David made it out of bed this morning but was still not feeling 100%. It seems such a waste to be sick when you pay for full board - the good news, however, is that we are able to stay an extra day albeit in a different room. Over breakfast of Hungarian toast (Erika, the owner, is of Hungarian descent) the conversation turns to today's trip - snorkeling - and we decide to join everyone else.

Our first stop for snorkeling was Coral Cay, very different to what we have experienced before. For a start, the boat tied up to a buoy which didn't seem to be in the sea because mangrove islands could be seen all around. We trusted our captain and dropped into the water to be quite taken aback. It was only about 2.5m deep but the bottom was a carpet of very colourful and varied soft coral. The colours seemed like the '70s, tones of orange, green, yellow, purple and blue. There were sea flowers and fish, some 'buried' in the depths of the coral and other floating around and above. Maria even spotted a puffer fish. If it wasn't for the gentle current passing through, you could have floated for ages watching the coral dancing and the fish coming and going.

Back on the boat, we motored for another 25 minutes to the outmost islands of the archipelago to Zapatilla Island. Unfortunately, the swell coming in from the Caribbean Sea was bigger than expected and was coming over the normally protective reef, so there was no snorkeling at Zapatilla.

It wasn't so bad though because we had planned to spend a few hours on the island, so it was not a wasted trip. The island was just like one you would expect as a 'paradise island'. A jungle filled island fringed with coconut trees, shading a white sand beach that gently made it way down to turquoise water. With a chilly bin full of drinks and lunch, we were happy.

We had a walk through island first, it was only about 30 minutes but took us through the jungle and past fresh water pools and swamps. The only wildlife to be spotted was a little freshwater turtle. After lunch and few drinks on the beach, we chilled out on the beach and went to water. The current running past the island was insane though, even in knee deep water you were soon 5m further round the island from where you started.

On the way back to Dolphin Bay, the boat pulled up next to mangroves and we were told this was the Secret Spot for snorkeling. We were even told to get as close to the mangroves as possible so this seemed a bit strange - mangroves tend to grow in silt.

The boat had anchored in 10m of water but it sharply banked up towards the mangroves where it leveled off for maybe 5m at barely 1m deep. In amongst sea grass there was all the same coloured soft coral we had seen earlier in the day but there were also hundreds of tiny fish in schools and starfish by the dozens.

As our appetites were still not back to normal, we only had a half portion dinner. Chicken, potatoes and salad - it was delicious and just enough to satisfy the hunger without overloading. It did leave enough space for an extra few glasses of wine which is a good sign of recovery too.