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After a mini van and 15 min speedboat we arrived at the beautiful Coral Island. White sand and the clearest water we'd seen yet. There was only one hotel on the island and after a few steps along the beach we were met by a friendly staff member who took our bags in exchange for an ice cold drink. The resort was lovely, the walk to our room was all surrounded in Jungle and our hut was overlooking the pool..it was bliss. But we soon realised that everyday from about 10am - 4pm a huge influx of, mainly Japanese, tourists arrived over running our island paradise beach! Lots of noisy speed boats constantly revving their engines as even noisier tourists all in brightly coloured life jackets took advantage of the para sailing, snorkelling and diving. When they all disappeared at the end of the day it was lovely and quiet but usually too late to snorkel due to the tide going out but we did manage to avoid the rush hour and snorkel around and under an old upturned boat. It was only a handful of people for Breakfast and dinner so there obviously weren't too many people saying in the resort but we were usually joined by a selection of resident dogs and a black and white cat as well as a very cute slightly scruffy puppy they called omelette who we were told came from another part of the Island. We had read there was another beach and that you could walk to it but the staff informed us it could only be reached by boat and wasn't worth the trip.. However on our second day whilst sitting on the quieter end of the beach along with the help of the binoculars we spotted a couple walking across the rocks and disappear into the trees right at the far end of beach..So we went back to our room followed by our new friend omelette and packed up our bags in search of the elusive beach. No map. Just a legend and some clues. The three of us set off over big boulders and up steep and narrow winding paths with steep slopes leading down to the sea and although we tried to deter the little dog out of fear he might get stuck or lost we clearly had no choice and he scampered excitedly alongside us. After roughly 15 mins we were looking down on another beautiful beach but more importantly pretty much deserted apart from a few locals. Omelette who'd we'd already become very attached to happily ran up the beach and feeling very responsible we called him back when he ran up to passers by but it wasn't long before he'd ran out of site towards the cafe kitchen where we found a Thai lady with him on her lap, half apologising we realised they knew each other and he lived here.. And we realised who had taken who for a walk. As we walked into the sea we instantly noticed how much clearer the water was and how many more brightly coloured fish and coral there were - even in the shallow water. Once again we'd not brought the snorkels so off Jon went back to the other beach to get them. While he was gone I decided to make the most of the water so waded out a little way with the water up to my knees to take some pictures and it was then I felt a small but very sharp pair of teeth sink into the back of my leg.. It was actually more the shock that made me scream but none the less I limped out the sea past the Thai family who obviously thought I was a bit special and inspected my wound of 4 tiny but bloody incisions. This didn't deter us however and with Jon returning with our snorkels and masks we cautiously entered the sea on our hands and knees only to be confronted by some deceptively pretty fish with a pink streak who after swimming up to us and taking a look would literally attack us! It wasn't long before Jon yelped through his snorkel after being bitten on the arm and as the sun was going down we decided to come back tomorrow and hopefully find a safer part of the beach to swim.
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