We awoke to a glorious sunny Sabbath day and had a very lazy start after some bible study. After lunch we decided to head out into the lagoon for some snorkeling, this time heading further out to the reef as apparently it’s quite shallow there and the fish are supposedly very good. As we donned our masks and fins, a lady a few bungalows down came towards us and said she would show us a good place to snorkel. She was from Sheffield, one of the few other Brit’s on the island. Before we even had time to put our masks and fins on she was off like a shot, so hurriedly we threw ours on and swam after her. She was setting a good pace and so by the time we made it to the ... read more

Exploration day! Well, okay, so we only got as far as exploring the one end of the island, but eventually we will see the whole island at some point. After breakfast we walked up to the sandy bank part of the island, which seemed miles away in the heat, but in fact it was probably just under a mile or about two miles round trip. This didn’t bode too well with Liisa as she added a couple more blisters to the collection on her feet. Along the way we passed the presidential suites which were huge, but we both agreed that ours seemed much nicer and had more privacy in front of the bungalow towards the beach than those had. They were exposed to anyone who happened across them. A little further up was the beautiful ... read more

Day 2 on Palm Beach Island started with the promise of sunshine. I awoke early leaving Liisa to snooze away whilst I sat on the deserted beach watching the last of the sunrise with clouds of yesterday dissipating. I was rewarded with the company of a lone heron starring out to sea probably sizing up his next meal for practically a whole hour. The clouds were clearing nicely and the sun was breaking through so we headed to the coffee bar for breakfast around 11ish, which was a typical continental affair of pastries galore, brioche, a selection of waffles, omelette's made to order and a delicious fruit bar with cold sausage meats and cheeses. We sat at a table closest to the beach and enjoyed the beautiful view and sea breezes while we ate. Having eaten ... read more

Once again the itchy feet have taken over and we're off again, this time for two weeks of relaxation, recuperation and some much needed sun! The weather has been horrible here in England so it's now time to leave it behind and head for "Paradise" in the form of a 1000 tropical islands in the Maldives. We will be flying out this Sunday and staying on one of the Islands, spending the time swimming, snorkelling, canoeing, sailing, lazing on the beach, swimming some more and enjoying the Island. We can't wait! Gail has already bought herself an underwater housing for her camera so we can share our underwater discoveries with you. We hope you enjoy your time with us! Stay tuned. Gail & Liisa x... read more

Our breakfast arrived, brought in on a linen covered table once again. We had ordered Vegetarian Benedict - two poached eggs with roasted vegetables and a jalapeno cheese sauce with breakfast potatoes nested on homemade brushetta. This was accompanied by tomato juice for Gail and grapefruit juice for me and a hot drink. It was very delicious but we were still full from dinner yesterday so couldn’t fully appreciate the breakfast. Once done we called the porter to collect our baggage and car. The car packed we headed off to the ferry port in the rain which was a couple of minutes away from the Empress. While waiting for the ferry we had to proceed through US immigration before boarding the ferry to Port Angeles, Washington. Seemed rather strange that it was done on Canadian Soil ... read more