Port Barton

We have had the most UNREAL/AMAZING/SPECTACULAR (that's a new word I've never used) DAY!!!! We have been in actual paradise - by far the most beautiful day of the whole trip. It has been breathtaking !
We woke up at 5.50 am in Sheebang hostel, got ready, checked out by 6.10 am, and got the tricycle at 6.15 am to San Jose bus terminal. We got the 6.45 bus to Port Barton (and ended up having a private van which was ideal!).
We arrived at around 9.30 so just under 3 hours (in comparison to the bus which would have taken 4 hours minimum). However, they did drive pretty quickly so sleeping was impossibility.
It was the first day that the weather was actually sunny and looked like it could be clear! We were so happy!
When we arrived, the man found us accommodation which consisted of beach front cottages for only 500 each a night so it was fine. They were very basic but looked cleaner than our previous accommodation so we were happy.
The man at the accommodation told us about an island hopping tour they did but seeing as we had missed the scheduled tour (and I doubt it would have ran as there were barely any people around), we could only do it if we got a private boat which was more expensive. We decided to do it – it was 1000 each (£15 pounds) and Hope didn't get to do the island hopping the other day.
It was fantastic!
Firstly, we stopped and did some snorkelling. The reefs here are incredible! Although some are damaged from where the boat men have put their anchors, parts of it are beautiful (however we did see the man touching the coral later which was frustrating, as it damages it). We saw so many beautiful fish of all different shapes, sizes and colours. Not many tourists know about Port Barton, so we felt like we were in a secluded little area.
The first island stop was German island. It was beautiful. We paid a minimal fee (so minimal I can’t even remember what it was!) and spent a few hours there. The island only had a few tourists on. There were many hammocks, and swings on the island and we spent a few hours lazing about before the man made us some lunch (vegetables and rice). We said we didn’t want fish (I was put off from the overwhelming full fish on my plate at Honda Bay) but I was quite jealous after seeing the freshly grilled fish on the plates next to us!!
After lunch we did some snorkelling around the island. Sadly we didn’t get to see any of the giant turtles which are sometimes around here, but we saw a cute little turtle.
We went to a couple more snorkelling spots, and then went to the most incredible sand bar. It was so tiny, but was full of starfish, and we had it all to ourselves! We loved it.
We were incredibly lucky with the weather, incredibly lucky with how quiet everywhere was, and overall had an incredible day!
When we got back to the cottages at around 3 pm – the heavens opened. It POURED it down. We had a nap whilst we waited for the rain to stop, but didn’t end up waking up until 9 pm !!! From 4 pm – we must have been shattered! We woke up, luckily the electricity was on (it is only on 6 pm – midnight), and went for some dinner. However, the rain was still so bad that the restaurant with wifi was shut so we had to go to a small one further down. I had vegetables in oyster sauce with rice, and Hope just had a Fanta.
It's now 22.39 and we are shattered so I'm going to go to sleep now so we can get up at 7 am to hopefully go and see some waterfalls.Read more