Snorkelling at the An Thoi Islands - Rachael's Birthday!

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At 8.30am we were picked up by a minivan and taken to our boat. The boat was ready sat in the harbour, rocking side to side and there was a overpowering smell of dried fish. We quickly boarded the boat and sat on two chairs in the centre to ease the rocking. We sat eagerly awaiting the fresh sea breeze we knew we would get once out of the harbour. After a few clever manuevures the boat got out of the closely packed harbour and we were on our way to the An Thoi Islands,. The islands were close but the boat still took a fair while to reach them. It wasn't look before the first person fell ill to the rocking of the boat. I looked down at my travel bands and thanked god I was not the first to go and also my grandma for reccommending the bands. When we reached the islands it was far to rocky to fish so we all went snorkelling. The coral was quite fascinating but with little colour. The coral formations were much larger than we had seen in Egypt but with few fish. It was great to be in the sea because it eased any quiziness I was feeling and meant I could get back onto the boat feeling much better- not for long.

After being called in we heading out from the shelter of the islands a little way into the open sea. This is where the boat began to rock and again people were feeling ill. We stopped here to fish using plastic pots with line wound around them and a simple deadweight and floating hook setup. People began catching fish quite quickly but only small ones. I managed to catch a piece of coral before needing to return to the centre of the boat due to sickness. It wasn't long however before Rachael caught her first small fish which sparked a quiet cheer from the guide and others on the boat. In went the line again and sadly within a few minutes the line was stuck on what appeared to be a large piece of coral. Or at least we thought, after a firmer yank the line began to twitch and Rachael reeled it in to reveal what would be the largest catch of the day! Although still deemed to be a small fish, it was still very large compared to others caught and considering the line and equipment used Rach had done very well compared to my 0!

After returning our fishing equipment we went to another secluded island for swimming and snorkeling but with the close proximity of the land we all decided to swim to shore and get some time off from the rocking. On the beach we found many lovely shells which we swam back to the boat with. Unfortunately only 3 from 5 survived, some being far to delicate. We are unsure if the other two will last the rest of our travels! When we boarded the boat again we were served fresh pineapple and then were taken to a mooring point in the shelter of the islands were we had lunch. Unfortunately the heavens opened and it began to rain. Under the makeshift rain shelter the boat had we were all still getting wet but were not worried because we were soaked from swimming already and the air was warm.

After lunch we found another secluded spot for more snorkelling but didn't do it for very long as the sun came back out and we wanted to top up our tans on deck. We were then taken back inland for a minibus transfer to a white sandy beach where we read and slept before taking the same minibus back to our hotel.

That night we ate a fresh seafood platter consisting of tuna for Rach and squid and prawns for Dom. We chilled out in the restaurant reading Rachaels birthday messages from home while Rach chose her free birthday drink from the menu-Baileys on Ice. That night there was an even bigger electric storm that came overhead and was very loud once again- we are getting used to them!

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Comments

[R's Mum]

wonderful and different way to spend your 22nd birthday. hope Rachael wasn't seasick. Food again sounds great. makes me feel hungry.

[R's Mum]

Congrats on catching fish. Your training catching crabs at Mudeford must have helped!