All night a storm kept us awake. The rain was so heavy we thought that our room was about to flood. Deafening thunder shook the roof as we tried to sleep. On waking we we feared the worst for our planned boat trip, but once we reached the pier we saw the sea was completely flat. It was just us on the boat trip so we left as soon as we got there.

We had around an hour and a half ride to the furthest place we were going to visit. On the way, the captain cut the engine and told us to look into the distance. We saw Irrawaddy dolphins. They are critically endangered so we considered ourselves extremely lucky to have spotted some. They have bashed in snouts, looking like the pugs of the dolphin world. We also saw small fish jumping in and out of the water around our boat.

The snorkeling was good but visibility was affected by the storm. We still saw a lot of marine life we had not seen yet. Chocolate chip starfish dotted the shallow reefs coloured a deep orange with black spots all over resembling chocolate chips. We saw sea worms and a lot of blue swimmer crabs. Robin tried to catch some for dinner but they were too quick.

We anchored at a small beach for the bbq. The fire was lit on the boat as we sunbathed at the front of the vessel. We had a swim and a short walk on the beach before eating. Chicken, prawn, and snapper slotted between pepper, onion, and tomatoes on skewers for lunch with jacket potatoes and a chopped salad. It was nice to not have rice!

The boat ride back was a little choppy with some rain in the ocean. By the time we got back to shore the sun was shining again.

Geographically, Kep is a very interesting province. The islands have no clear borders with land owned by Vietnam on either side of the small strip of Cambodian sea.

We went back and had a shower before getting ready for dinner. We had hired a bike in anticipation of tomorrow so rode it to a restaurant called Holy Crab. I had my first pasta in 2 months with loads of lemon salted crab mixed in. Robin had crab with creamy lemon sauce and garlic vegetables. For dessert we had a coffee brownie with vanilla ice cream. The restaurant had a small jewelry selection too and I bought a bracelet.

Back to the guesthouse for bed before a day of bike exploring tomorrow.

-M