Saturday 17th May
I got up earlier than the rest of the guys, at about 07.30, even though I hadn't made any plans for the day. I was awake and probably used to these early starts so decided to just get up and make the most of the morning. I did some laundry, went for a coffee and then met Phil and Sanne before heading for the beach.
We rented fins, snorkels and masks and hit the beach on a really beautiful day; there wasn't a cloud in the sky, the temperature was perfect for me and the sun didn't feel too strong. We did some snorkelling and I was lucky enough to see a couple of turtles, one of which I swam above for about twenty minutes, just watching it go about its business. It was a fantastic sight, just seeing it glide through the water effortlessly; they really stand out amongst the fish, and have a character all of their own. Emer, Sean, Gemma and Sandra joined us later on, and it turned out to be a really relaxing day.
After we got back to the hostel and got changed, we went for a walk to a large sand dune overlooking Coral Bay beach, where we had been earlier in the day, and watched the sun set. It was a great moment, a wonderful place and I was lucky to be there at that time, with some new friends. It is times like these – thousands of miles away from home and in the middle of nowhere – when I felt very happy and privileged to have the opportunity to have experiences like this one. It's important to enjoy the moment, take it all in and try and keep hold of these memories for the future.
After dinner, we played some more ping-pong and sat about the bar area chatting for a bit before some of the guys headed off to bed. The rest of us – Sean, Phil, Brian (who had arrived on another ER bus earlier in the evening), Emer, Gemma and a few other ER people – went to the pub to watch the FA Cup Final. It was fairly dull, with Portsmouth beating Cardiff 1-0. I spent most of the game speaking to Sean. Jenny & John, an older English couple who had been on the ER bus from Perth arrived back into Coral Bay after spending a few days in Exmouth, and it was really nice to catch up with them again. Most of the guys went down to the beach to carry on the party, but I decided to head back to the hostel as we were due to leave at 10.00 the next day on the way up to Exmouth.
