bottlebeach.com

The season is drawing to a close, there's no more than half a dozen huts occupied and the white monsoon birds have arrived, the monsoon itself can't be far behind. All the staff here are counting down the days to when the beach closes (1st Nov for Bottle Beach 1 Resort) and they get to go back home to see their families.

The annual beach football competition final was yesterday. This year, Bottle Beach split into 2 teams, A and B. Team B (mostly Bottle Beach 1 Resort staff) kept up the tradition of noble failure, exiting in the group stage with 2 draws and a loss - though we managed to turn up to all our matches this year which shows some improvement. Team A (Smile and BB2) broke with tradition, and were narrowly defeated in the final 1-0 with a goal about a minute from time.

The new Swimming Pool (picture on www.bottlebeach1resort.com/amenities.html) is finally ready - just in time for the closed season - and the new 'luxury' bungalows _should_ be ready soon. Though the builders have been saying that for a while...In fact BB1 has changed quite a bit already over the year, hot water and an air con option in most of the bungalows now, though the always popular A1 to A6 remain as basic as ever.

Sad news this year as long time frequent visitor to Bottle Beach Stuart Hoffman - the man who originally marked the path up to the Bottle Beach viewpoint many many years ago - died after a heart operation. I'll miss his boundless energy and enthusiasm for life.