Still on the V’Spirit, we had breakfast with our Czech friends, Martin and Jana, and exchanged Facebook info. Will have to go to Prague and visit Their B and B one day. Another boat came by and picked us up for a morning of kayaking. Very mixed emotions here. The islands, about 2000, are stunningly beautiful, rising out of the sea on every side. But the bay is filled with trash – plastic, styrofoam, bags, cups, packaging of every kind. One beach was so dirty, the captain decided not to stop. Kayaking, we saw a huge jellyfish float by, an eagle standing above a cave, and a couple of young monkeys eating in the trees just on the edge of the shore. There were beautiful areas, with lots of photo ops…
Our guide for the day was rather ambivalent about his job, so we hung out with the guide for one of the French tourists and he answered all our questions. Regarding the trash, he said it mostly came from the villagers. The government has moved most of them inland to make room for the scores of tourist boats, who also pollute the bay. If this is to be any kind of wonder of the world, they really need to clean it up.
Back on the boat, we had a great lunch and thought about taking out the kayaks again, but we all took naps instead. I got the French woman with the bad back to stretch with me, then Rachelle and I practiced on the deck.
By mid-afternoon, we were at a pearl farm, which turned out to be really interesting. We watched them implant the oysters with a bit of membrane and a seed of shell. They grow in the water for 5-6 years. 30% of them produce pearls and 10% of those are jewelry quality. They farm 3 kinds of pearls here…. And sell them of course. I was asked to point to an oyster and our guide opened it for me – there was a perfect pearl. So then I had to buy one! We were two Americans with 3 French couples, one couple around 70, the others around 80. They were having a great time shopping, so we joined in. Turns out shopping is an international language.
We helped choose, then approve each other’s purchases, then returned to the boat where a whole new set of tourists had boarded. We met a great English couple who lived in Croatia and had dinner with two American sisters from Boston and North Carolina. We listened to amazing stories about trekking in the Southern Himalayas in the 80s, and a family in Boston who fostered children of American vet fathers and Vietnamese mothers.
