A perfect day. We set off on a sailing boat to explore the reefs around here. Captain big Steve a raster guy accidently dropped his ipod in the water so was looking for someone with music to play. Fearing that someone else might put their music on, I was soon in there with Liz's iPhone. With the music sorted, I could find a good shady spot to gaze out on tropical paradise and get to know the fellow passengers.

The first stop was called coral gardens, where I didn't waste any time in jumping in. There was a lot of fan coral, and within a few minutes spotted the first of two turtles. There was a surprising amount of fish despite the coral being in good condition (normally the better the coral the less fish).

The second stop was even better. We stopped off at shark ray alley off San Pedro. It had the typical paradise look, crystal clear water and patches of coral separated by brilliant white sand. The ships hand casually dropped a bit of food in the water. Almost instantly, the water churned with fish. Another few seconds and numerous Nurse Sharks joined the action. Jump in when ready Steve said. I looked down trying to find somewhere where I was not going to risk landing on a shark. Although they are none aggressive they have teeth so didn't want to risk pissing them off.

Once the bubbles from jumping in parted it revieled an underwater paradise. Along with the nurse sharks, there were many sting rays and big showls of tropical fish. What made it amazing was how unafraid the fish were. You could swim along side the rays and sharks within easy touching distance. Diving down you could completely obscure your vision inside a fish shoal.

Once back on board we had lunch whilst making our way towards our third and final stop at a deep channel in the reef. This was a guided tour by the ships mate (blog picture). Here you got bigger fish: big turtles, red snapper, moray eels and we hoped eagle rays. Some Jacks decided to follow us around perhaps for protection. They stayed very close, close enough to accidently brush them when swimming. There was also a tunnel 25-30 foot down and probally 7-10 foot long that you could swim through.

The journey back made it a perfect day. Rum punch was produced along with some of Steves special surprises. The wind was gentle and the boat moved slowly along to some good regga tunes. The Rum punch kept coming, we only expected a glass. On the way some people wanted another swim, a rope was dangled off the back where people could hang onto after jumping in.

Pretty much everyone was well jolly by the time we got in. We all headed down to the split where we sat at some water benches to watch the sunset with a drink in hand. The Aussie girls had a plan to get some people together for a trip to a very small picture perfect island.

Later on at Mama Star (the locals eating place) I asked Captain Steve what it was going to cost. Affordable and with Steve having tents a possible goer if we can find 10 people.