After the girls returned from shopping and I finished my email we went to dinner. Every night in the resort they have a theme night in the restaurant. Last night was market night, tonight was Chinese night. They had a large buffet, with Peking Duck and Mongolian BBQ as the specials. The only non-Chinese food was probably the fruit and desserts, which were a mix of Indonesian and Western, but the also had dim sum, and those might not be Chinese either now that I think about it.
Tuesday morning we went back to the water sports place for snorkeling, a glass bottom boat ride, and a trip to Turtle Island. We started with snorkeling. When we got out to the snorkeling spot our driver went to the front of the boat to drop the anchor, but left the boat idling so it would stay in place against the current. Of course the boat still drifted into the area where people were snorkeling and an Australian man missed being hit by our propellor by just a few feet. Luckily his wife saw him swimming toward our boat and yelled to get his attention. After the anchor was secure I moved to the back of the boat and started to put my fins on when a large wave came and rocked our boat. I went flying into the water and we were done snorkeling. It was crazy there, with boats coming and going, no clear markers for the snorkeling area, and a good chance of getting hit by a boat.
After our driver pulled me back on board we headed to the glass bottom boat area. There were about 15 glass bottom boats in a small area, and our driver spent the whole time yelling to the other drivers; it was like social hour at the local pub. A few times we drifted into other boats, like bumper cars on the ocean. Despite the chaos we got to see lots of beautiful fish, which were attracted to our boat by the slices of bread we were throwing into the water.
Our trip ended at Turtle Island. It was at least a 15 minute boat ride at high speed along the coast, and then out into the ocean a short way. It was great because we got to see a good portion of the coast. We approached the island through a forest growing in the water, it must have been high tide. After a few twists and turns we arrived in someone's backyard, at least that is how it felt. We unloaded and were met by our guide, Jimmy. A lot of the locals that work with tourists have adopted Western nicknames, I guess so it is easier for us to remember their names. We asked Paul in Ubud how he chose the name Paul. He said that after he was done with a 3 month training period he was offered a job with the tour company. He accepted, and they gave him a shirt and name tag that said Paul on them, so he became Paul. He said now in his village even his friends call him Paul.
Our first stop on Turtle Island was the big sea turtles. They brought out a huge 55 year old turtle named Andrew. After a few photos with Andrew we moved on to the baby turtles. They have a turtle breeding program and raise the turtles in safety until they are old enough to be released into the wild. In the wild out of 100 eggs only 1 turtle survives. We were able to hold the small and medium turtles, their shells were very beautiful and colorful. Of course the little ones were the cutest. Then we went to see the other animals, and before I knew it Jimmy was wrapping a 10 foot python around me. Luckily Katka was there to take a picture, I have always been afraid to get my picture taken with a large snake before.
The other animals we saw were a sea eagle, a raven, monitor lizards, an owl, monkeys, and flying foxes (bats). We got to see the bats up close and even pet them. They are just so cute up close it is ridiculous. They are like furry little dogs, with cute little faces; it only gets a little freaky when they stretch out their wings, and their feet are quite unattractive. Misa could not believe how thin their wings are, you can see right through them. The bats were wide awake and cleaning themselves with their tongues like cats. Jimmy put his hand up to them and they licked it like a puppy.
After seeing the animals we ate lunch and went back to our hotel. After a quick break to freshen up and get a drink we took the shuttle to the beach. Our hotel has an area of the beach just for hotel guests, and a small restaurant and bar where you can get drinks and snacks like pizza and burgers. It was really strange in the water, because there were no waves. Well, there were waves, but they were breaking a few hundred feet out in the ocean. At the beach there were no waves, but the water was running in a strong current along the beach. It was like a lazy river waterpark ride. We would go into the water at one end of the beach, and the current would slowly take us to the other end, where we would get out and walk back to the beginning. The current was strong enough that if you swam against it you just stayed in one place if you didn't swim really hard.
After a while we were tired and wanted to relax, but Misa and I both left our books at the hotel, so I decided to go back and get them. The hotel shuttle runs about every 20-25 minutes, and just as I got to the shuttle stop the shuttle was leaving. So I decided to wait for the next shuttle. As I was waiting a couple of other people joined me. We were all waiting when we saw a kite fly over with no one holding the string. Pretty soon a little boy came running after the kite. It got stuck up in a tree, and I went to help the boy get it down. With the boy sitting on my shoulders holding a stick we got it out. When I returned to the shuttle stop the people were gone, I missed the shuttle. I decided to run back to the hotel, but I didn't really know how far it was. After running for for about 1/2 mile here came the shuttle, I didn't miss it after all. So I hopped on, rode it back to the beach where it turned around and went to the hotel. What I didn't realize is that when I got on the shuttle I was already back at the hotel, about 50 yards from the entrance, which was blocked from view by a hedge. Basically I ran to our hotel, took the shuttle to the beach and back, and then ran back to the beach after grabbing our books. Katka and Misa wanted to know what took me so long.
When I got to the beach Katka and Misa had beach chairs but there wasn't one for me. I noticed an unoccupied chair off by itself, so I grabbed it and pulled it about 10 feet into some shade. There was a towel on the chair, but because the chair was not close to anyone else I didn't think anyone was using it. I was wrong. This very not nice Russian lady came back from the beach to find me sitting in her chair, 10 feet from her sandals, which somehow I missed back at where I grabbed the chair. So I jumped up, apologized, and ran to get her a new towel. She just scowled at me, oh well. Of course Katka and Misa watched the whole thing and could not stop laughing.
We read for a while longer and took the shuttle back to the hotel, where it was BBQ night at the hotel restaurant. The buffets here are not good for me. It is bad enough that the have table after table of good food, but then to have an entire table devoted to desserts is too much. All of the meats were cooked to order, with a good variety of fish, beef, and lamb. After stuffing ourselves we went back to the room to relax and get ready for bed. It was a long and good day.
