The wind and waves calmed down slightly today, and the sun was shining, so after breakfast off we went to the water sports kiosk to get our paddle boards.

Needless to say, the waves and wind had not exactly calmed down enough to make standing up on the board anything but ridiculously awkward. 
Ross made a valiant effort to remain upright and did manage to cover some distance before unceremoniously succumbing to gravity.
Since there are quite a few rocks in the water (which you did not want to fall on) and we were strictly instructed not to dig the skeg into the sand near the shoreline, I had a great deal of trouble getting to my feet in the onshore breeze.  I managed a couple of brief upright positions but spent most of the half hour kneeling, which caused a really bad case of ‘jelly legs’ after we finally gave up and returned the unruly board to their caretakers.  Perhaps we will try again if the sea ever gets flat enough to make the exercise pleasurable.

After the paddle boarding torture we decided that it would be much nicer to just sit by the pool and vegetate before venturing out after lunch for a snorkel on the reef drop off, so off we went to secure a couple of sun loungers, which are usually at a premium.

Lucky for us, a couple had just been vacated and we were able to settle down to watch the billowing thunderstorms and enjoy a couple of mango smoothies.

Ross had booked our dinner for tonight at the over water Italian restaurant but they hadn’t rung back to confirm, so we called in at the reception  desk to make sure of it.  When asked if the booking was confirmed, they denied all knowledge of it and told us that the restaurant was booked for 7pm and could we make it 8.30????? Upon which, I channeled my inner bogan and kicked up a fuss saying it was my birthday and we had booked for 7pm and we would like to go at 7pm because we were diving in the morning. After that, they all backed down, said that ‘yes 7pm would be perfectly fine’ and then they all meekly wished me a happy birthday. Lol

I’m such a brat! I hope they don’t tell the chef to spit in my food. 
After a light lunch at the main restaurant we settled onto our loungers to wait a while before we went off snorkeling.  However, the guy that was making up our room was taking an inordinately long time, and when we were ready to get our snorkeling gear we discovered that he was arranging all sorts of flowers and stuff on the bed (see attached photo) as per my ‘birthday surprise’.  
I’m still waiting for the cake!

We did eventually get our snorkeling gear and set off on the very long and very rough swim out to the drop off. Swimming through the waves was like being in a washing machine and not the most pleasant experience.

I did manage to see a couple of little black tip reef sharks and a reasonably large nurse shark, but the coral was badly bleached, as the guy at the dive centre had told us, and there weren’t a lot of other fish, even though the visibility was pretty good. Mind you it was pretty shallow too.

I hope the wind and waves settle down a lot more over the next week so we can get a better look out there.

It was just too rough to be pleasant. It will be better diving since you can get down under the chop and peruse the wall.

There is a couple getting married out on the beach near our villa at the moment.  We saw them setting up earlier and one of the staff told us it was lucky that they could have it on the beach since the rain we had in previous days would have made it impossible.

It is just a very small wedding with the couple and a couple of friends and a few of the staff.  Much better to spend the money on having such a lovely honeymoon I think.  The bride looked pretty in a chiffon gown.