Relaxing on Phu Quoc - kayaking, bee farm visit and sunset on the beach

We didn't see much of our "resort" when we arrived last night. Instead we went straight to bed. This morning it turned out that we were sharing a nice common area and a garden with 5 other rooms - and a lot of friendly people who'd been on the island for some days. During breakfast it became clear that they had plans for the day - kayaking somewhere North on the island on a quiet river.

So we all left - some on scooters, we in a taxi with a German couple or rather - we tried to get a taxi to take us to "kayak" but none of the taxi drivers knew anything about kayak or even the koncept of "kayak" So we drove off with the taxi driver who seemed most convincing and after some time he actually found the right place and the rest of the group.

And so we spent the better part of the day going up and later down the quiet river getting a lot of fresh air and sunshine and having plenty of time to share travel experiences with the other guys. We came back to the kayak place and they served some good lunch for us and before we knew it one of the guys suggested that we could take his scooter and drive up the road to have a short visit at the bee farm. So we did that.

It was a really nice place with a working bee garden and a very enthusiastic bee keeper who told us all the details about bee keeping. And in English that was easy to understand. We had to go back to the others with their scooter so we left halfway through his show but it was nice to see that there is a place where they care about bees and where they can get the important messages about the importance of bees to a broader audience.

We all left - some of us to go back to our "resort", others for a drink on the beach at sunset. In the evening we all met up and headed to a local place - "Winstons" for some serious good burgers, beers and milk shakes. Nice with a group meal and a lot of nice people to hang out with. Vietnam is great so far.

Morning in the garden

Trying to explain "Kayaking" to a local taxi driver

On the river

Bee farm visit

The bee keeper explaining how things work

Sunset on Long Beach

Burgers at Winston

  

Kayaking Las Isletas de Granada

Early morning. Just managed to get a couple of pancakes and bananas when the breakfast started at 7:30. Our driver picked us up at 8, took us to the office down town for payment, then we headed to the lake shore and were dropped off for the kayak trip.

It was only Malene who decided to stay home this morning, her arm being a bit sore and not feeling ready for kayak. So she stayed at the hostel while we left.

The introduction to the kayak was a prime example of Nicaraguan efficiency. We got our life jackets, a very young guide took us to some pink, clearly home made kayaks and we were pushed off from the shore of the lake once we got into the kayak. Sink or swim. No questions about our abilities in terms of swimming or kayaking - just "go". Then our guide caught up with us and led the way along the shore towards the first small islands - Las Isletas. It was windy as usual and the waves were a bit big for our small kayaks, Mikkel having the best kayak of the day, since he managed to get the only "sit-on-top"-kayak which was self draining. The lack of spray hoods meant that the others had to use their hats or whatever they could find to drain the kayaks from the water coming into them from various holes in the kayaks. In Nicaragua they don't believe in sponges.

Once at the Isletas the waves disappeared and it was a lot more fun to kayak in a quiet pace, our guide starting to talk a bit about the rich people living on the different islands. We sailed around in the canals for about one hour, looking at houses, mansions, wildlife and just enjoying the relative quietness in the area. After stopping at a small island with 5 monkeys on it, we asked the guide to take us to a bar and had mid-morning beer and rum coconuts. And a lot more relaxing.

Then we headed back towards Granada with plenty of time to spare. We stopped at the island where there is a small fortress from the time when pirates were attacking Granada and to our great surprise we met Malene. She had decided to go on a tour with one of the small motor boats so she was heading towards the monkey island we just left.

The kayaking party made it safely back to shore except for Michael who wanted to surf the big waves close to the beach, nearly hit another kayak and decided to capsize his kayak and sink. At 40 centimetres depth. We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out at the hostel, hiding from the afternoon heat which is really blistering in Granada. For dinner we found a nice place serving Mexican food. Ready for more action tomorrow - hiking the Mombacho Volcano. Pick up at 8 AM. As usual.

Watching daybreak outside our hot and crowded room

Ready to kayak Lake Nicaragua

Volcano Mombacho

From the top of the fortress

One of the Isletas - this one presumably owned by the "Flor de Cana" family

Visiting monkey island

Heading back to Granada

Lazy afternoon

Last day snorkelling and kayaking at Isla Coiba

We woke up to yet another amazing morning. Malene having spent at least one hour staying awake listening to "mysterious noises" outside the tent after Mikkel had mentioned that he heard "something" outside the tent. It turned out the noises were not from the crocodile but from something whose footprints looked like it belonged to a small opossum.

Today the plan was to pack camp - which we did before breakfast, have the boat come and load all our stuff, head to the ranger camp, leave the kayaks and then snorkel at two different beaches. We paddled slowly back to the ranger station, left the kayaks, boarded the boat and 10 minutes later we were at a small island where we snorkelled around the reef and the entire island for about an hour. The other guys who where on our trip headed the opposite direction of us saw a few turtles and rays - we had the "aquarium" experience once again being surrounded by thousands and thousands of fish at one end of the reef. This place is simply so amazing.  Being Sunday the beach and the island got a bit busy with more boats and people arriving. We left for the last beach, heading to the far eastern area of Isla Coiba National Park, and had a beach all to ourselves for the last snorkelling this time and the last lunch. While Adam set up food we snorkelled the reef for 45 minutes - once again amazing.

We had lunch and headed back to Santa Catalina arriving there at 3 PM, unloaded the boat, said bye to the other guys, headed for our hostel and had a much needed shower to get rid of the dirt and salt water. Having decided to leave Santa Catalina a day early we had to pack everything for an early departure. Pizza and tiramisu for dinner at restaurant next door. Nice to eat at a table and think about the last four days of amazing experiences in Santa Catalina and Isla Coiba. We are now officially snorkelled-out. We enjoyed every second of it though. Would like to come back here one day.

Last morning on our beach

Washed up garbage - unfortunately a big problem everywhere

Plenty of time to do some photos with shells

Heading back to the ranger station - not in a hurry

Ready for one more underwater swim

Last island photo. We already miss you