! My fave part had to be feeding the fish with stale bread off the back of the boat. One whiff of the bread and literally hundreds of fish flock to your tasty wares and suck with all their might, they don't have teeth, but they have hellish strong suction as the nipped at the bread. Lee watched on enthralled by the fish but declined to join in, you see he often says he's afraid of pretty much anything that isn't him and that includes hundreds of fish sucking at you!
So we'll both skedaddle off to dinner now, I'll relinquish control of the keyboard once again (gosh that's tough - I like driving the PC!) and let Lee finish with his unique and funny comments (although if he ventures near that delete button one more time, it won't be the fish or lizards that he should fear!) Goodbye for now lovelies, we'll update again either from here on Sunday, if we do anything worth telling you about that is or from Hong Kong next week! Big hugs to all, love Morkel the Snorkel! xxx
I've enjoyed my opportunity to blog, next time I'll lock Kat away somewhere, giving me the time and space, I require.
Lots of Love Lee. aka Scuba Steve.
- comments
sar KATHRYN LUCY BAKER.....ahem....BILBROUGH...you massive control freak you!! Here I am sipping a lovely glass of chilled pinot while the boys spend the night at Grandmas..(yes I know it isnt as exotic as a Singapore Sling but I am only in Methley after all!!)...completely LOVING that we have finally received a Lee blog and I must say thoroughly enjoying it and laughing in all the right places, when WHAT HAPPENS???? YOU cant hack him writing his one and only chapter and boot him off the computer, leaving him only the last sentence to write!! Shocking!! ** note to Lee - I think you are completely right that kat should indeed be locked in a cupboard should you attampt to blog again!! However, I must admit that this, as per all the rest of the blogs is FANTASTIC.....again -the pair of you!! Loves muchos xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
A Jax U john and DD Loved Lees blog - it should be nominated for the Booker prize it is so poetic! We are loving all the details cos it makes us feel like we are there too! Humphhhhh!
Joy Hi Lee & Kat It's good to hear that you are both enjoying the fantastic trip. keep having fun, & take care. Lots Of Love Mum x x x