Laos 2017: Luang Prabang

#DidntGetLaost

Dates of Travel: 22 - 28 October 2017

I've always dreamt of visiting Laos after hearing lots of stories from backpackers and tourists whom I've met during my travels. Some claim it really was the most beautiful country in South East Asia. When I had a break and an overly enthusiastic colleague, turned friend, we decided to head there! We visited Luang Prabang (5 days) and Vientiane the capital (1 day).

Here are some of the things you can do in Luang Prabang!

There's a lot of tour operators who offer tours to Pak Ou Caves & Kuang Si Falls, the two most popular attraction in Luang Prabang. The entire package offered by tour operators to bring you to those two destinations ranges anywhere from 130,000 - 180,000 kip. Most places offer it at 150,000 kip which does not include lunch and entrance fees, so it's purely just transportation. We booked ours with Laos Discovery Tour who offered it to us at 130,000 kip per person (S$26).

Pak Ou Caves

We met with the tour operator at their office and someone actually walked us to the pier opposite Saffron Coffee & Bakery Cafe. If we were to go to the caves on our own, it will cost us about 65,000 kip (S$13) for the 2 hours boat ride to the caves, excluding entrance fees. 

2 hours boat ride to Pak Ou Caves

You ride on a skinny little boat with chairs fashioned out of old car seats or wooden chairs tied to the sides of the boat. The boat ride upstream was scenic and it gets more and more beautiful as you travel upstream.

bamboo raft

Once you get to the jetty of the caves, you disembark on this 'pontoon' of bamboo rafts tied together haphazardly and linked from one raft to another with just wooden planks. It was a test of my balancing skills man.

walking the plank to the caves

Entrance fees were 20,000 kip (S$4) per person and you cross another bunch of planks to get to the cave steps. Climb up steep steps and you will arrive at a cave which was much shallower than expected with thousands of Buddha statues. There's also a Buddha's shrine and a mat for devotees to pay their respects. 

I would like to add that I was extremely urgent and I had to pay 5,000 kip ($1) to use the washroom that looked constantly wet and dirty. It was the most expensive toilet I had paid to use in my life.

After 25 mins of wandering around, we headed back to the boat. If you're wondering if 25 mins is enough to explore? It was MORE than enough! Like I said, the cave wasn't too deep or too high of a climb up.

scenic view

On the way back, we stopped at a small little village selling whiskey with weird snakes and scorpions in it. I am not sure what health benefits you'd get from ingesting essences of scorpion, but it's not an uncommon sight in Asia.  Also, it was there that I  bought some scarves for my friends. They were selling it for 10,000 kip (S$2) or US$1. If you have USD with you, it is more value for money if you paid in USD for such an excellent exchange rate! Back in town, the exchange rate was US$ = 8,300 kip. 

Kuang Si Falls

After another 1.5 hours boat ride back to Luang Prabang, we quickly grabbed lunch before we were ushered into a minivan and headed towards Kuang Si Falls. The ride was about 30 - 45 mins worth of bumpy ride up the mountain. The entrance fees to Kuang Si Falls were included for us this time.

Kuang Si Falls

At the entrance, there's a Sun Bear Sanctuary where you get to watch cute, furry, lazy bears just lounging in the sun, or if you get lucky, you might get to see some play-fighting with each other.

Hike up the trail (you can do it easily in flip-flops) and you have reached the 1st waterfall. There's also a tree branch for you to climb up and sit on it for photo ops! There's a total of 3 pools at the waterfalls for you to swim and soak in. Personally, I feel that the first pool is the most accessible and beautiful one as compared to the other two. It is still a good hike up to see the halls nonetheless. The highest and grandest point of the waterfall is at the third pool.

1st Waterfall

3rd Waterfall

Hiking through the forest to the falls

There's small fishes in both the 1st and 2nd pools who will nibble on your feet's dead skin, very much like going for a Fish Spa. Now, I've never been to a fish spa, so I found it incredible ticklish. We swam both at the 1st and 2nd pools and you can get closer to the falls in the 1st pool though it was extremely cold and deep in the middle. I will advise only strong swimmers to attempt to swim up to the falls because the current can be quite strong pushing you away and it is very cold, almost got a cramp before I swam back.

