Overseas ... a little bit

Yay! The islands are open again!

From our apartment looking out towards the South China Sea we have been hearing the thrum of engines in the mornings as the big ferries head out to Redang and Perhentian Islands a little bit north of here. So we figured Kapas would soon be open too.

It was too late to go for the weekend, but we decided to go out for the day.

At Marang we found the tide was the lowest we had ever seen it ...

Nevertheless, we boarded our usual boat, and set off with just the two of us on board ... a few minutes earlier than the scheduled time. A couple of minutes into our journey, shouts were heard and we had to turn back for six others who had been taken by surprise by the boat's sudden departure (!).



We had picked up some fruits at Marang market before boarding, and enjoyed a good chinwag with Zai who we had not seen for several months.

We had only been there a few minutes when the storm clouds came across from behind the island ...

... so we sat at the newly painted 'tables' (they are really cable reels on their sides) in the sandy-floored restaurant, listening to the wonderful sound of rain-on-the-roof, shifting ourselves occasionally to avoid the leaky bits. (Zai tells us they are planning to replace the roof sometime.)

We went swimming in the warm water with the rain-drops poking our skin with cool fingers. Then we had one of Zai's restaurant offerings (I had fried rice wrapped in an omelet).

We caught the 4pm boat back to the mainland - it was only a few hours, but it felt like most of a weekend out on our favourite island. They sent the big boat out this time, but there were only a handful of people (including us) who climbed aboard. Once again there was a shout when we were a few metres away and we noticed a crowd of people on the beach (normally you can catch the boat directly from the beach, but the tide was too low for the big boat) So the boat had to return for another dozen or so passengers. (The boat people weren't having a good day of it, but they will improve as the season gets underway!)

Next weekend ... guess where we're going!