Day 26 - Diving at Kim Quy Island, Ong Long Beach

Today was marked by a diving excursion. I left my hotel with a takeaway breakfast shortly after 7:00 and drove about 30 minutes south to the pick-up point of the diving club. We continued by minibus to the coast of the southwest peninsula of Phu Quoc. From there, a small motorized boat took us to our dive boat.

Unfortunately, the weather initially showed no mercy. A steady drizzle accompanied us during the bus ride and also until halfway through the boat ride. The sea was more turbulent due to the weather, but I thought it was better to be underwater in the rain than lying somewhere on the beach. However, we were lucky and the rain stopped by the time we reached our first anchorage. After the first dive, the sun shone down on us and it would stay that way for the rest of the day.

The boat took us out to sea for an hour, passing islands. We dived at two coral reefs of Kim Quy Island, which are part of the famous An Thoi islands. The visibility was not excellent, but we were able to observe many different corals, plenty of colorful fish, sea urchins, and even sea cucumbers.

I haven't been diving since 2019, and even before that, I couldn't practice much. However, our dive guide Mike was very careful to go through everything again with us at the beginning, so the initial nervousness slowly disappeared after the first few meters and I could enjoy the view of the coral reef.

After the second dive, we had lunch on the boat. We returned the same way - boat, small boat, minibus.

Before returning to the hotel with the Vespa, I took a walk on Ong Long Beach and enjoyed a tropical smoothie at a beach bar. Unfortunately, the long-awaited sunset was hidden behind a fresh layer of clouds. Nevertheless, the view of the sea was still beautiful.