9th September 2006. ( Saturday)
We arrived in Fertilia airport at 8:30am. The bus to Alghero takes once every hour. The next one was at 9:15am. The ride to town took about 30 minutes. Our apartment is near the habour. The apartment is clean, the garden is cool and nice. There were two matters that did not comply to our order, firstly the apartment that we ordered is with a bathtub and the landlady swapped it with a shower apartment ( she said that the room is taken but to date I have not seen anyone checking in), and the second thing is it was mentioned that Internet access is included but she said it is not prepared because we did not specified it in our order and it is not possible to do it anymore! I was not really happy and felt "cheated" because these two were part of the criterias when we searched for our apartments. I tried not to let these bother me... but I think this is one of the risk of travelling? We can decide not to take the apartment but we did not book any other place, so not wanting to take any risks, we stayed.

Alghero is a pretty town. We walked around to scout for breakfast. I had crosaint and cocoa while Lun had toast and cappucino. It cost us €7,20. We went to the market to buy mussels and fish. After some shopping it is cooking time in the apartment. Let me show you the photos for our lunch and dinner.

SianLun and I have never cooked mussels before, we got some tips from the fish monger. This was how we prepared the mussels.
Firstly, wash the mussels with plain water, clean the shells and remove the weeds. Next boil a pot of water and put the mussels in when the water is boiling, boil for about 10 minutes ( the fish monger did not recommend this step). Lastly, fry the chopped garlic and parsley (we added some chillis) with the mussels for about 5 minutes. Add salt to taste.

10th September 2006 (Sunday)

   

Today we went on the magnificient Andreas Jensen. We joined this sail boat trip after reading the recommendations from trip advisor. I was had sea sick and slept in front of the boat ( in some sort of hammock). We also spotted dolphins in the sea. It was my first time seeing dolphins in free water. We saw a mother dolphin and a baby dolphin. According to the rest of the group it should be a pod of 4-5 dolphins but I did not see the others.

We took a break at about 1pm for lunch. Too bad that I could not eat much, the appetizer it self is enough for me. We also had the mouth watering local fruits like grapes, prunes and peaches. They are just wonderfully sweet and delicious.

I did not really enjoy the snorkelling as I keep getting salt water while breathing through my mouth. There were one small jelly fish around, it should not bother me but it did. Anyway, the rest of the group had a good time splashing and swimming in the sea. I felt really excited realising that I am actually swimming in the Mediteranean Sea. Never did cross my mind that I would be swimming and snorkelling in the Mediteranean sea.

After the two hours break, we started on our return journey back to Algehro. Vivian and crew taught us how to put up the sails. It was sure a lot of work. I did not contribute much... let the guys do the hard work :P. The weather was good, most of us took a nap after the sails were up. Just before we reach the port, each of us went for a ride in the dinghy. Took a few shots from the dinghy. I enjoyed the dinghy ride the best, did not feel sea sick and the speed was fun.

11th September 2006 (Monday)

My first open water dive in the sea. I was a bit panicky before entering the water, I think I am still not confident about my skill. The funny thing is I am suppose to be SianLun's buddy but as soon as we entered the water, the dive master hold my buoancy jacket air control and guided me through the whole dive. Perhaps he sensed that I am the "weakest" in the group. I started with 220 bar and in 30 minutes I only have 30 bars left. Other than my quick breathing I think it was because the dive master was putting in air and releasing air from my jacket to help me balance myself under water. I saw barracuda, it was big and calm, I did not expect this for my first dive. The dive master bought us into a cave, I was slightly panic not expecting to do this in my first dive ( I was thinking of staying at 6 meters for my first dive ) but the sight in the cave was beautiful. I saw colourful anomoneas - yellow, blue, purple and red. One of my mistake during this dive was I stayed vertical most of the time.

The lunch was good, we had crab spaghetti and Prenotazioni was kind enough to fulfill my reqest and bought fishes from the market for frying. We had fried fish, fried calamaris and fried prawns for our second dish. I was totally full after the second dish. SianLun and Oliver swam and snorkelled after lunch while I slept.

We started our second dive after 4 hours rest. I am more confident now after the first dive. The backward drop from the dinghy was not difficult. I realised that I need to exercise more and train my muscles because I feel totally weak after putting up the gear for the dive. I could not wait to get into the water so that the weight would feel lighter. Mouro our dive master once again took me by the air pipe from my buoancy jacket and guided me through our dive. I tried to stay vertical this time. I saw many mussels or the shells on sea urchins. I even saw a fish eating with tongues like small strings! I saw fishes popping out its head between the rocks, swam around schools of fish. I still have problem with balancing myself under water but I definitely enjoy this dive more than the last one. Really have to thank my husband for encouranging me and giving me the confidence that I can do it. The second dive lasted for about 35 minutes, we dived for 15 meters and I used 220-50=170 bar of air.

We quickly got into dinghy as dark clouds gather from a far. I did not really understand what was the rush for but Mouro drove the dinghy in high speed towards the motor boat. Rain came as soon as we got into the boat. The sky grew dark and the sea got rough. I was glad that I was no longer under water. According to one of the passenger Algehro was rainning ice!!! The town was definitely wet when we got back but the sun was once again out.

The market was closed by the time we were back, so we could only do some simple shopping in the super market. We had "O jian" - fried mussels with egg and pesto spaghetti for dinner. We have no tapiocca flour so the result was not the same as what we used to have at home but it taste good anyway.

** More updates would come soon... pretty busy after a week of hols **