The tour boat went for 2 hours and made 2 stops on the biggest and most interesting of the islands. The boat was very crowded, and even though the organizers were making an effort, it was clear there weren't enough staff to take care of business. They broke people up into groups, but it wasn't super clear what each group was supposed to be doing, we got life vests, and overheard from other people that this meant we were going kayaking. We got no safety instructions, or instructions on how to operate the kayaks (OK luckily we've both done this before), or what to bring with us. We're kind of rushed into the water and told to be back in 30 minutes ("Where are we actually going by the way?" - "Oh just follow the other boats").
We were the last people from the kayak group, and despite our best efforts, we couldn't really catch up with everyone else. To my surprise, there was noone spotting us in the back, there was only one safety boat in the front. OK fine, luckily I brought my camera with me, and we took some great footage from the boat. Unfortunatly, after about 15 minutes we lost track of the boats, and it started raining hard. F****ck! I can't belive they left us behind. But that's OK, we're two grown men, we can handle it. But the rain got worse, and the waves got bigger, clearly our kayak wasn't fit to handle this, we couldn't really keep it stable or gain any sort of speed towards the shore. Oh man, oh man, don't tell me ... I see Siavosh leaning over to the left, no this can't be happening ... Shiiiit!and we're capsized. I can't believe this.
It's not really that hard to stay afloat since we have life jackets, and we're holding on to the boat too, so I'm not worried about my life or anything like that, but my first thought is ... my camera. *$#* ;**$@!!
But it's too late. It's dead. 2 days of footage out the window.
Back to the story ... the weather is super bad, we can barely se the shore, but there's tour boats all over the place, and 5 minutes later they spot us and throw us a rope, and we're on board. Apparently we weren't the only ones. There was even a child in the water at some point. Man how negligent of them. The tour lead did ask us if we were OK, but it wasn't a big deal. Apparently this happens all the time. Needless to say we're soaked, I check my camera and it's indeed beyond recovery. Amazingly the cash in my wallet survives. Lunch tasted really good that day.
After this, we went to another island, which boasted a lake a fully enclosed by cliffs (it may just be the one they used in the movie The Beach). it was a 20 minute climb down steep and shaky steps, but the view was well worth it.
Correction: the footage from the "drowned" camera has now been recovered!
Here's footage from our overcrowded "get people on shore" boat, followed by video taken 5 minutes before capsizing (notice the ominous clouds in the background).
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