I didn’t sleep much last night as it was very hot my room so tonight I’ve decided I’m going to sleep out on deck on the hammock. I’ve never known such clear skies and such fresh air so I should have a great nights sleep staring up at the stars.
Today was my first taste of sailing around Myanmar and it was a great introduction. To be honest I wasn’t sure whether I would enjoy a sailing trip as I’ve never been on one, because I like to keep busy when travelling, and because I’m not great with rough seas but I’ve always wanted to visit Myanmar and the scenery here is just so beautiful I had to give it a chance and so far I’ve not been disappointed.
We set sail at 7.30 this morning after a quick breakfast of cereal and toast and after making our way past the fishing boats we were in open water watching the world go by. There wasn’t much wind today so we were mainly under power but we did manage half an hour under wind power. During today’s sailing I sat out on the bow of the boat for a while but didn’t see much other than jellyfish and the islands going by.
We had planned to stop at an island along the way but as the water is murky at the moment we went straight to our anchorage for tonight, called Island 115, so we could spend more time here. One of the things I’ve been looking forward to the most is the snorkelling so I was happy to hear that the first thing we would be doing at Island 115 was snorkelling. Unfortunately the water was very murky so I didn’t see much except jellyfish and LOTS of urchins. After around 45 minutes we were picked up by dinghy and taken back to the boat to freshen up for lunch, which today was pasta and salad.
After lunch we chilled for a bit before being taken onto land for a bit of exploring with our local guides. It felt good to be finally setting foot on Myanmar soil, after being here for a day, although unfortunately it wasn’t the mainland. After taking some photos from the beach we were lead down a path through the jungle that had been cut by the Moken Sea Gypsies across to the other side of the island. The walk only took about 10 minutes and when we reached the other side of the island we were treated to a magnificent beach with a great view.
We spent some time walking around the beach on the far side of the island, trying to avoid the tiny crabs that kept popping out of the sand and running away and also discovered a hermit crab and a huge clam shell. Unfortunately we couldn’t spend as much time here as I would have liked as the tide was getting low and waiting for much longer would have resulted in us being stranded on the beach. However this meant we could relax and watch the sunset before a nice lunch of chicken strips, rice and salad.
The fishing boats nearby have just turned their lights on so there’s going to be a little bit of light pollution tonight but the air is so clear I should still have an amazing view from the hammock.