Top 11 of 2011... Part 3

#9.  A Joyous Return to the Caribbean.

You know, when I was at the US Open rearranging my life last minute to be in Tampa in 3 days for rehearsals to return to a cruise ship gig, I wasn't really quite sure that it wasn't going to be awful.  I had some pretty rough memories from my first gig back in 2007 and I didn't love the idea of returning to the "floating prison".  But I needed a job, a break from the city, and a serious infusion of cash into my nearly depleted bank accounts.  I was pretty low, to say the least.

And what followed was a shockingly delightful return to the Caribbean and ship life.

I mean, I climbed a waterfall in Jamaica.

I cliff dived (dove?) off a wall in Mexico, whilst drinking rather too copious an amount of tequila.

I frolicked in the crystal clear bath waters of secluded Emerald Beach in St. Thomas while airplanes flew overhead.

I got to have another super-spoiled V. I. P. + 2 vacation with the best family ever.

I've checked off almost all the spots in "Kokomo"

No Aruba, but

Jamaica - check

Bermuda - check

Bahamas - check

Key Largo - check

Montego - check

I was surprised and reunited with one of my all-time favorite Aussies, Jayne, and the best Brit, Vicki!!!!

And my adventures in Grand Cayman were so great they'll come in another entry!

I made money, I drank delicious rum, I got a tan, I had a working vacation, and my soul got some serious happy!

See what I meant by breathtakingly high peaks?

Scooter-ific

Here're some things you need to know about Thailand...

1. ANYONE can rent a scooter for 200 Baht.

2. I really mean anyone with any sort of ID, not necessarily a driver's license.

3. The Songkran Thai New Year tradition of pouring water on the hands of the elderly has morphed into a week-long roadway water fight.

4. Ice water hitting your face at you at 40 km/h really hurts.

5. Driving a scooter in Thailand during Songkran is playing dice with the devil.

We decided we would rent a scooter from our hotel this morning, though we are well aware that you can easily get scammed for even the slightest scratch. While the verdict is still out on us losing all our hard-earned Japanese yen since Evan is keeping the scooter another day tomorrow, so far we made it down and back up the island quite safely. We took pictures as evidence first thing to cover our butts in case of scamming danger, and hopefully we won't have to use them.

I won't lie, the mountainous hairpin turns between towns and beaches are really frightening, especially when you aren't the one driving and are holding on for dear life. I've never been so happy to wear a painful too-small helmet in my life.

We stopped first at the elephant camp to take a couple pictures with SPD and bestie's billboard, since they are now the most famous people in Koh Chang. We drove about an hour to get to the south end of the island, where we turned down the small street towards Bang Bao and its long pier.

We hadn't really planned to start our adventure there, but that's what happens when you let the spirit of adventure guide you. We were lucky it was cloudy and cooler today, since the pier felt stifling, more like Bangkok than Koh Chang. I thought the pier would be wooden, but in fact it was a small concrete slab with stilted shops and restaurants and bars and bungalows added haphazardly. There's a lot of charm there, even if the pier has changed a lot from its former fishing village days.

Evan found a travel agent he really liked who booked us a 4 island snorkeling tour on Saturday, and I enjoyed exploring the lighthouse at the end of the pier. We had hoped to have a late seafood lunch there, since we'd heard how good the seafood was supposed to be but we were still very full from a big breakfast and our all-you-can-eat BBQ the night before. It was nearly 1 by the time we ate, however, since it took some time to traverse the 20 km down to that end of the island.

Evan had an incredible Hawaiian salad that was served inside half a pineapple, but I really indulged for my favorite seafood that I've rarely had since Baltimore made it legendary for my taste buds.

That's right. Delicious blue CRAB! Sans Old Bay, which just seems a crime, but he was so damn fresh and delicious he didn't need any help at all. I did have some soy and spicy Thai chili sauce to accompany him, and they added excellent local flavor, but to be honest, I mostly just enjoyed the crab sans embellishment.

We picked the place because it smelled so good, but the tanks of your lunch still swimming around waiting for you to decide its fate really sold me on a restaurant whose name I never knew. They had two big blue crab just itching to get out of the tank, and I felt like I could help one of them out...

... and INTO MY BELLY! And boy was he tasty. Not the cheapest crab at 700 B/kilo (I paid about 15 bucks for a very nice size fellow), but extremely flavorful. I even made sure to remind his friend on the way out that he was lucky I gave him a few extra hours of life.

After our lunch we grabbed some excellent pastries for afternoon snacks, and then decided to see just how far the west coast road would go. It dead-ended at a guests-only resort, so we backtracked to an access point for the beach I had been eyeing jealously from the Bang Bao pier. The beach was lovely and secluded and had beautiful sun and views, but we didn't stay long with all we hoped to accomplish for the day still on the menu. The sand wasn't the best, a bit a rocky with lots of washed up coral, and the water was really only ideal for shallow floating, but it was nice to slow down and soak up a few rays.

Of course I happened to step in a pile of red ants that I REALLY hope weren't fire ants, though I think my ankle would be itching by now. I jumped right into the ocean in case any felt the need to stay longer than their already un-welcome, but mostly I was just annoyed that they decided to crowd around the foot water well. RUDE.

We continued back up the island and stopped at one of the cliffs to take pictures of the beautiful view. Be jealous. Very jealous.

Our final stop of the day was at the Khlong Phlu waterfall not far from our elephant trekking camp. You have to stop at the ranger station to pay 200 Baht, which I think actually only applies to foreigners and is kind of outrageous when you think about it. 12 bucks to walk to a waterfall for the two of us? Stupid.

As it turns out, the hike was really nice through the jungle, especially since it was a natural dirt trail, unlike silly Taiwan. The waterfall was still amazing, despite being at its low point at the end of the dry season. It's much taller than I expected, and it cuts an incredible gorge out of the rocks. There's an excellent pool to swim and cliff jump into, though with the low levels we weren't too brave. And boy, did freshwater taste sweet!

Driving home before sunset was probably the worst part of the day, since some of the Songkran revelers had packed up for the day, but some still insisted on throwing ice water in our eyes despite our protests. There's just no avoiding it around here.

We watched the best sunset yet from our porch, and Tal came around not long after we got home. We seriously just watched from our porch, and Hamlet even came around to lay at our feet. Did I mention that we have 4 puppy friends here? Hamlet, the black one, Ralph, the black and white one, Buster, the bristled (?) one, and our new friend today, Daisuke, the brown and black one. And yes, they are territorial and make sure we get home safely. Amazing what a little kindness gets you. We could learn something from dog behavior.

Since it was cooler this evening, we ate an incredibly delicious and cheap Thai dinner at Rock Sand Resort on the patio directly over the crashing waves of high tide. A simple meal of Pad Thai, red chicken curry with pineapple, and stir-fried beef with garlic and pepper was D-E-lightful. We played several games of cards that Tal taught us, an Israeli game similar to Uno called Taki, and a game called sh*thead that is pretty close to President. It was so nice to just relax, even if the mosquitoes didn't quite agree.

Now it's already 1 AM, and I'm looking forward to my day of nothing tomorrow. My plan is to hardly wander far from my front door, only to work on my tan and read a book. Who needs an agenda when you have sun, sand, and surf right outside your bungalow door? Heaven. Absolute heaven.