We are up early and check out of our tent and in to a twin room. To be honest it wasn't as good as the tent, but what can you do. I'm renting a kayak today to go and see the emerald cave, I have said to Sara Jane and David and they are going to come along. We head down to the beach and get sorted with 2 kayaks. They only have 2 man ones and as neither of these two have ever been in a kayak I take mine on my own. We have to trail the kayaks down to the sea, about 30m, harder than it sounds given the heat.
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Once we get off these two are zig zagging all over the place, expending much more energy than necessary. We keep paddling, knowing that the first point of interest is the emerald cave. The sea is perfectly calm today, and I am being slowly cooked in my kayak, luckily a splash of water and I can cool off. When we get round the point of the island we can see a lot of boats all tied up. Plenty of people in the sea heading in to this cave. Most people have come here in a group, and so you see a train of 30+ people, all wearing life jackets bobbing in the sea holding on to each others shoulders. Then the guide at the front is the only one moving, looks tough. I take the kayak over to have a look inside, there is no way we are getting the kayaks in there so we head over to a buoy and get them tied up. Then off the kayak in to the sea. The sea is lovely and warm, beautiful. We all head to the cave and start the swim in, after a whole it becomes clear why we were told to bring a torch, it is pitch black in here. We float around for a bit and wait for one of the trains to light up the way. Path illuminated and on we go, once we go round the corner we can see daylight and then it opens up in to the alcove. The water pools at the exit of the cave and as you emerge on to the beach you are met with the light streaming in. A tropical paradise, well apart from all the tourists that are here. I can imagine that if you were the first person to discover this you would be blown away. There are trees growing at the back of the beach and all up the steep cliffs surrounding the cove. We take some photos and Sara Jane draws in the sand, tough life, I think this is perfectly apt. We get back in the water as more and more tour groups are arriving and the beach is starting to get crowded. As we enter in to the cave we are again shrouded in darkness, we swim round the corner straight in to a group of people coming in the opposite direction. For some reason none of these people have a light and so we crash right in to them. A mess of limbs and languages in the darkness. Being in water in the dark I am taking shallow kick to keep myself afloat, don't want to scrape my legs off the rocks. I'm getting swept backwards by the crowd, it's not the best feeling, but I eventually find a way through. The cave in front of me is now clear of people, I can see the light streaming in through the opening, the water is a glorious turquoise, I even see a massive shoal of fish. I try to clamber on to a nearby rock and get my phone from David's dry bag to take a photo, but with my bobbing it's no good. We exit the cave and climb back into our kayaks.
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After we get away from all the tourist boats, we have a look at our soggy paper map and we can see another beach further round the coastline so we decide to go and check that out. The guys are getting much better on their kayak at this stage and we are almost able to go side by side. We get up to the beach and there are just some people leaving. Get the kayaks up and Sara Jane lies down in the sun, David and I head for the shade and a drink. This was it, our own private beach. Nobody in sight, not a cloud in the sky, in my own kayak, great! After some messing around in the sea, it is time to get back on the boats and head back. I'm starting to feel the burn a bit now in my shoulders and so the row back is significantly slower than the advance here. Grab some lunch, which takes forever, and I am sure that they forgot about me. Then straight to bed for some sleep. Well I wanted some sleep, but it is so hot that I just manage to doze a little.
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We head out for dinner with Thomas and head to the terrace as Thomas said he had eaten there before and the food was good. I would have described the food as ok, nothing special. Having an early one tonight as we have to be up early tomorrow to leave the island. On the way back we have to watch our step because there are hermit crabs everywhere, and some of these bad boys are massive. Thomas ends up playing with the crabs, clearly scaring the life out of them. Sara Jane and I head home while Thomas and David play with the crabs Crazy.