Koh Rong Samloem

This island was magical !We had an awesome bungalow, with a great view on the ocean and with hammocks on the front porch to relax and enjoy the view. We met really nice people that we now call friends. They were all from different regions of France so we got to speak lots of french !  We spent time playing pool (a new game I learned how to play). One of the beachfront restaurants offered pizza, cooked in a woodstove oven, right on the beach. YUMMY !!! And what to say about watching the sunset, swimming and drinking a mango shake on the beach, life is good!

My sister was in love with all the cute puppies that lived on the beach... but I really enjoyed them too! We saw them drinking from their mom and playing together. I liked that they let us cuddle them.

Unfortunately, the underwater video didn't show what our eyes could see... 

The second night on the island, we went snorkelling at 7pm. Everything was soo dark, under water and also out of water because there was no moon that night. This was perfect to see what we were looking for. This place is known for the presence of bioluminescent plankton.

Bioluminescent Plankton

​Plankton is a very very small organism that can be present in the oceans of the world. It is eaten by many fish. Around Koh Rong Samloem, this plankton is bioluminescent. This means that it glows in the dark ! To see it glow, we have to trigger it by moving our hands or feet in the water. This causes stress on the plankton which in turn causes a chemical reaction that creates a blueish light. The plankton uses this strategy to scare away preditors. When we first stepped into the water and moved our feet around… we saw nothing. My dad was about to say « lets go for supper, there is nothing to see ! » But, that is when I put my head under water and saw the magic ! It was like a star filled sky under water ! I would move my hands and it was like fireworks in front of my eyes !!! I was screaming in my snorkel so all my family quickly joined me and the fun. It also reminded me of fireflies.  We stayed at least one hour enjoying this natural spectacle. We couldn’t miss out on going back the next night. Some of our friends joined in the fun with us, what a wonderful time we had !

​Although we did spend some time doing school work (it was hard to concentrate because there was soo much to see and do) we had a great time and we were really sad to say goodbye to all our new friends when it was time to go...