FLAT

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Diving

Sat

Another early start, following breakfast we headed out to the town again, hoping to be early enough to avoid the mad traffic and visit the local market. We drove to near the fish market and saw parking so entered only to be advised that we were in the bus parking area and told where the car park was. Some interesting manoeuvring later we had parked behind the fish market and headed to the centre of the town. The market was great, fruit and veg, of spices and some touristy tut! We walked for a while and got hot (again!) so headed to the car with its much needed AC stopping briefly so I could drink a coconut mmmm. We got in the car and as I drove of people pointed and the steering was clearly wrong, we had a flat tyre. Poop ***!! Mary who cannot change a tyre supervised as I got the jack out with the help of several local men who were ‘helping’ I started the job off to find the jack incomplete, after several minutes of jacking I was boiling and happily let the boys continue who with help of a screwdriver and lots of fish scales changed the tyre for us and we headed back to the hotel to see the hire company about getting another tyre or vehicle. The girl was very nice and gave us a jeep. We then headed out again and visited lots of view points. Fort Judy was down a long bumpy road, and we found no fort (later discovered it was just the name of the posh housing area we were in!).

As we were close to the hotel still we headed back for lunch. I left Mary to sun herself and headed back out. I decided to drive across the centre of the island, and after some interesting navigation up some steep roads in town found the way. The road was long and windy and very very steep!! The views were wonderful, and I entered the rain forest area, where it RAINED!!! I accidentally found a waterfall and had to get directions back onto my road. I reached the highest point after a few hours and wiggled back down to the other side of the island. It was great. I headed down the coast back to the hotel for a swim. As I was showering we received a call from the hire company and found out our tyre had been slashed! A bad end to the day 😞

Sun

We had booked to dive at 9am and so again left the room early, so we could speak to the hire car company, who in there infinite wisdom decided to charge us for the tyre. We protested lots but eventually gave in and headed to the dive centre.

Our first dive was a shallow reef followed by a wreck. I took photos and chilled out in the warm clear water. After the dives we had lunch and I had a shower. We sat on the beech for a while and sunned/swam. I decided to take out a kayak and paddled around for a while taking in the views and enjoying the sea breeze. I had a swim and slept in the sun for a while before having another shower before dinner and an early night.

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Photos

Changing the tyre
Mary Supervises!