It’s getting cooler in Zhuhai – so we decided to take the last chance to visit one of the many islands around us. So 15 of us packed our stuff for camping trip on the beach right next to the sea.

Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t considerate of us – it was still warm but cloudy due to the terrible typhoon that is raging in the Philippines at the moment. We checked which direction it was heading to, and there were no worries about our destination.

We arrived at the ferry port on Saturday noon and it was already very windy outside – but we didn’t care, because it was the weekend and we were on the way to a beautiful island. Unfortunately it seemed like the ferry captain made his first experience with wild sea that day. During the one hour horror trip to the island, about every third person on this boat had to throw up. The stewardesses distributed small plastic bags and on the way back they collected them in one bigger bag… they had a lot to do. Luckily most of us made it through without being sick.

Finally we arrived back on land – we started to pitch up our tents that we rented there. The windy was pretty hefty by now, and so pitching the tents was not easy business. Sometimes, if you weren’t careful enough the tent just flew away. 😀
Some of us (the softies) booked a hotel room to be safe from the cool wind from the sea. This, at the end turned out to be the better decision. We had a great time out there, sitting together and playing games, but at night the wind got stronger and it started to rain – some had a tent that wasn’t as waterproof as expected. First a lot of rain found its way into the tent, and soon it gave in to the wind, collapsing down on its inhabitants. So they escaped to join the softies in the hotel.

Sunday was a very lazy day, we chilled at the beach because it stopped raining. Some of us went up the mountain, others just walked around to explore the island. One hour before our ferry was scheduled to leave, some locals warned us that due to the typhoon there would be no ferry transfer that day. Worried by this news we started to contact the ferry office and our travel agency. It turned out that the typhoon indeed had changed direction and was headed our way. We were told that there may not be a ferry on Monday nor on Tuesday. We were stranded on the island for at least another night. We packed up our tents and hurried to find a hotel, as everyone on the island rushed to find accommodation.

Thankfully we managed to find a ‘beautiful’ hotel we could stay at. As the ATMs on the island didn’t work, money was our next problem. We were all low on cash, so we shared a double room with 3 people. Our plan for the following nights was to put as many people in one bed as possible, so we could save money. 🙂

We spent the night playing games, and since we had no money left, we couldn’t even afford a couple beers to lighten the mood. The next morning, after a good night’s sleep, we finally managed to get some tickets for the only ferry available that day. The typhoon had calmed to a tropical storm.

To sum it all up we are very happy that we were stranded for just one night on the island and made it back alright.

You want to make your own experience on one of the beautiful islands around Zhuhai? Then apply now.