Day 19 21.12.2014
After a great 12 hour sleep, we enjoyed a tasty breakfast in the open-air restaurant with a view over the ocean and the surrounding islands. Tiny waves, as on a lake, lap up the beach ...the water has a gorgeous aquamarine hue and is around 26 - 27 degrees. Just heavenly.
Taking our snorkeling gear we took a stroll along the beach to the jutting out headland, along which we saw some rocks in the water. The squeaky white sand was not too hot and firm enough to walk easily. The beach is flanked by palm trees and other leafy trees, providing some much needed shade.
The snorkeling proved to be much better than expected, with several species of colourful fish, some in relatively large schools, and lots of different species of coral in varied stages of development. We owe Reefteach in Cairnsgreatly for expanding our knowledge and appreciation of coral, as when snorkeling this is where our interest now lies.
Later in the afternoon we walked across to Tree-House and to the "backpacker" village. I am sure we changed the demographics by a few decades during our visit the ...so were quite happy to escape back to our side of the island ( before dark !) after sharing mango-dacquiris with Ricki at Tree-House. We met Dylan and Jedda on the walk back, as they had been coconut hunting.
Managed to get to bed slightly later ...at 21h00 ...equally tired ! This island life really takes it out one !!

Day 20 22.12.2014
Last day at PuraVita Resort before heading to SokSan on the other side of the island. This may be easier said than done, seeing that the wind has really come up strongly overnight and the boats are not running to that side of the island, mainly due to the heavy swells. A 4 hour hike over a mountain, through the jungle and along a 7km beach is our only other alternative. All part of the Robinson Crusoe island experience ... It seems.
Today was a day of relaxing in the water, on the terrace of our bungalow enjoying our captivating books and then going on our last snorkel in the area. Unfortunately the later part of the day shattered our illusions somewhat, as we were confronted by some opportunistic pilfering on the beach. Our underwater camera, with its 200 photos of our trip, is gone ....not sure whether as part of the pilfering expedition or whether it fell out of Clint's pocket as we got in the water to snorkel. We searched in the water, as we noticed immidiately that the camera was gone, but in spite of combing through the small area of water for a few hours...no camera. So very sad ...less about the camera than the irreplacable photos and sights and memories we were so keen to share. Mais - c'est la vie ! First world problems - as the backpackers to South-East Asia so often say.