Biking & Kayaking Tour

We were feeling adventurous while booking our tours and decided to book a one-day bicycle & kayaking tour. We paid a total of 350,000 kip (S$70) per person and booked with Jewel Tour Operator which includes an English speaking guide, bicycles, bottles of water, lunch, kayaks, and entrance fees. 

Cycling in the middle of no where

Photo op with our guide

We cycled a total of about 16km for 2-3 hours with some breaks in between. I would say you will need some form of mid level fitness. It would have been relatively easy for most people, but as you know, I'm quite unfit. When the tour operator lady sold us this tour, she mentioned that it was a gentle uphill in the beginning and the rest were either flat plains or downslope. 

Nonsense. 

It was a mixture of uphill and downhill on dusty roads. We rode through the town, through pineapple plantations, through what seemed like a jungle with a road cutting through it before reaching the pier to head towards Tad Sae Waterfall.

Pit stop!

our view from one of our pit stops

We rested for a bit before kayaking about 10 mins downstream to Tad Sae Waterfall for lunch and a splash in the turquoise cold waters.

our view at the end of the kayak

After a 2 hour break, we continued our kayak downstream for another 2 hours on the Mekong River through quaint fishing villages and mountains looming in the distance. It was relatively easy to kayak as we were essentially kayaking downstream and the river is relatively calm except for several areas where there's a land mass in the middle of the river or rocks in the waters and it will start to get choppy. Otherwise, it is something even beginners are able to handle. 

At the end of the kayak, there was a Tuk Tuk waiting for us to ferry us and the kayaks back into town.

Tad Sae Waterfall

Tad Sae Waterfall

Because we loved Tad Sae Waterfall so much, we decided to go back there on our last day before we took the sleeper bus into Vientiane. I feel that despite it being harder to get to (tuk tuk then boat), they had built nice steps in the 1st pool and it was so much shallower as compared to Kuang Si Falls. There was also lesser people and there's even a nice little coffee shop built over the falls for you to have a nice hot cup of Lao Coffee.

Tad Sae's 3 waterfalls

Quaint little café over the falls

Tad Sae also had 3 waterfall points/pools but they are much less accessible. We had to hike for about 15-20 mins to get to the 2nd waterfall and we never made it to the 3rd. Just a word of caution, if you have the opportunity to go, I'd advice wearing proper hiking shoes to get to the 2nd fall because after the 1st fall, it's all dirt trails which would have been easy to anyone wearing shoes. We were wearing flip flops and mine gets super slippery when wet, thus I had an OK time getting to the 2nd fall, but not so great time coming back cos I was slipping half the time. 

café has a tree top platform

overlooking the falls

We didn't see any trail leading to the 3rd fall which I presume you had to hike up and through the jungle with no proper path. The 2nd fall was BEAUTIFUL and there were many basins you can swim and soak in. But because there were no amenities like wooden steps or benches at the 2nd fall, we had to leave our dry bags on the river banks with a watchful eye and pray no one else will come and steal them or that they would have floated away.

our table right over the falls

After soaking up the sun and the cold waters for about 45 mins, we headed back to the 1st fall where I felt more at ease with more tourists around should I get a cramp while swimming, someone will come and save me. The 1st pool is also very shallow at one point, so you can just waddle up to the falls for photo taking. There's also a nice platform with benches and chairs to leave your belongings and stand on to take photos. 

Beautiful Tad Sae Waterfalls

waddle right up to the falls

To get to Tad Sae Waterfall, find a Tuk Tuk to bring you to the pier. We found one where we paid 150,000 kip for the entire Tuk Tuk which includes a round trip transfer and waiting for us for 3 hours. If you manage to make friends, get more people to share the ride! Once at the pier, you pay 10,000 kip per person for the 10 min boat ride across the river. Entrance to the waterfall is 15,000 kip each.

Mount Phousi

We had a bit of time on our 4th day after zip-lining and decided to head up to Mt. Phousi to watch the sunset! Little bit of advice would be to head up EARLY to get a good spot and snap pictures of the beautiful town below before the sunset! We started at around 4pm and climbed up 300 odd steps before reaching the summit. It was a relatively easy climb with just a short break in between for me. Entrance fee was 20,000 kip to visit the temple and summit.

