Day 12 Coral Bay- Rest Day

Theo very “subtlety” stated that the 10 bed dorm was maybe just too much with all the snorers in the one room. We had put all the males in one dorm & all the females in the other dorm with Sheila (with ear plugs), Norm (without his hearing aids)& Gayle were in the 4 bed dorm-perfect match. We had a big sleep in today and rose at about 6.30 am. Woody also felt there were too many in each room but I’m sure he wouldn’t have been interested in moving into the 4 bed dorm.

Whale watchers

Coral spawning

 5 riders were booked in for the swimming with the whale sharks & had to be ready by 0745 hrs for pick up at backpackers. Some of the girls wanted to go snorkelling and as we only had 3 sets of fins, etc this had to be rostered out unless the riders wanted to hire their own equipment. So we snorkelled in groups throughout the day and we all got to spot the local stingray, coral & some lovely coloured fish. The boys that were going kayaking out to the turtles were delayed because of winds but managed to head off around lunchtime. Some of us also got to watch the fish feeding down at the beach. The rest of the group spent the day doing washing, shopping, reading & catching up on a well earned rest/sleep.

Unfortunately the whale watchers didn’t see any whales even though they were out there nearly all day long in a little boat bobbing away on the high seas. Robert was unable to hold onto his lunch and entertained all on board with his technicolour yawn. Deb & Martin also felt queasy but managed to hold on & Richard & Tina apparently spent the day chatting & socialising with everyone on board. Fun was not had by all and they received an unlimited voucher for there next visit to Coral Bay (3 of the riders are from England- who knows when/if they will ever be back).

Feeding the fish

Cleaning the catch

The kayak riders did not see any turtles either but they did have fun attempting to remain upright and then to climb back onto the kayak from the platform- although it depends on which cyclist you spoke to; Mark had a different story to Jerry in some of the detail. Anna & Alf actually saw a turtle while they were on the glass bottom boat- they enjoyed themselves.

Some of us played cards for a little while last night until the competitiveness got too fierce and Gayle spat the dummy when everyone was trying to tell her how to play her game of “JO”. We promised to resume play tomorrow night.