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My blog 15.10.11 - Sihanoukville Day 2 - The Boat that rocked!
So this morning was the boat adventure that i'd been persuaded to purchase the day before. I was actually quite excited about it even though I didn't really have any idea where i was going or what i'd be doing. A little adventure.
I arrived just on time and handed over my ticket as I got on board. The boat was quite big and was really nice. It had three levels... the bottom was where all the tables and the chairs were, the second level was a huge bar area and of course the top deck, being the sun deck. Immiately I was impressed. The clientel on board were all different ages of all nationalities too. I sensed today had to be a better day than the disappointment yesterday and I was smiling like a cheshire cat. Horray - it looked as though the choice i'd made to go on the boat was going to be a good one.
As we headed off breakfast was served immiately. Danish and tea and cofffee. This was where I met Sam. I could tell he was English immiately but having heard him speak to his g/f (Tarrin) I couldn't work out whether she was Kiwi or Aussie. Turns out she was Kiwi. They were a lovely couple who actually I spent a lot of the day talking too.
On route to the first stop of the day we passed a tiny tiny island with about three posh looking huts sparsly spread on it. The skipper informed us that this island was worth it's weight in gold for it was an exclusive island which charged $3,000 a night to stay in one of the posh huts. It had to be something special!!!
Stop one just off the coast of one of the islands was our snorkling stop. I grabbed the equipment and took my camera straight in with me. I was actually quite shocked how good the visibility was in the water. The Lonely Planet guide describes how good scuba is on the coast of Cambodia, not as good as the Southern Islands fo Thailand of course but it does rave about how good the conditions are here. I was massively impressed. The lonely Planet guide wasn't wrong in this instance. All different species of fish, loads of corals and of course the water was lovely and warm too. I think we were in the water for about an hour or so here. I was in my element with my face in the water the entire time following the fish around and navigating myself around the shallow waters of the edge of the island :-)
Back on the boat I headed straight for the sun deck. No surprise there then, eh?! LOL.... To dry off obviously!!!!! Chilling out on the boat in the sunshine as we cruised onto the next stop was great. The sunshine was beting down and I was getting to know Sam and Tarrin all the way I was proper chilled and really happy i'd booked the trip.
Lunch on the boat was called and as everyone headed to the lowest level of the boat I sat with a group of other people who introduced themselves as Natalie and Bruce, both from Perth although Bruce lives and works in Laos, and Gary who was from South Africa. We sat and chatted while we ate the lovely buffet style lunch that was served and everyone was getting on. Everyone was lovely. It was so nice to get to talk to a whole different array of people again and to actually meet some other travellers. Everyone was talking about where they're from and what they do, that sort of thing. I found Gary most interesting as i've never met anyone from South Africa before. He was looking to relocated to Cambodia since he's had enough of all the crime in Cape Town. He was full of stories about how bad it has got in Cape Town, all of which were scary in there own right, but when he told me that statistically a woman gets raped every 17 seconds in South Africa, and the time he was held up and robbed outside his own property coming home late from work one night, I decided in that time that there's probably little chance i'll ever visit S.Africa... LOL!
After lunch we had a stop on one of the larger offshore islands which was surrounded with white sandy beaches. We had the option of either swimmig to shore or taking the boat. I swam. The water was still, crisp blue, lovely and warm and since the island was deserted i felt like someone from Lost swimming to shore :-)
One shore we had a guided walked through the river which runs through the island and the opporunity to see the mangroves and the wildlife which lives there. It started to rain as we walked half way through but it was so warm still it really didn't matter. It was lovely.
Back on board the boat and taking our slow cruise back to the pier where we started on Victory Beach the two groups I was talking too came together around the bar. The music was pumping, the beers and shots were flowing and we all discussed meeting up the following day to watch the Aussie and NZ rugby match together at one of the bars, called The Big Easy at Serendipity Beach together. Perfect. I was checking out the following morning to head to Serendipity Beach.
Getting off the boat I decided to head back to the bar i'd eaten lunch at the previous day since the Lonely Planet guide had said that you get some spectacular sunset views on the beach at night. After such a wicked day I figured it would be the perfect end. And that it sure was. It was absolutely stunning and without question got me reminising about the time Scott and I watched the sunset in Cuba after our day of swimming with the dolphins. I have some wicked photos too if i do say so myself :-)
That night back at the hotel i'd arranged to Skype Leah again so as I got to speak with Gabriel this time around. Everyone from home knew i'd be online so actually not only was able to speak with Gabriel and Danny since i'd missed them the previous day, but I got to speak with Dad and Sally, mum and of course Scott.
Today was a great day and even better, I slept like a baby!
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