Hiring a car for a couple of days was the best thing we could do to get out and really see the whole of the island without paying a small fortune to Tui (who seem to rule this place with their blue coaches and blue mini buses and blue planes and blue uniforms - I jest but you get the point, there's a lot of business for Tui here). For €60 a day, we thought there would be enough value in it, so we hired it for 2 days and set about exploring.
Kite beach was our first stop and it was a bit mad to be honest. I've never seen so many Kite Surfers in one place. There must have been 30 kites laid out ready to fly and probably 15 out on the surf at any one time. This is absolutely where Kite Surfers come
on holiday - the surf is great, the sea is warm and the beach is large and you're amongst other like minded surfers. Some of these guys and girls were so good and they were zipping up and down the coast so fast past each other and leaping into the air so high. I was quite entertained just standing there for 20 minutes. How they don't crash into one another or get their kite lines tangled I don't know. Gaz was keen to get out there with them, but plans to windsurf next week between Christmas and New year.
We also visited the Pedra de Lune Salinas, the Salt mine that whilst still operational is more focused on tourism, with it's salt lake drawing people to experience the health benefits and general amusement of floating in volcanic salt water (25% salt). It was a bit smelly of sulphur, but the lake was great and just slightly cooler than body temperature
but underfoot the rocks were warm from the volcanic activity. We learned that it's hard to swim in really salty water and also fat people bounce around like champagne corks - I got into a bit of trouble trying to get my balance and ended up flailing around trying to right myself and failing miserably. Gaz had to come over and help me get upright again lol. Oh well, I'm fat. Deal with it.
We spent a couple of hours at the site. You can wander around the volcanic crater and see the piles of salt crystals. They have showers and changing facilities there as well as a cafe, so we were able to rinse the salt off - I quite liked the way my skin shimmered when the salt water dried but when I was clean and dry I was pleased I'd showered. I don't know if my health benefitted from the swim, but I left happy so my soul took some nourishment if nothing else.
Whilst driving around we decided to drive north and take in the mirage that apparently exists there. We went from tarmaced road to paved road, to dirt road, to pebbles and dust and then some sort of dirty sand road and despite our determination, saw no mirage to speak of. It's supposed to look like a lake i think but apart from Gaz screaming 'is that it?' in my ear at one point, we cannot honestly vouch that it exists. But the journey was interesting and the landscape flat and bleak but strangely beautiful at times.
The most exciting thing we did while we had the car was to visit Shark Bay on the East coast of the island. It's not signposted from the main road, so you need to know where you're headed and be prepared to get it wrong and have to back track on dirt roads, but eventually we found a small sign hand painted, seemingly in the middle of nowhere that said Shark Bay. As we turned to follow the direction of the sign, a guy on a motorbike shouted he was going to shark bay and indicated to follow him in the other direction, which being the obedient clueless tourists we did. After 10 minutes of driving slowly down a very questionable road, we arrived at Shark Bay.
Our helpful guide was Kevin also known as Sea Urchin because of his short dreads. We paid him €10 to walk us out into the bay and show us the sharks. We had brought our own water shoes, but he insisted on us hiring Crocs so that our toes were covered and our feet protected from the rocks (and sharks). We didn't have enough cash on us, but he insisted on making sure our feet were protected, so he gave the shoes to us for free. A) the guy has business sense and B) it was good to know that he was serious about doing it properly.
Once we were kitted out, we walked across the rocks and into the shallows. We had to walk about 50m out across lots of small rocks and sharp stones. And then when we were about knee deep, Kevin added some blood to the water and some scraps of fish to feed the sharks with. Sure enough within just a few moments we were surrounded by 5
or 6 young lemon sharks. They were really inquisitive coming very close to us and swimming around our legs and then going for the fish entrails before swimming away. We stayed for about 5 or 10 minutes and then headed back to the shallows where Kevin spotted a fish that I now know was a sea snail. He picked it up gently with water in his hands and explained to us that it was called a Pussy Fish. He apologised because he didn't know what other name it had, but then showed us why it was given that name. It seemed to have two soft fronds that closed together almost like a clam shell, but when agitated gently with his finger, it released a bright pinkish, reddish, purply inky gel. Gaz held it briefly and touched it and it did the same to him. I'm sure the locals name makes a lot of sense to you now dear reader! The ink is to fend off predators, but is harmless to humans and washes off hands easily, clothes less so! The sea snail was quickly returned to the coral it was feeding on and left to do what it does without any more intervention from pesky humans.
An amazing experience and we both loved it.
Amazing stuff. Great shark experience!