Sunset was at 5.25 pm and the epicness of a sunset started at around 5pm. Thus, if you started early, you would have had enough time to climb up, snap pictures and settle in for the beautiful sunset with a good view.

Zip Line

Zip lining!

 We booked with Jewel Tour Operator for this Zipline Adventure for US$30/ 249,000 kip per person. My initial impression was that it was very expensive for just a zip line, but it was a series of 8-10 zip lines and the whole course takes 1 hour to complete! I felt it was rather worth it. There was pick up service at our hotel to the pier of Nam Khan River which was just behind our hotel. A 30 min boat ride to their site and a short but extremely bumpy ride via Tuk Tuk or in our case, was a jeep, to the camp site. 

You zip line over the jungle canopy and rivers and end up at their flower garden. After the course, you walk back through the flower garden & green canopy walk through the jungle before arriving back at their starting point where you ca enjoy a cup of coffee or even lunch. 

We initially wanted to swim at the waterfall, but the waters were brown and muddy and didn't look anything like Kuang Si Falls or Tad Sae Falls with the beautiful turquoise colour so we decided to just chill at their café instead. 

Luang Prabang Night Market

We visited the night market every night as there's a row of food stalls at the back selling all sorts of Lao food and fruit shake. A plate of fried rice or a bowl of noodles typically costs about 15,000 -20,000 kip (S43-4) per dish and a fruit shake is about 10,000 - 15,000 kip (S$2-3). This is obviously a much cheaper option compared to hipster cafes selling the same types of French baguette sandwiches at 60,000 kip (S$12) compared to the night market of 20,000 kip (S$4). Lao Coffee is also extremely good and I had to have a cup every morning. 

Food stalls at the night market

My favourite dish will have to be their Pork Fried Rice. As there were many stalls at the back of the night market, each night we just walk up to the stalls and choose which stall is empty and which Auntie we liked for that night. Each stall we tried were SOOO YUMMY!

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Let me know what you thought about Laos/Luang Prabang if you've visited before! I personally liked it a lot and I see myself coming back for more!

Summer time fun in Boracay!

Crystal Cove!

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Just like our Cameron Highland trip, this was also last minute and we only bought tickets and booked our hotels about 5 days before we departed. G had to clear his leave and why waste it! We finally decided on Boracay since we've heard so much about it! It would be a good chance to finally wind down and just enjoy the slow pace of the island.

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Dates of travel: 

21-26 June 2015

Estimated cost for trip (excluding tips, lunches, shopping and other misc stuff):

We changed about SG$700 in cash and prepaid for our air tickets and accommodation.

Click here to find out how to get from Kalibo Airport to Boracay Island!

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What to do in Boracay?

ATV & Mt Luho

We wanted to do the Zipline at Bluewaters and one way to get up there was by ATV! We bargained a price for a packaged deal of ATV, Mt. Luho & the Zipline (including cable car of course) with one of  the tour guides standing along Station 2 trying to sell his services.

on the ATV

We mainly travelled on the main road instead of going off road. It wasn't really an authentic ATV experience (as compared to Krabi, Thailand where I nearly drove into the river due to the lack of traction on my wheels and mud on a steep dirt slope), but we were fine with that. The tyres were nearly bald.

About 20 mins of driving past Boracay's countryside and small farms, we arrived at the stairs to Mt. Luho. It was an easy climb (about 2 flight of stairs) before arriving at the observation tower.



stairs leading up to Mt. Luho



There were a total of 3 towers on the peak of Mt. Luho. We visited the newest and tallest tower, owned by a Korean businessman. The other two towers on either side were either shorter or looked like it was about to fall apart.

check out the view!

On the observation tower, you're able to view the entire Boracay! The island itself is not very big so you're really able to see everything! You could see the waves rolling into the shores of White Beach, but on the other side of the island the waters were so still and stagnate.

someone didn't have lunch

We could see the zipline and golf course below us and about 30 parasails in the air out at sea.

our guide was quite the photographer

Before going up the observation tower, there's actually aviary where they have two eagles and an iguana. The birds of prey were really clever and would fly away when they wanted to poo. They even knew how to step up onto your arm or head!

