Snorkeling the Gulf of Thailand...Yes Please!

3 - 5 January 2015

We arrived back in Sihanoukville and went straight to Scuba Nation to fill out our paperwork for the trip that is leaving tomorrow.  Since we had to return to Scuba Nation at 7:00 AM the next day, we decided to stay close by.  There was a place right across the street for only $25, so we took it.

After spending 3 days at Last Point Resort and eating from the limited menu we needed something different.  I have been craving Mexican for a while, so we walked down the street and found a place called The Big Easy that had some Mexican choices on the menu and we both ordered the quesadilla that tasted really good:

After dinner we walked around town some and then returned to The Big Easy at 8:00 PM for the 2-for-1 cocktail special after which we went back to our hotel around 9:00 PM to go to sleep since we had to be up early.  I guess you can tell where this is going.  Noise came out of the bar in the lobby of our hotel and when then finally stopped there were people talking in the courtyard outside our door all night long.  We "woke up" groggy and sleepy and headed to Scuba Nation and then down to the pier to get on the boat that was to be our home for the next 2 days:

On board is 2 local crewmen, 3 diving instructors from Scuba Nation, and 6 other Americans who are all scuba diving versus snorkeling.  It is crazy that all the guests on board are American since we rarely see other Americans on this trip...most tourists we meet tend to be Europeans and Australians.  Anyway, it was cool hanging with people that speak our language and without having to figure out accents.

We were underway for about 2.5 hours when we approached an island called Koh Rong Saloem.  We were supposed to go further out, but the headwind was too strong so they changed the plan.  We jumped in for the first of 2 scheduled dives that day.  The visibility wasn't the best thanks to the tropical storm in the Philippines, but we were still able to see an incredible underwater landscape.  The most prominent thing down there seemed to be sea urchins.  They were pretty scary looking with long spines and what looked like beady eyes.  Every time I kicked I thought that my feet were going right into one of those spines.  We did't have an underwater camera, but here is a picture that I grabbed from the internet of what the sea urchin looks like:

After lunch they moved the boat to a different part of the island and we did a second snorkel that was similar to the first.  At the end of the day we were rewarded with yet another beautiful sunset along with a moon rise:

We woke up the next morning feeling great.  We both had a great night sleep with the slow and steady rocking of the boat all night.  We really needed the sleep after a restless night in Sihanoukville.  Here is what the upper deck looked like in the morning with all the mattresses set out:

The second day we did two more snorkels before making the 2.5 hour trip back to Sihanoukville where we arrived around 2:00 PM.  Overall the trip was really enjoyable and for a cost of only $90 each, including food, snacks, and beverages, it was really worth it and we would definitely do it again.

When we got back to Sihanoukville we took a tuk-tuk back to Otres Beach and checked into a beach bungalow that we arranged before the snorkeling trip.  

After checking in there was time to sit on a beach chair and relax before watching the sunset and grabbing some dinner.

Nice chairs to pass the time in.

Sunset over Otres Beach.

It seemed like a good idea at the time staying in a cute little bungalow on the beach until we realized that the bungalow butts right up to a bar. 

Bar behind cute little beach bungalows.

Question: How late can people party?  Answer: All night long!

Luckily the only plans tomorrow is a bus ride back to Phnom Penh.