Bringing the roof down

There was heavy rain for most of the night and we were awoken by several deafening claps of thunder. It was still drizzling when we got up early for diving. The instructors were late after the night before but we eventually got going.  The rain had stopped thankfully.

Our first dive, at Labyrinth, was good - lots of swim throughs, an eagle ray, a turtle and a huge crab. Despite the heavy rain during the night, the visibility was not too bad. Still not many fish. Jordi and many of the other DMs were really excited by the turtle - not a very common sight here. We were with 2 other pairs who had just done their advanced. They were among some of the worst divers I've ever seen with no buoyancy control or awareness of anyone else. Thankfully they went behind us during the swim through as they kicked up so much sand it looked like a sandstorm.

After a very quick break, we had our second dive at Laguna Beach. It wasn't overly exciting but there were a few more fish including a school of blue tangs and there were some pretty sights, especially when the sun came out briefly.

We had breakfast at the same spot - Anna and I shared a fruit crepe and a nutella crepe (sadly not as much chocolate as Hannah's yesterday). Hannah was healthy and had fruit, yoghurt and granola. It started to rain again so we hid in our rooms for a short while. When it cleared we headed out for our daily cinnamon roll, after which we headed to the Mango Inn, our first hostel, in search of hummingbirds. We saw a couple briefly but Hannah wasn't able to get photos. We then headed to the Driftwood Gallery but were barked away by 3 fierce-looking dogs. Don't think the owner was home. Hannah very kindly bought us all Captain Morgan t-shirts...so nice to have something different to wear! And something clean! Not for long though!

After a quick nap Hannah and I sunbathed on the dock and Anna bought us nutella choc pots, spicy crisps and iced tea. It was sunny and the perfect temperature - perfect until the flies started nibbling me as dusk approached.

We went to the vegan restaurant, Seahorse, with Kaitlyn, which is beautifully decorated with seahorses, other sea-themed things and a lot of mosaic tiles! Hannah and I had Thai red curry, the others had peanut sauce dishes. All were delicious (385L for me & Anna). Kaitlyn had recovered from a dodgy tummy due to eating raw plantain. She and Hannah had bought them thinking they were bananas. Turns out raw plantain is bad for you!

Hannah then taught us to play monopoly deal on the balcony. Just as we were getting the hang of it a piece of the rain-swollen roof plaster fell down. We got up and moved away just as a huge piece came crashing down onto my chair, which would have given me a sore head! Everyone came to investigate the noise, the mess was swept up and the owner, Kevin, came to have a look. One of the staff, David, gave us a beer each 'for our nerves'. I donated mine to Anna, Hannah to Luis (reception guy). David gave us a game called Crimes Against Humanity which was really funny. Later he and an Israeli guy, Kfir joined in. Luckily our laughter didn't bring the entire house down! The second time in a week that roof plaster has fallen on me!!Read more