What a day we’ve had out here! Joined our boat early – a 3 deck catamaran capable of carrying 70+ guests but fortunately there are only 30+ today, so large crew to passenger ration which was great for us. Lots of enthusiastic informed attention and guides. The sea was glassy on the way out - cruised for over an hour to pass through the inner reef and reach the outer and moor at our first snorkeling point – the Wonder Wall on the outer edge of Upolu Reef. The water is warm - like a tepid bath and visibility was excellent. The sea is alive with all shapes and sizes of coral/fish/starfish/ sea cucumbers. Spotted a Hawksbill Turtle guiding effortlessly through the water & followed him/her as it feeds, surfaces to breath and do other turtley things. Magic! Small sharks here also, but mainly really pretty fish of all colours & sizes. Several sessions of snorkeling throughout the day, interspersed with rest stops and views through the glass bottomed boat.
Lunch was a smorgasbord of prawns, smoked salmon, cold meats and salads. which slipped down well after all that exertion, although after consuming enough of the Coral Sea to satisfy our liquid requirements we didn’t need anything to drink.
Moved to a different location after lunch, to a part of Upolu Cay which is SO shallow, you can stand on the sand in-between the reef sections & the views of the corals are spectacular!.
All in all a really special day – even more so as when we arrived back to shore, we discovered it’s been raining heavily on land for most of the day – and we missed it!
Early to bed tonight – we’re both knackered. Tomorrow we’ll give ourselves a well deserved day off.
Perfect - a huge wide open space, turquoise water and lots of fish to keep him company :) Matt loved diving... I remember meeting him on Ko Tao just after he'd done his PADI course, when he had questionably blonde hair and was recovering from a rather large night out. I think that was the same holiday that he found a scorpion in the crotch of his his board shorts just as he was pulling them on... and stopped just in time. A very close call... Wonderful memories x
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