We are loading the kayaks from the sightseeing tender boats, which gives me the option to leave my sunglasses with the guys on the boat. I don’t think I’ll need them and figure they’ll be better off there than falling off my head. As we are getting ready, Long explains that when we fall in (not if, but when), the boat will come back and get us. Not to worry, when (again, not if) we fall in, don’t panic, you have your life vest, all will be well. He goes on like this for a bit, with the British couple commenting on his “when” not “if” statements.
Somehow we’re the last ones in the kayak, and we paddle off on the left side of the boat, meaning we have to make a big fast turn to come back around behind the sightseeing boat to follow the others. You can probably guess what’s coming next….we make the turn and are beginning to head toward the rest of the group when, suddenly, the kayak begins to lean….and lean…and…well….out we go into the water as we flip the stupid thing. Honestly! We can’t believe it! We’ve never done that before – but there’s always a first time for everything we suppose!
After hanging onto the kayak, yelling at Ed to get back over to the boat instead of trying to go swim for the stupid oar, the sightseeing boat circles back to haul us out of the water. All we can do is laugh – and beg for any and every picture anyone has taken! Fortunately Diana, one of our new friends, has taken one of us after we flipped, so she emails that one. Jay (another new friend) also has a few that he says he’ll send us when he and Carol get home in a few months (he says he’s not very technically inclined, so he’ll have to have someone help him get them off his camera!) – so hopefully we’ll have more. But suffice it to say, everyone was too busy watching us capsize to take photos or movies. LOL.
Safely back on board, we laugh until we cry, re-telling the tale to everyone who comes up to us with their version of what they saw. Free entertainment – always happy to deliver! Wrapping towels around us, we try to dry off a bit as we join the rest of the smart people on a sightseeing boat ride around the karsts. As we are settling in, we see a Heron – I swear it’s a baby Great Blue – Nancy’s bird – and that it’s there to protect us and make sure we’re safe and sound. It’s sitting on a rock in a little cave like area, and it flies off just as we pass by in the sightseeing boat. Goose bumps…and it is not from the cold.
Riding in the sightseeing boat is actually way better than the kayak – because in the kayak, you’re too close up to get any real good photos.
So we spend the rest of the sightseeing trip, drip drying on the deck, thanking our lucky stars that we did indeed have those water-tight phone bags (which worked perfectly btw) and that I had the foresight to leave my sunglasses on the boat (I’d have been sunk without them for the rest of the trip, excuse the pun).
Back aboard, we peel off our wet clothes, hanging them up to dry in the bathroom, then take hot showers to warm up and head back upstairs to dinner.
By now we are getting to know the staff pretty well. They all have Americanized names, that they can choose for themselves. We have Tom Cruise, who has taken a liking to us and is always around, helping us, bringing us our food, beer and wine and hooking us up to his Internet hot spot so we can have wifi! There is DJ Jelly, again, always around – whether he is making the drinks, serving the food or helping out on the tender boats – very sweet and personable. Everyone on this boat has multiple jobs – and they are all just incredible great at making us feel comfortable, happy and well taken care of.
Dinner, of course, is another multi-course affair, this time with Papaya Salad, Clams with spicy sauce, Mackerel on Sizzler plate (not bad, surprisingly), Pork with avocado sauce, Squid cake, rice, sautéed green vegetables and dessert. I’m too busy eating to take pictures, so I’ve only documented a few dishes here. Everything was fantastic though – a really first class menu and quality food.
Tonight we have dinner with Diana and Hector, Originally from Columbia (Diana) and Puerto Rico (Hector) who live in California. They are a lovely couple, and we thoroughly enjoy spending the evening with them. After dinner, we can go squid fishing off the back deck, which we all decide to do. We get there first and try our luck for a bit, but it is sort of boring and non-productive just sitting out back, fly-casting the rod out into the water. Eh, it was worth a try at least!
We take our leave just as Diana and Hector arrive. We gladly hand over our rods and bid them goodnight, repairing back to our awesome cabin for night caps and a good sound sleep after all our excitement today!
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