Well motivated after our short night at the Eden Resort we have a quick breakfast and walk down the street to rent a scooter. We set out to the first on our list further north on the island and find the reception after a swirling road through the woods. We are welcomed by a friendly manager who is most helpful in showing us the resort and persuade us to stay at his resort. A calming atmosphere, three restaurants and a house on the beach are very tempting but we continue our search for the best resort and drive a few minutes south for option two.
We drive up a long winding road with bamboo on each side before arriving at the impressive front desk of the Shells resort. We are shown around in an electric golf cart to the two pools and the beachfront restaurant. Back at the front desk we show the offer on booking.com for a private villa and are informed that they are fully booked and the site hadn’t been updated yet. Tomorrow would be possible but not today, fully booked. We walk outside, check booking.com again and find a room at the hotel available for this night and book that and the villa for the remaining nights. We walk back to receptionist who said, villa fully booked, room available yes. We agree that they will collect our luggage at the other resort and we ride back to pack and check out. Although the manager tries to persuade us with a upgrade to villa and two free massages we thank them for the offer but our minds are made up. With a happy refund and our back packed we ride back to the shells.
After checking in we are brought to our room with the golf cart and when the door opens we enter a large and luxurious room with a bath overlooking the pool and the sea. The balcony is larger than most of the rooms up to now and offers the same view of palm trees, the pool and the sea. As our luggage arrives later we have lunch and buy new swimsuits at the shop before we install our selves on the comfortable beds on the beach where we remain until the sun sets in the sea. With our luggage returned we shower and change to drive to town for dinner and a visit to the fish market. The final hours before Marlies her birthday we have drinks at a beach bar before riding back to the Shells. With a beer we settle on the swing at the beach and wait for midnight and share memories before I sing happy birthday to the sweetest and beautiful Marlies upon turning thirty on this beautiful island.