Zipline & Cable Car

We next rode the ATV to the Zipline place. There are two Zipline companies on Boracay. The one at Bluewater is about 500m and it is the longest and highest Zipline in Boracay.

as requested by the guide

We were strapped on in this huge canvas sack and you felt like you were floating when they lift your legs in the air! I initially didn't want to let go of the metal pole on the floor, but I eventually plucked up my courage and posed for a photo!



he is not letting go

We eventually let go and off we zoomed above the golf course! I really felt like I was flying!! It wasn't scary as I thought it would be. There's no heart-dropping-moments like on a roller-coaster or bungee jump or skydive (this really is nothing after what we've done in New Zealand, haha). I mainly screamed a little at the start just for fun, but soon got tired and just enjoyed the view.



flying without wings~



Reaching the end, we had to climb about 3-4 stories worth of stairs to take this cable car back. I swear the seat belt was just this very long strap over our legs. My ex-colleagues from the theme park would have burst an aneurism or something if they were there. It would have been a much more beautiful view if you did it at sunset!

Cable Car!

Island Hopping



We really wanted to visit all the other beautiful islands around Boracay and so we signed up for an island hopping tour. It includes buffet lunch, going to Bocca Beach, Crystal Cove, Crocodile Island and two snorkel sites.

We really didn't expect though, to be squeezed onto the boat with 38 others. Yes, I counted. It got to a point where after one snorkel site, G didn't even have a space to sit. He had to stand and no one bothered to even make space for him.

on a boat with about 40 passengers.

The snorkel sites were not that fantastic either as there were not much fishes. We even brought bread to attract them, but not much. It really was such a pity as the waters were so clear!

bloop bloop

That's about all the fishes around us and it swam to the boat man. Haha.

Fishies!!

Our first stop was at Crystal Cove! It's a beautiful resort kind of place with white sandy beaches. It's called crystal cove because there's two coves with crystal clear waters! Take note, you had to pay to enter if not you can just chill outside and play on the beach.

Of course we went in since we were there already. We walked a little and saw signs to Cove 1!

Cove 1!

This was taken just outside Cove 1. I really love the waters as it's so clear!

check out the water!

We had to take this spiral stair down to Cove 1. This staircase was really small and narrow. If you're not watching, you might hit your head on the rocks. This would be a really romantic and quiet place, however, all Island Hopping tours bring tourists here, so it was so crowded in the small cove.

stairs to Cove 1

standing on the rocks in Cove 1

We finally just jumped into the water because it looked so enticing. The water is clear and sooooo cool! It would really be a unique experience if not for the amount of people in the cove. It was my first time in such a place, but sadly the experience was ruined by loud-mouthed tourists from a certain country. We left after 10 minutes.

Swimming in Cove 1!



Walking past signs for Cove 2, I decided to sit this one out as I was so annoyed by all those loud-mouths. G went to explore Cove 2 and said that he has to walk down the same kind of spiral stairs and walk across a sunken walkway.



We had our buffet lunch on the main island. It consisted of measly prawns, some meat dish, steamed fish and skewered meat. I swear it was so forgettable (I'm being polite) I don't really remember what I had. Maybe because I didn't even eat half of what was on my plate. Both G and I had bouts of food poisoning on our first day and we really didn't want to eat something to trigger our puking session.

Note: Please bring some snacks and enough water to last you!

I am really REALLY trying to be unbiased here, but I really cannot stop comparing our experiences to Thailand. It doesn't matter if you're in Phuket or Krabi, all island hopping trips will cost roughly about the same or at most about 1.5 more, depending on where you are. The island hopping will be conducted on a speed boat, and although it can be quite bumpy, it's so fun. You actually have your own personal space. The boat crew will cut you watermelons and pineapples which were always served cold and fresh. There will be unlimited supply of cold bottled water or Coca-Cola. At most, there will be only be about 20 pax on the speed boat, if not lesser. You get to enjoy the water, the fishes and the islands more. Don't talk about the lunch, because even the packed lunches were awesome. I was never grumpy, ever, when I went island hopping in Thailand.

If I ever come back to Boracay, I will never do this Island Hopping thing again. I'd just do scuba diving straight away.

The boat we were on!

