Tag 94 - comforting

02.08.19

For days, we have been passing a beach area in the north of the island with signs that say 'Turtle Beach'. And for days, we have been planning to rent snorkeling gear and go turtle spotting. Today is the day that we finally manage to get up early enough.

We arrive at an improvised tin hut where we rent two goggles and two snorkels (3€ for both for 5 hours). We immediately jump into the cool water and keep our eyes open - unfortunately without success, even though we swim along the coast for a good half an hour. We go ashore and get some tips from the locals. We warm up and after a while, we dare to try again.

This time, we follow the instructions of the locals and swim further out to the end of the reef. We have only been in the water for not even five minutes when suddenly you can spot a black spot the size of a manhole cover in the water. It comes closer and turns out to be a sea turtle (we had previously mistakenly identified cans and buoys as turtles).

For a few minutes, we paddle in one place, keeping our eyes fixed on the turtle, and watch as it rests three meters below us next to a rock. A little later, the turtle moves out of its hiding place and slowly surfaces to take a breath of air. During this time, we can 'swim' with it, not even two meters away from it - a pretty nice feeling, these animals have something incredibly comforting. After taking a breath of air, it escapes to an area where you can't see more than a meter due to all the plankton and algae. So we turn around and try our luck in the other direction. We don't have another encounter and we return to the beach.

We rest on the bean bags, Jonna goes back to our accommodation in the meantime to get our waterproof case for the phone (for underwater photos), which we unfortunately forgot this morning. After we are completely dry again and accordingly warmed up, we go into the water for a third time for a snorkeling session. The entry is a bit difficult, as it is almost low tide now and you can no longer swim over the coral reef, but have to walk - that's why everyone here wears these water shoes.

Once again, luck is on our side and we can swim alongside, behind, and with a turtle for a while. We briefly resurface to clean our goggles and make some adjustments to the underwater camera. When we dive back down, our armored friend is gone. Of course, we are still more than satisfied and leave it at that.

We lie down on the bean bags once again and enjoy the rest of the afternoon - then we return the goggles, saddle up the bikes, and ride back to the accommodation to change our clothes.

In the evening, we briefly go out again and stop at a restaurant we don't know - let's just say: It was not good. You don't need to know more! To celebrate our last evening on the island, we smoke a hookah again and then get a pancake - déjà vu. After that, we go back to our room.

- Alex