Hope Springs Eternal! – surely our holiday will get better – after all we are off on an excursion today. However the day does not get off to a good start as a seagull lands on our table at breakfast – I hate birds up close, and make a fool of myself.
We pack up for the excursion, which I understand involves an outrigger trip, a short walk and a pool of tropical fish.
We are picked up by the shuttle driver – who appears to be heading in the wrong direction. He drops us God knows where, and the extent of the tour guiding is a finger pointed down an estuary. We head off looking for an office or an assembly point. Then we see the sign to Upi Bay. I remember this is where the outrigger trip is. But were we supposed to go this way??? It was about an hour’s walk through forest and then we finally saw the turquoise sea. We stepped down off the track onto sinking sandy mudflats. We cautiously struggled along the beachline hunting for the outrigger connection. The place was totally deserted. Nothing for it, but to turn back again.
Duncan tried to persuade me to go back down some side track, but after a few terse words we kept on returning down the track. Although the bush was pretty and the track quite easy it was pretty much the same sort of forest throughout. Finally we make it back, and after taking some advice using my limited French skills. (Nous sommes perdu!- we are lost) we make a crossing over the shallow estuary and took a short path to the Piscene Naturelle. It was a large, shallow pool with some coral and fish just everywhere, weaving in and out of our legs, some large, some small, some brightly coloured orange and purple, many just sandy coloured. This is definitely today’s highlight. Some Japanese tourists who have actually managed a proper excursion have bought bread to feed the fish with. We were amused by the Korean tourists with their lifejackets on to snorkel even though the water was never over your head.
We pack up for the excursion, which I understand involves an outrigger trip, a short walk and a pool of tropical fish.
We are picked up by the shuttle driver – who appears to be heading in the wrong direction. He drops us God knows where, and the extent of the tour guiding is a finger pointed down an estuary. We head off looking for an office or an assembly point. Then we see the sign to Upi Bay. I remember this is where the outrigger trip is. But were we supposed to go this way??? It was about an hour’s walk through forest and then we finally saw the turquoise sea. We stepped down off the track onto sinking sandy mudflats. We cautiously struggled along the beachline hunting for the outrigger connection. The place was totally deserted. Nothing for it, but to turn back again.
Duncan tried to persuade me to go back down some side track, but after a few terse words we kept on returning down the track. Although the bush was pretty and the track quite easy it was pretty much the same sort of forest throughout. Finally we make it back, and after taking some advice using my limited French skills. (Nous sommes perdu!- we are lost) we make a crossing over the shallow estuary and took a short path to the Piscene Naturelle. It was a large, shallow pool with some coral and fish just everywhere, weaving in and out of our legs, some large, some small, some brightly coloured orange and purple, many just sandy coloured. This is definitely today’s highlight. Some Japanese tourists who have actually managed a proper excursion have bought bread to feed the fish with. We were amused by the Korean tourists with their lifejackets on to snorkel even though the water was never over your head.
We then returned to the pickup point – exhausted, not so much by the walk, but by the stress of not knowing where we were. On our return we were asked if we had enjoyed our trip to the Baie D’Oro (Bay of Gold). We replied we never got there.
After a bath or shower and a rest we set off to a restaurant at Kuto Bugny. We decide to go before the sunset at 5.30pm, but dinner is not served until 7pm,so we have a few drinks overlooking Kuto Beach and Harbour. We both have duck, and thanks to the handy torch I have brought, we make our way home in the pitch black of a tropical night. One small hitch as Duncan hits an overhanging branch.
A replay of the Dutch-Uruguay game is on – with a French commentary, but that’s OK.
We are getting used to the squeaks of the lizard that lives in the aircon.
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