Scuba Diving - Boracay Eclipse Dive Center

Address: (Beachfront after Regency Hotel & El Centro, before Nigi Nigi Noo Noos)

Station 2 Mangayad, Boracay Island, Malay, Aklan 5608

Tel: +63 36 2882502

Email: info@boracayeclipsedivecenter.com

Website: http://boracayeclipsedivecenter.com/

After prowling through TripAdvisor, I decided I wanted to dive with Eclipse. All the dive schools along White Beach charge around the same - 1,800 pesos per dive. Eclipse had nothing but 5 star ratings and comments and it is also at Station 2, about 10 mins from our hotel.

dive equipment

What started out as just one dive, became three dives because Henry - our dive instructor was so good. We did Camia Shipwrek, Tri Bird Airplane Wrek and a reef dive off Crocodile Island. We were able to do the wrecks as we were advanced divers having done deep dives before. Both wrecks were at a depth of about 30ms maximum. Also, a part of our reef dive, we went as deep as 29m and we saw a gigantic sea fan which has a width of 2m!!

I had to steal photos online as I didn't bring my underwater cam down. I don't think it can last at a depth of 30m.



Camia Shipwreck

So both wrecks were sunk on purpose just for recreational diving. Camia was sunk about 15 years ago and Tri bird only 5 years ago. You could see the vast difference in terms of coarls and marine animals around the wrecks. Both had tons of fishes living inside though and one even nibbled on my thigh.





tri bird airplane wreck

During the reef dive, we saw tons of Nemos!! Excuse me - Clown Fishes. Cute as they may be, they're quite territorial and aggressive in defending their coral which they're living in. I was so tickled at their angry orange faces trying to attack my mask or try to bite my hand if I got too close.

lots of clown fishes

One thing to take note though, Eclipse has lockers for your personal belongings. You can leave your phones/wallets, etc in the lockers and just bring a dry bag for water, towels and your camera perhaps. We suspected that the boat man actually took 500 pesos (about S$15) out from G's wallet when we were underwater. Gilbert took out the exact amount of money we had to pay for our second dive and after returning to the dive shop, he realized his wallet's zip was wide opened and one piece of 500 pesos was missing. It really could be anything, we tried to talk to the boat man, but obviously they will never admit it and risk losing their job over just 500 pesos. There were no CCTVs on board and we couldn't prove anything. Henry and the owner, Mike really took charge of the matter and tried to sort it out as best as they could. We enjoyed our dive nonetheless and we ended it on a positive note.

We still went back for our third dive that very afternoon.

enjoying the wind after our dive

Eclipse even have showers for you to rinse off the sea water! They actually provide towels, shampoo and body soap! I am seriously impressed! It may look small and simple, but everything was neat and tidy.

Eclipse Dive Center

Our dive master - Henry was always professional. He never made fun of me when I struggled with my mask on my second dive or when G struggled with his buoyancy (haha, I did though). He made us feel safe all the time and ensured we saw as much marine life as we can. Pointed out scorpion fishes when our armature eyes couldn't spot them.

I seriously will come back to Boracay, just to dive with them again.

Henry from the UK!

Paddle Board

This is the new trend in sea sports! After we moved to Station 1, we saw locals renting out paddle boards. Rent was a whopping 600 pesos for 1 hour for each board. That was quite a rip off! G managed to bargain for 600 pesos for 1 hour for two boards!

paddle boarding on our knees

We started out on our knees to get the hang of it. Tackling waves on our knees were quite easy as our center of gravity was lower. Soon, our knees got tired and we tried standing.

trying to stand

Ahem. Pardon all the water droplets. Our action cam was not that water resistant after all. I tried to wipe off the water, but smudges would stay! No money to buy GoPro. :( Anyone wants to sponsor me one?

I guess it was a blessing in disguise as it blocked the unsightly view of my tummy which has consumed too many chocolate cakes and ice creams.

finally standing!

Hanging out on the beach

I will let the pictures do the talking. This is seriously one of the best beach I've ever been to! The water is so clear, the sand so white and soft. Other beach destinations I've been to, though the water may be clear, there are either tons of dead coarls washed up onto the beach, thus it's quite painful to walk on the sand. In Boracay, no such thing. It was so lovely!

