The underwater world of Nha Trang

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Day 87

Having still managed to only get a few hours sleep on the bus (which is just a normal coach and not like the sleeper buses in China) - we arrived into Nha Trang at about 5:30 am seeing a stunning sunrise over the beach with hundreds of locals taking their early morning exercise on the shore.

Gettng dropped off at a local hotel we had a few hours kip before having a really lazy day on the beach making the really hard decisions of lying in the sun, lying in the shade or swimming. As you can tell we ended the day mentally exhausted managing to catch the end of a Bond film in English on our TV (Mark was very pleased) before hitting the sack.

Day 88

We were picked up early from our hotel in the pouring rain to go on Mama Linhs Boat Tour of the surrounding islands. As soon as the fella taking the tour got on the mic we were laughing and were sure it was going to be a good day.

Our first stop was just off a local island where the weather had cleared a little and where we were to go snorkelling. As soon as we had our kit on in the water we were amazed by the underwater world that appeared beneath us. The coral reef and the stunning array of fish, starfish and sea cucumbers was just incredible and we barely took our heads out of the water for the next hour or so. You could dive with them and they just ignored you and went about their business. Snorkelling was new to both of us and we loved it and can't wait for our next opportunity to swim with the fishes!

Back on the boat they gave us a hearty lunch before putting on a fantastic musical extravaganza including a cameo performance from Chrissie and Sarah (an American lass we met on the boat) of Yellow Submarine - it was stunning!

Back in the water - our host layed on a floating bar where we all had our own floating ring and as much mulberry wine as we could drink - as long as we could navigate our way to the floating bar! A really good laugh and something completely different.

With the sun finally fully out we had a beach stop and a fruit party on the boat before setting off to our final destination, the local aquarium.

Returing to shore having had a great day we met up with our shipmates for dinner and the strongest (and locally famed) rum and lemonade ever.

Back at the hotel we packed and switched on the TV to find Bon Jovi live in NY on. This time it made Chrissie's day and she was only able to do her packing in the breaks. We have not really missed TV as yet (except LOST which we were addicted to at home) but we've enjoyed having some English TV for a while.

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Photos

Yellow submarine
Chrissie and Sarah join in the entertainment

At the aquarium
Some of the fish we saw whilst snorkelling