Meet the Fishies {Darrell}

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Early in the morning we were already up and waiting for our lift. What make you get up early on a tropical island? SCUBA!!! . We joined a bunch of other tourists in a cramped minivan, and drove up the beach to where a canoe with a propeller was waiting to take us to the Rainbow Divers boat moored offshore.

We were warmly welcomed on board and shown to our gear. We all pulled on sun-bleached wetsuits and rubbed in sun cream as the boat glided across the turquoise waters to a small rock called turtle island. Cathy's new ring is a few sizes too big, and so she tied a piece string through the ring and around her wrist, to keep it safely attached. I was glad that it was finally her turn to look after it, after backpacking, swimming, kite-surfing and hiking for the past 20 days with the same piece of string holding the ring tied around my waist, hidden just below my pants.

We had a brief briefing (?) and then 12 travellers dropped below the surface of the South China Sea.

The waters below were a bit murky, and there were certainly no turtles. In fact it looked like all of the bigger fishes had long been fished out. It was sad to find quite a few nets and lines jammed among the rocks.

Despite this, there were still large schools of small, exquisitely colourful tropical fish. The corals were also very impressive, with some of the biggest chimney and vase corals I have ever seen. It was really great to get the chance to sea the beautiful island from a different perspective, and refreshing to be under the water again.

After the dive we got back on the boat, and changed cylinders while the captain took us to another dive site. The visibility was no better at the second site, and the current was pretty strong, but we once again had the chance to swim along with schools of brightly coloured fish between some magnificent corrals. After the dives we got out of our gear and promptly jumped right back overboard to swim in the warm water while our cook added the final touches to lunch.

Lunch turned out to be a great meal of soup, veggies, fried fish and stir fry, with lots of fresh fruit. We ate on the deck while the boat slowly headed back to the island. Back on the island we were exhausted (as only 2 dives and a big meal can make you), so we found a nice palm tree and spent the afternoon drifting in and out of consciousness.

Just after dark we caught our next lift. The past 2 nights we had admired the while lights of the squid fishing boats far out in the dam, and so had decided to hop on one of the boats to have a go at catching squid ourselves.

Clambering across boats in the harbour in the dark and then cruising out into the middle of the bay was pretty fun, and after a short while we had found a dark patch of water far from the other boats. We were each handed a reel of fishing line with a weighted hook and told to get going. The captain of the boat had no interest in fishing, and the two girls who seemed to be our guides (we'd lost track after being passed from the guy we paid, to a driver, to another guy, to these two girls who received us on the boat) had no idea what they were doing.

After a frustrating 45mins or so of throwing the hook overboard and winding it back in, I swallowed my pride, admitted we'd been scammed and swapped my fishing reel for a deckchair on the roof of the boat. Complaining was a hopeless cause since none of our hosts understood a word of English. It was another hour or so before Cathy and the rest gave up too and came upstairs. Sitting on a chair under the stars with warm wind and gently rocking boat was actually really relaxing, and after a while our "guides" called us down for a hot bowl of squid stew. They must have knowingly brought some squid along, because we certainly didn't catch these squid.

All in all it was a pleasant enough ride, but we'll consider the $15 each a donation towards the community.

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After yesterday's boating and diving we were in the mood to spend our last day in Phu Quoc making the most of the palm shade. We woke up pretty late, got omelettes for breakfast, and settled down in the sand with our books. Most of the day was spent either in the still, warm water or under the palm trees.

As the sea was lighting up with another beautiful sunset, one of the local women gave us a fantastic massage right there on the beach. It was definately the laziest day of my year, but lying under the palm trees, having a $2 massage and sipping mango shakes once a year is hardly a waste of time.

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Photos

A view to wake up to
Looking out to sea from our bungalow

Scuba Cathy
Diving off the northern point of Phu Quoc - Turtle Island

Rainbow Bar/ Restaurant
Home of the elusive chicken burger, just in front of our bungallow

Our Beach
The horizontal palm tree that gave us such great shade

Comments

[landi]

How romantic...the place looks gorgeous...I love destinations that look like this..so jealous!!