Day 2 - Tue 29th - Blown Away

So after breakfast, we all felt so tired we headed off for a sleep... Most of us didn't get much kip on the plane so we all felt better afterwards.

With our "just do it" motto, we headed out for the sister hotel Sunrise Island View, which selfishly hogs the beach from our hotel. First we had to get some beach passes & drinks vouchers as our all inclusive status doesn't carry to all parts of the other hotel. Next, we had to find the shuttle bus and hop on for the slightly longer than short journey to the "View". It's not that far but in this heat its just too much to walk... Along the way we saw some bizarre sights.. A traditional egyptian camel & his rider sat crossed legged at the roadside, but he was texting intently on his mobile phone... Weird.

We headed straight for Soho Square, the purpose built shopping area for the tourists, before turning off into our destination.

We headed down the steep steps to the beach and saw a number of jettys stretching out from shoreline. A lot of the coast has coral growing very close to the shoreline, so the jettys are plastic floating squares pieced together out over the coral into the open, deeper part of the sea. They basically keep the tourists away from the coral and destroying it. They even have coral police over here that will fine people that break the coral whether it's intentional or by accident.

As soon as we started down the jetty we were amazed at the fish we could see in the shallow water... It was probably only 5 or 6 inches deep.

By the time we got to the jetty platform, it was like we were floating above an aquarium with hundreds of multi-coloured fish in it. We were blown away. Sam jumped in first, thereby winning our annual competition of "I'm gonna be first in the sea on holiday" (she often cheats to win it by saying "hold my bag" while she runs to the sea lol). Lissa went in quickly afterwards and Connor eventually gig in after his usual shenanigans of "I'm jumping in / I can't / I'm jumping in / I can't", which can last up 20 minutes...

I was watching the bags whilst everyone else swam around, so I just got me kit off and got in... It's hard to describe in words, so I'll use a story Sam tells me often.

When she was a kid, her folks had an aquarium full of tropical fish. She'd press her face to the glass pretending that she was in the tank with the fish... Something I think a lot of kids have done at one time or another!

Anyway, this is just like that only better and for real - truly mind blowing stuff when u see it for the first time.

I'll post some pics when I can.

Bye for now!