Published on Jul, 2023
We were collected from our hotel by our guide at 9:15am for air conditioned bus ride to the port.
Our group of 25 who had chosen English language guide were from a mix of nationalities including American, Japanese and South Korean.
It was quite chaotic at the port with several boats trying to dock and guides, many dressed in matching company T shirts shepherding their newly collected groups onto the correct boats.
The boats were sturdy slightly rustic wooden vessels made in a traditional style but well designed for these tours.
We cruised out of harbour in a melee of wooden tour boats, traditional fishing boats and tourist speed boats. But soon the boats separated out with the three from our company travelling together. It seems that the different companies have agreed to visit the reefs in different sequence to reduce overcrowding.
We passed through fishing boat moorings and some floating rafts associated with the seafood industry and then past a couple of tourist spa and holiday camp islands and after 45 minutes reached our first snorkeling spot where we had an hour of snorkeling giving us opportunity to get used to our equipment and to see a good number of colourful fish and a small amount of slightly degraded coral.
There was also an option of paras ending at additional cost.
The snorkeling equipment was of very good quality and we were able to free dive without getting water in the pipe. Less confident swimmers were encouraged to use life jackets and to stay on the surface.
After a further 30 minutes on board we arrived at a beach. There was very little coral here but myriad fish of many colours and sizes. We spent a further hour in the water here swimming and diving amongst them. We found a couple of long thin trumpet fish and some black sea urchins with very long spines and many black and white fish.
When we boarded the boat the seating rows had been converted into a table and was laid with a cloth and a delightful seafood buffet including fresh tuna, prawns, spring rolls, rice and noodles.
Forty-five minutes later we arrived at our final location off a third island. The water was deeper here with less fish but still a good number alongside starfish and an eel. The highlight was the coral which the children and I were able to dive down to examine more closely.
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