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7/4/09 = Goodbye Mana Island...Bula Bounty Island
Woke up annoyingly early at 7am and couldn’t get back to sleep - curse you wretched fan! Tossed and turned until 7:45, then got up and got ready for breakfast. Leaving Mana island today. Had a great time here, but didn’t feel bad about leaving because nearly all our group was doing the same. Went to hall for our last breakfast and it was another really good one…not being sarcastic, breakfasts were good. Pancakes, banana, syrup, even a nice cup of tea. Chatted and ate, then all went to beach. I wrote diary for a while - didn’t fancy sun today - and had a v.funny experience watching a dog and a crab having a face-off. The dog dug up this huge crab, then they kind of battled, dog/crab style, each backing away from one another at different intervals. V.funny, although I think the crab won. He made it back to ocean and buried himself in sand again, much to disappointment of dog who spent a good 5mins afterwards still trying to dig him up.
Went to sit with everyone after that to do last catch up and chat = usual of
swapping contact details with everyone. Would keep in touch with all these people though; probably best group met. Still chatting away when boat came a whole hour early at 11:30. Had to say some hasty goodbyes, then me, Deb, Yurgon and Irish girls got on boat and waved everyone off. Quite emotional. Hope Bounty island = as good as this one, although would be v.lucky to meet a group like that again. Torres definitely confirmed this. Waving off for last time when all turned around to spot him completely naked on shoreline, shorts over head, swinging them round in the same lasso style we saw yesterday, apart form today we got a full frontal shot. Crazy guy, but true to his word.
Boat sped on passed the brilliant sandbank and v.shortly arrived at Bounty. Bounty = much smaller island, but also looked lot nicer than Mana. Spotted the infinity pool straight away. Cool. Said goodbye to the Irish girls and Yurgon, then stepped onto Bounty. Only 2 of us arriving, so no welcome song for us here. Signed in, had our ‘welcome talk’ then got shown to our rooms. Were staying in beds 44 and 45…oh no…how big is
this dorm? Was a cute resort, v.viallge looking and when got to room, were pleaseantly surprised. 1) Not more than 45 beds, 20 max. Just bad numbering I guess. 2) V.v.clean = always good. 3) Cute flowers on beds…real ones. 4) Best of all, as soon as opened door, it was freezing, freezing cold with air-con. Wow. How I’ve missed you old friend!
Took our beds, which were right at end of room, underneath air-con…score, then went to check out 2nd most important thing = showers. Another pleasant surprise. No hosepipes dangling from walls, but an actual shower head and…warm water. Wow. Even better, all the doors had locks. Luxury. Was nearly time for lunch after all our inspections, so did the usual of finding a good table nearest to buffet section and waiting until it came out. Hope food = good. Just like on Mana, clock struck 12:30 and everyone flocked in. All bathers from around pool abandoned loungers and we all joined a long, English style queue. V.excited. Was right to be excited too. Peeked ahead as people removed lids from containers. Underneath there was food, actual food that normal people would eat. Yeh! Got the usual
bread to start with (always a winner), some salad = really nice change, and then discovered spaghetti bolognaise at end of table….normal, ordinary looking spaghetti bolognaise. Wow! Heaped it all up then skipped back to table giddy like Christmas day. Began the task of eating and only disappointed that ended up sitting next to some posh guys from Oxford. Could tell after a few minutes that we would never talk again, as I’m sure they could, but still had to have the same old conversations. Where are you from? How long have you been traveling? Where have you been? What do you do back home? That last question really annoys me, really annoys me! What job we do at home has nothing to do with what we are doing right now, yet for a lot of people, it’s the first thing they ask you, like it defines you as a person. Why? There’s more to a person than their job! Sorry, ranted a bit there, but I know the Oxford guys asked that question more or less straight away. Ate lovely dinner despite forced conversation - you become a better judge of people after meeting/talking to so many strangers -
and dinner really was lovely. Such a treat after Mana.
We sat at table then for another half an hour just to let food digest - goes without saying that we ate way more than we should have done - then waddled over to pool to find a good spot. All loungers had been taken - no suprises there - but found a good spot on floor, right in sun, right next to infinity pool and looking out over ocean. Beautiful. Laid for ages, snoozing to catch up on much needed sleep, paddled in pool, chatted on and off to a Scottish guy, and admired amazing view from pool across ocean. Totally relaxing and not at all like traveling; a definite holiday feel.
Before realized, was 4:30 and had lazed for an entire day. Nice. Scooted off to do some washing - v.low on clean clothes after Mana - then got ready for happy hour at bar at 6pm. V.quick changed, then out to bar to treat ourselves to $10 cocktails. Been a while since drunk a cocktail…but when on holiday... Chatted to Scottish guy had met earlier, plus a guy from Oz and a guy whose name
and nationality I never got. Nice enough, but not a group like Mana. Came to 7pm and all headed to dinner together. Was a v.different dinner. Not the buffet food on trays in a dining hall like Mana, but an A la Carte style menu, each of tables covered with nice, evening cloths and places set. V.posh. All sat as a group and looked at the menu…yes, menu. How totally different from Mana. Chose the chicken dinner and to have the dessert rather than starter. V.exciting.
The food was really good, although came out ridiculously staggered. Not usually a fan on chicken on the bone - or indeed any meat on the bone after Mana - but at least these were bones that were meant to be there and I could actually see them top avoid choking on them. Really appreciated the chips too. Been a while since had them and is something become a little addicted to on this trip. Dinner was good and caramel dessert was o.k., even o.k. made it at least 80% better than Mana food. Had another cocktail, chatted together, then moved from restaurant to bar area. 2 guys from another table came to
join us too then, one of them from Leeds. Think he recognized the accent, even 8months away can’t tame Yorkshire. Had a good chat and a laugh together and the English guys were really nice. Spent at least an hour discussing marriage and the v.different opinions guys and girls have. Apparently guys only get married to have children? How…romantic. Laughed about that for a while and were all silenced by the craziest thing in the sky. The moon was it’s usual, bright self, but had a large and v.distinct white circle around it. The circle was perfectly complete, perfectly clear and took up a large portion of the sky. Obviously none of us knew what it was, but was really quite freaky. Reminded me a lot of the circle from the film ‘The Ring’. Got the urge to call my Mum …you know…just in case.
Watched the circle, talked about marriage even more, then headed off to bed at 11pm. So excited for a good sleep, especially next to air-con. The light was off when we got back and the room freezing…a sleeping haven. Layered up in big pyjamas, used mobile phone as light source and tucked myself into
bed grandma style, wooly blanket and all. Lovely.
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