Massage - Lim Spa
Address: Road 1-A (Bulabog, Boracay), Malay, Aklan, Philippines
Tel: +63 36 288 2188

Of course, a slow-paced and relaxing vacation is not complete without a trip to the spa! Walking back to White Beach after our island hopping tour, we passed by Lim Spa. From the outside, the compound looks huge and we walked in to enquire and eventually made a reservation.

Each 90min session cost us about 1,600 pesos. It would be considered cheap in Singapore's context, or expensive in like Philippine's context. I thought it was pretty steep for a place like Boracay, but it was the most decent looking place with proper spa facilities and one of the cheaper ones.

Welcome tea

Our 90min Basic Oil massage package includes a 60min full body aroma oil massage and 30mins hand and foot therapy. We were brought to the couple's room and were told to shower and get dressed in the bathrobe they've provided.

large room!

Pardon the mess, G's brilliant idea to take photos of the room after our massage. As you can see, it's a spacious room with mattresses on the floor. The massage technique's were very good actually! I usually don't like too hard strokes unless it's on my head, shoulders, or neck, and they delivered! Some massages are quite ticklish due to the lack of experience or technique, but I really enjoyed this massage!

waiting area at reception

I am not sure about other rooms, but our room came with a full fledge bathroom. Shower and toilet with even a bathtub! There's a Lim Spa package where the use of the Jacuzzi is available for use.

bathroom

Nami Resort Restaurant

Address: Diniwid Beach, Boracay Island, Malay, 5608, Aklan, Philippines
Tel: + 63 36 288 67 53
Email: nami.boracay@yahoo.com
Website: http://www.namiresorts.com

Indeed, they have the best view in Boracay.

The restaurant in Nami Resort is the only restaurant I recommend going for dinner. First we took a tricycle to Diniwid Beach (100pesos) and walked across the small beach. Along the beach, there's only two other bars which looks like a really quiet and nice place to chill with friends.

lift up to Nami

After climbing up a flight of stairs, we arrived at this bamboo like wall/door. We were quiet confused initially as I read on TripAdvisor that there's a lift to bring you up to the reception/restaurant. We realized that there's a small doorbell on a woode panel next to the lift entrance. We rang it and soon enough, someone came down and got us.

sign in the lift

I must say the lift itself is an attraction on its own. Despite being jerky and quite heart pounding, we were soon lifted from the trees onto the side of the cliffs where the reception and restaurant were housed.

Nami restaurant

We made a reservation for 5.30pm as sunset was 6pm and we didn't want to miss it. When we arrived,  it was empty, save for 2 tables. The view was spectacular and it was so romantic.

what a view!

We ordered two appetizers, two mains and two desserts. 

Although this soup may not look like much, the beef soup is very flavourful! Quite generous with the beef and vegetables too!

Beef Soup

I had half a rack of baby back ribs. It was succulent, juicy and oh-so-tender! The fries were so crispy, just the was I like it!

baby back ribs

G had a seafood platter which consisted of grilled juicy, soft cod fish, salmon, prawns, squid, clams, amongst others. The cod fish was absolutely amazing!

seafood platter

We also had crème Brule and mango pudding.

crème brule

mango pudding

Lemon Café in Dmall

When I was researching on Boracay, I thought Dmall was literally a building complex with air conditioned stalls. Man, I was wrong. Dmall is basically single story shops built on the sand. There are all sorts of restaurants and stores there, selling everything from simple knickknacks to bikinis.

We stopped by Lemon Cafe (because of TripAdvisor recommendations), and it was not a bad decision!

mango cheese cake

tiramisu

The eggs were buttery and oh-so-good! Halfway through it got a bit too much due to the butter, cream and all the egg. I stopped eating the bread and just finished all the eggs and salmon.

scrambled eggs & smoked salmon on toast

The meatballs were amazing! It was so tender and tasty, it was seriously one of the best meatballs I've ever eaten.

meatballs with mash

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There are plenty of other things to do in Boracay which we didn't do, like Helmet Diving (because we went for an actual dive and saw corals instead of the sandy sea bed), parasailing (too expensive and we did it in Thailand and Malaysia many times before) and the Zorb Ball (closed).

Will I go back? Maybe? I didn't quite enjoy the tours and atmosphere of Boracay or even the food (like Manila had cheaper and nicer food), but I did enjoy the white sandy beach and super clear waters!!