The Similin Islands

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Fi wasn’t happy about being forced to get up at 8am on the part of the holiday that was supposed to be all about relaxing, but we had a boat to catch!

We wolfed down some breakfast and wandered down to the beach, where the Lady Sarojin was bobbing gently at the end of a jetty.

There were twelve of us all heading out for a day of snorkelling in the waters of the Similin Islands. The boat powered away from the shore, heading for the islands. Fi did her normal thing of falling asleep as soon as it started moving.

Then the engine coughed, spluttered and died. The crew got out their toolkits and a large hammer and started poking around the engine. After half an hour it was looking like we were going to be marooned on the open ocean, so we did what anyone would do in these circumstances - cracked open the beer and wine!

The other people on our boat were from all over the world, from Germany and Sweden to the US and Australia. We sat at the front of the boat, drinking and chatting - who needs to go snorkelling?

After 45 minutes the crew fixed the engine and we motored off to the islands. As we were heading there, I saw something gleaming just above the sea out of the corner of my eye - flying fish! I’d never seen them before and they really are an amazing sight. They’d leap out of the ocean and glide just above the sea for a couple of hundred metres, before disappearing back beneath the waves.

We got to the first island , moored up and jumped into the water. I have to say that the sea life around the islands was the best I’ve ever seen - way better than the Great Barrier Reef. During the morning we got to dive and swim alongside a turtle, which was an amazing experience.

We moored up for lunch and waded ashore. The crew set-up a fantastic buffet that we all dug into, it was superb.

In the afternoon we did one last dive, where I again got to dive with a turtle, before we got stuck into the free bar as we headed back. By the time we landed we were half-cut, but very happy.

In the evening we went down to the beach restaurant for some v good Thai food, then it was off to bed.

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