Mulloskeys Adventures Abroad

We had decided to join up with a highly touted day cruise around the island which included snorkeling, fishing, boozing and stops at a few of the islands most famous beaches only accessible by boat. Anywhere else in the world these things are total tourist traps, but not here. Just some guy from South Africa making his way with a buddy who is a chef and a chartered former fishing boat converted to passenger boat.

Before we left we had our last meal at Milky Bay – a divine breakfast. Keep in mind western breakfast is not available in Korea, unless you want rice and kimchi. This means the only real breakfast we have had in months was the one on the plane the day before. We sat in the beautiful garden overlooking the beach eating eggs, bacon, crepes, freshly squeezed juice and some special sauces that I will never forget. The perfect start to the perfect day. Here’s a pic.

A 30 minute taxi ride (back of a pick up truck with benches) and we were on the north side of the island and pulling up to the boat launch. We met the fellow 20 passengers, mostly a large group of teachers form Luxembourg, and a few others form New York, England, Australia. The Luxembourg teachers teach English on the island, barely making enough to fall short of breaking even. They know that and they are happy. The guy form England opened a small resort, another met him a few months ago and asked for a job. It was then we realized we were the only ones on the boat not living on the island.
First stop, the northwest tip and some amazing scenery. Mountains of luscious jungle falling into white beaches and white-blueish tropical water were our treat to see along the way. We stopped for about an hour of amazing snorkeling. There were many beautiful and exotic fish to see. It was even nice just to swim in the waters there. Then up with the anchor and off to our first beach with more snorkling and chilling. Every moment was amazing. Everyone was socializing, having beers (is it only 10 am? really? Another Heineken please) and other drinks and the excellent drum and base music blaring form the boat’s speakers. Ben, Miah, Erin and I were the only ones going snorkeling the second time. We felt like kids as we swam, played and jumped off the roof of the boat while everyone else seemed to just want to tan and chill. Here are some pics of the morning sights.

 
Snorkeling stops:

Then we are off to Bottle beach, the islands most famous beach where we drop anchor for an hour and our first snack.

The chef on board has made fresh mussels in garlic white wine sauce and prepared fresh GIANT oysters with champagne accompaniment. Check out this spread (muscles are in the pot):

Now if you have been following this blog you know I will never touch an oyster again. Despite the fact I knew these were extremely fresh, washed, rinsed, and cleaned in salt water, and that in the cruises history no one has ever been sick, I vowed on that Korean hospital bed in January that if a 0.000001% chance exists of that experience recurring, it wasn’t worth it. I was still able to justify the mussels, which, yes I know, is no different and just as risky. But I just had too – they looked so fresh and tasty – which of course they were the best of my life. At that to the fact that, similar to camping, food just tastes better out on an excursion at sea – the champagne was icing on the cake.

Being that it was still early we decided to go swimming again. There are 2 resorts on the beach and we had decided to change resorts that night anyways just to check out another spot on the island. It was so cool to be able to swim ashore, walk up to the beach side reception and say “do you have any vacancies for tonight?” and then check out their rooms. We did this at every beach we were at -better than a pamphlet. Unfortunately by the time the cruise was done it was night and we couldn’t get there by boat. This ended up in our favour as we found something better that I will talk about after. Back to he boat and some more jumping off the top.

Ben and I had a lot of fun doing this. So did Miah and Erin, though we didn’t get any pics of them (Erin was taking all of them – thanks babe). We had to stop though as we were hit by a pack of the rare and endangered Thailand flying ass clams – we were lucky to get a rare photo of them.

Then we had some lunch served. Fresh fish in curry sauce with potatoes, amazingly fresh salad and more booze (well just the continuing of booze) Again, a hot dog would have been amazing. We were so hungry after the swimming. This food was something I would have paid a good amount for back home in any restaurant. We are all easily agreeing at this point that this cruise was the best $20 we have ever spent.
Next we pulled up anchor and went west to another secluded beach on the island. More swimming, awesome music and chilling. This was my favourite part of the day. The chef had taken a few snapper caught that morning and marinated it with some dry mustard, spices and olive oil. They were cooked whole over a charcoal barbeque on the back of the boat. The best fish I have ever eaten. Thankfully the other guests were full at this point and I was able to practically eat 2 of them myself. We were licking our fingers – unbelievable. I would rather eat that again than the best beef tenderloin or sirloin you can find. Besides tuna and salmon I really don’t like fish but this was different and warrants the additional sentence describing it. We caught a quick pick of it before I devoured it.

More booze and we were off to do some fishing. I knew that no one would catch anything but no one cared. We had a great buzz going as it was the end off the day. While switching fishing positions, I happened to to notice the Thai Captain hitting a bamboo bong while at the same time driving the boat. Sketchy…but here it doesn’t seem to matter. This place truly was unlike anywhere I have ever been.

The sun was going down and as we headed for shore and we stood in awe as the warm air blew in our faces – what a day and what a good decision. What a beautiful sunset.

We headed back to the hotel to grab our bags. We then caught a taxi to what we had decided was our next stop: Haad Salad Beach Resort. We knew Salad Beach was awesome and on the side of the island we wanted to see. We thought about other places as this was one of the most expensive places on the island. Hey we are only there for 3 days, lets splurge and pay the $35. On the next pick up truck we go to our next resort.

When we arrive we found ourselves in another mini-paradise. Our bungalows were less tropical than Milky bay but certainly more upscale – including this awesome porch. We looked over the garden and waterfall to the guy’s place.

Again there were about 10 bungalows so capacity for about 20 people – but no less extravagant. Around the pool we made it to the beach restaurant where we caught dinner just in time before the giant shrimps were being put away. Some wine and more Thai food we were having yet another amazing meal listening to the ocean crest the shore.

We bought some beers and sitting on the our porches the guys decided to crash. Erin and I weren’t ready so we ventured out to the beach to find a bar. The beach was quiet. Next door, however, there was a tiny beach bar with no seats, only floor cushions and about 6 hammocks around the structural edges. There were 2 tables on the beach itself. The music was off because some guy form New Zealand was strumming a guitar with a few locals. Another 6 people were sitting around candles on the mats. The barkeep was a South African who came there 7 years ago on vacation. He and his wife now run this bar. Beers were cheep and drinks were stiff. The only problem is you had to get past the NZ dude who was begging you to sing with him. I have never been so relaxed in my life. Everything was so quiet, even the music was soft. The only challenge was having to sing “Wish You were Here” and “Comfortably Numb” completely out of tune, and then wait for the barkeep to finish rolling so I could place my next drink order “Hey that’s how it is here man” he says. We sat it utter contentment for a few hours. I am struggling to find words to describe just how relaxed, how intimate, how amazing this night was. We found ourselves almost whispering while speaking so slowly – the vibe was palpable. It was this moment that I would have to say was the best single moment of the trip. We crashed late – I don’t know if time existed at that moment so I can’t tell you – it was dark though.
Last photo of the day.. poi dancers on the beach: