Many apologies, my dear readers, for being so quiet for so long. Internet on the island is wishy washy and I’ve been busy busy! Because the Malaysian Tourism Board was visiting Sea Gypsy to determine its star status, we have been working non-stop to make sure it’s in tip-top shape for its review. This means planting new trees along the shore, re-painting EVERYTHING to make it look clean and bright, sanding down and adding new resin to the bar, organizing and tidying up the grounds and tools, and putting on shiny new t-shirts to replace our manky old dirty ones. 

Now all we have to do is sit and wait to see if the incredible resort is awarded four stars. This waiting around has involved laying on the beach and reading with Richard’s lovely sister Jade, visiting the other resorts and the local village (kampung) on the island, trying out new cocktails, snorkeling to various islands, and, of course, scuba diving! I have now officially completed eight dives and feel that I am improving dramatically during each one. Now that I have learned all the theory, found my neutral bouyancy and sorted out how to contain my messy mass of hair, all I have left to learn is how to stop grinding my teeth so that bits of the mouthpiece don’t keep coming off in my mouth! I am also much better at spotting exciting fish. I’ve seen countless clown fish, parrot fish, angel fish and grouper. On my last dive, I also saw a bamboo shark, a couple sting ray, and a moray eel! Who needs aquariums when you have the big blue and a tank strapped to your back, eh? 

Despite the peaceful bliss of falling asleep to the sound of waves crashing on the shore every night and waking up to a majestic sunrise on the horizon, island life is not all complete paradise. It turns out that my sweet delicious blood is adored by thousands of vicious, miniscule, relentless sand flies. The greedy pests don’t even stop after opening a giant puss-filled wound, oh no! They need many, many more before they’re satisfied. My many open wounds, combined with the dirt and grime of living and working on an island, made a nasty combination that ended with my foot swelling up and seeping with infection. Fortunately, Richard’s expert life experience of living on the island meant that he was a fantastic nurse and was able to slowly drain the infection out by soaking my feet in a wonderfully stinky chemical called Dettol. Hurray! Another Southeast Asian health problem under control. Now if I could just wake up one morning with a still stomach and sort out the cockroach problem in my room, I’d be very happy. But that may be asking too much from this part of the world… 

Don’t let that last paragraph fool you. This place is still about as close to paradise as you can get. I am overwhelmed by the generosity that I have recieved from everyone here, and I am absolutely devastated to leave. I learned the joys of working with a small community of people, and I tried delicious foods that I’ve never heard of. I swished around the beautiful phosphorescence in the sea on a dark night and I sat around a bonfire on the beach with friendly new faces. I witnessed the importance of teamwork during crisis (fun fact: one of the the boats sunk yesterday) and appreciated the contentment of staring up at palm trees after a long day’s work. I fell in love with the island and my time there was unbelievably bagus (good).