All it takes is no pollution - a tall order for the majority of Westerners whether it be light, noise or petrocarbons, but in the Indian Ocean there's none such, and every night is a star-spectacle.
Thursday started once again me resigned to the fact that diving was not going to happen - reported to the DMs at breakfast then sadly settled into dry-land routine of an early morning walk which was lovely - no people, virgin footprints, calm almost no wind (usually, only early morning and early evening result in wind-statis and it's delightful!) Before long I've had enough and leave the Husband to continue his circuits in peace. I head back, and fight with the internet for a while before giving up and generally mess around until it's time for luncheon.
Today we visit the Pavillion Pool, aka Hot Rock in the evening but during the day it's an adults-only pool. Not that it means anything saucy takes place - this is a Muslim country - just that it's guaranteed child-free hoorah! A nice bottle of rosé helps a 'club' sandwich and a burger slip down nicely.
After lunch it's time to snorkel from the foot of our stairs all the way back to the island. This sounds like nothing, but actually is a reasonable expedition - some 0.25 miles with the in-bound current through the stilts on which the bungalows are built and then walking back along the boardwalk but in 30 degs and bare-feet it can be quite a problem. We do this twice, once for each side. Our opposite neighbour has thousands of pipefish underneath, and our tame heron watches with glee, whereas most of the others have a few Picasso, Puffer Fish or Parrot Fish - it doesn't matter what, they are all amazing to watch. Later the heron joins Hubby on the deck, quite unperturbed!
Afterwards we do a few circuits, watching as the staff from Asian Wok are setting up the repeater's Party, we'll be there this evening but for now we continue past and put some more miles under our belts.
Before long it's time to join the other repeaters, some 30 people who, like us have been to Meeru before. The islands clientel are a very diverse bunch ... overall probably 10% Brits, 5% Arabs, 5% Russians, 20% Chinese and the remainder Europeans, predominantly French and German, but tonight all guests are all European or Brit and we talk to a couple from Norway who are most pleasant, erudite, agreeable.
Then we head home to change and then retrace our steps right back to Asian Wok for our semi-alternate buffet opt-out. As much as we love Meeru we don't love buffet food so at least every other night is spent at a served alternative.
Asian Wok serves so very few people, about 10 tables of two, plus a noisy teppanyaki table of six, all this is a huge space with around 20 staff - its definitely the best place. Tonight we're mainly Japanese, apart from Hubbys Tandoori Chicken, which was wonderful, mine was all excellent!
Friday and I'm resigned to no diving. That's theee days no diving now, so $300 saved, which of course gets moved ... into the wine budget ... every cloud etc?
After joining Hubby on his morning walk for a while I decide to come home and work a bit - there's pressing stuff to do - unfortunately the internet lag is unbearable and my tolerance is (perhaps) a little lower than usual, so I give up fairly quickly. Still writing a blog takes no on-line effort, at least in the first intance.
We breakfast, lunch and dinner at the buffet, and tonight's roast pork is quite excellent, no complaints for a change. Of course there was a Sundowner in between, plus assorted snorkelling expeditions including my solo mission heading out towards Indonesia, but not getting further than 150 yards because the reef was so close I was worried about grounding. Saw some great things though!
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