This morning was an eeeearrrrly morning, but since we went to bed pretty early last night, it was not too bad, but of course waking up at 4am is just never easy. But, our driver was right on time, and we got in the 4x4 vehicle and headed across the county.

It was about a 2 hour drive. We stopped to pick up one more person in the city, and then stopped at a grocery store to get some snacks. We tried to get a little sleep in on the way, but once we got out of the city, the roads we were on were incredibly wind-y. It took all our strength not to get car sick. The ride also felt like an extra long time, because it was almost like crossing the border into another country, there was a checkpoint where we had to pay a fee, and officers checked our passports. The line for this was very long. Then that was followed by even more wind-y roads. But, we finally made it to the port area where we boarded the little speed boat to the islands.

So, the day was overall amazing, do not get me wrong. But I think we were expecting a little more in the way of customer service. Our driver did not give us history, or give us a timeline or really tell us where we were going or what we were doing. The bathrooms at the port area were quite the scene, and you had to pay to use them, which is fine, but since it was so bloody hot, the smell was something else. AND, since Jaime and I got REALLY sunburned, and there was not a cloud in the sky, the sun beating down on us was quite uncomfortable. BUT, all was worth it to see such beautiful sites.

It was a little after 9am when we got on the boat, we made a stop at one island to drop a couple people off, then we went to our first island called Big Dog island. Here we had a couple of hours to hang out in the crystal clear waters, and buy some drinks, and take some photos. There were options for volleyball and other activities, but since it was so hot, we stuck to the shade and the water to keep cool. The island was very small, you could walk from one end to the other in maybe 2 minutes or so. There were tons of tents as you can opt to camp there. There were also yachts out in the distance who stop over at these islands. I think you might be able to see some of the fancy boats in our photos.

Since we had been awake for so long at this point, of course we were getting hungry, but lunch wasn't going to be for a while. We did get a few snacks at the grocery store, so we were ok, but getting ready for lunch.

Our second stop was at a natural pool in the middle of the water. Very cool, you could walk around, it was only maybe knee deep. You could also see a lot of starfish in the water. While this was very cool, we were definitley ready for lunch, so we were more than ready when they called us back on the boat to go to our final island for lunch.

Our third and final stop, lunch was cooked for us. Jaime had chicken, I of course had the vegetarian option, and Jon and Shareen had fresh fish. After this, we went back in the water and walked around this island for more photo ops. This island also had a cool swing that we took turns on.

These islands are VERY far from where we are staying, way on the other side of the country, and so far from home, I love the feeling of knowing just how far in the middle of nowhere you really are. But after our time on this last island, we were more than ready to head back to our hotel. The journey back was not quite as bad as we didn't have to wait to have our passports checked and there was no traffic.

The feeling of getting out of the car and into the hotel was perfect. We went straight to the buffet and enjoyed a lovely dinner, which tasted even more amazing because we worked up more of an appetite traveling back.

That restaurant we went to the first day, Starfish is open most of the time, and at the buffet tonight, there was not a whole lot of options for me, so we went to starfish and I had another veggie panini made for me. So yes, two dinners.

There is also this awesome sweet/dessert place down on the first floor that has awesome ice cream and different pastries each day. So we have all been taking advantage of that. Tonight, there was this awesome carrot cake and Jaime and I took out to the deck on the beach to share. We still called it a night early as it was a looooooong day.