Kevin the Crab

We found this little fella whilst eating dinner in the restaurant alongside our dive centre. How cute?!

Today we spent a day diving in the waters off Pulah Weh, an island off the coast of Banda Aceh - where the 2005 tsunami struck, killing 250,000 people. Seeing the mainland you can understand why so many people perished, as the land is completely flat and the wave must have just carried for miles. We spent an apprehensive night in probably one of the worst hotels of our trip in Banda Aceh, eating one of the worst meals (thanks Lonely Planet!)

Thinking that we'd made a big mistake coming this far north in Sumatra, we decided to make the trip to Pulah Weh anyway seen as we'd come so far and we really did want to finish our trip on a high. We weren't dissapointed.

Pulah Weh is a fairly isolated island, a far cry from the alcohol fuelled islands of Thailand and the Westernised islands of Bali. In fact, alcohol is illegal in Banda Aceh, yet as we were tourists a blind eye was turned. On one part of the island, a gate leading to some bungalows where our friends Martin and Mandy were staying was named 'the gates of hell' as it led to sights such as bare shoulders and cans of beer. Terrible.

Diving in Pulah Weh was the best experience I've had and was an amazing first time experience for George. Our first dive was a little bit of a struggle as we were being pushed along (very fast!) by a strong current, with not much time to see the coral or to control our buoyancy...lots of bouncing into each other! The 2nd dive however was magical - up against a wall of coral and schools of fish, I've never seen so many!! With no current it was so relaxing too and George and I exchanged excited glances and inappropriate gestures as we spotted lots of fish that I've no idea what their names where!

Bliss