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Published: February 8th 2010
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Last night we had some fun trying to assemble the mosquito net over our bed. It was precariously strung over a picture above our bed. The picture was never perfectly secure, but made for a heart pounding scary experience when during the night after we had drifted off to sleep, down came the picture and the mosquito net right on top of us. The feeling of confusion and heart rate, when we were rudely awoken made it difficult to get back to sleep. Was a funny incident though in hindsight!!
After breakfast, we signed up for a 5 island trip costing 1600 baht. The islands were located out in the Andaman Sea. A long tailed boat came to pick us up, and took us on a leisurely trip out into the bay. It really was a bay of islands. There were so many islands, that you could get lost so easily and not be able to find your way back to the mainland. Incredibly scenic and even though the islands all have similar features, ie., green covered cliffs and bays with beautiful beaches, they all are beautifully individual.
Our main stop and our stop for lunch was Hong Island.
Before we had lunch, a kayak trip had been arranged as part of our tour. We picked up a two man kayak, and along with about 6 other kayaks led by a Thai guide, we headed out on the water. We kayaked 5km around the island stopping along the way as the guide pointed out interesting sights. At one point we stopped at a cave with some washing hanging outside the entrance. We were told that the people that lived there were actually working there and lived there for many months at a time collecting the nests of swallows which nest in the caves. Apparently the swallow’s nests (saliva) are very valuable as a delicacy. Beats me!
After our return we had lunch just off the beach. We were accompanied for lunch by a massive Monitor Lizard, just roaming around the area. Once lunch was devoured, we headed off to another island, and went snorkelling off the beach. I went out that bit further than most people and found myself at a narrow channel between the main part of the island and a towering piece of vertical karst coming straight from the water below to rise about 60ft into
A little friend for lunch
The large monitor lizard that joined us during lunch on Hong Island the air. As I snorkelled over this area, I looked down at the bottom, and it was dark. While I love snorkelling, I do feel nervous at times, particularly as I snorkel on my own most of the time. It’s not that I’m afraid of anything in particular; I’m comfortable with the idea of a shark or other dangerous marine creature appearing on the scene. In fact I love to see these animals, but I suppose it’s the ancient fear of not being able to see the bottom, the dark murky depths, that send that nervousness through me. I decided to dive down as far as I could to see what was down there, to face that fear. As I dived, keeping to the wall, fan corals appeared. As I dived down further more fan corals appeared, blue ones, brown ones. I surfaced and dived down again, and again. All the time, I felt the nervousness, but the feeling of not letting it control me, gave me a great sense of pride, and made what was essentially an average snorkel from a fish finding point of view, into a great little personal adventure. I snorkelled back to the beach, past
the other snorkellers, feeling like I’d just come back from setting a world record or something. This wasn’t an amazing achievement, but it is nice to challenge yourself. And I certainly felt exhilarated for having done so.
On the leisurely long tailed boat trip back to Railay Beach, the heavens opened, and opened. It was a monsoon shower. The rain bounced off the water with such force it was like machine gun fire strafing our boat. We were sheltered under a canopy on the boat, but some decided to brave it on the exposed deck. Was hilarious watching them volunteering to enter the wet t-shirt competition, while we, the warm and dry ones, got judge the contest. Classic stuff. To watch the rain, thundering down was an immense. To see the power and suddenness of it, makes you feel really small in the scheme of things. Yet again, another incredible memory.
Next day, we’d arranged for a trip to Koh Phi Phi Lay and Koh Phi Phi Don. It was a day trip on a super fast powerboat. There were many of these powerboats around today. We were told that the trip would take us to different places,
and more private areas, stopping at spots when there wouldn’t be many or other boats or tours there. Sadly, this was totally exaggerated. Even as we headed out to these islands, we were accompanied by numerous other powerboats, and long tailed boats. Every beach or stop we arrived at, there were at least 17 other boats there, and more arriving after we got there. This area is extremely touristy. The locations themselves are stunningly beautiful, but definitely suffer from the sheer numbers of tourists, and pleasure craft in the area.
We stopped at a spot for snorkelling before proceeding on to Koh Phi Phi, for lunch. The village itself is totally geared towards tourists. There are touts, and tout stands everywhere trying to sell you Island hopping trips and driving trips and everything in between. We were glad to leave when we got the chance. Back on the boat we headed down to the famous beach from “The Beach”. Before we went on to the beach itself, we were dropped off into the water for some snorkelling. We were told to keep near the boat itself, which for me takes some of the enjoyment out of it as it
Tropical Downpour
Unbelieveable change in the weather limits you to a small area. So as ever I wandered off a bit, and then I realised that maybe in this case there was good reason for this rule. Firstly, there were more than 15 boats anchored in the same area, so finding your boat again was confusing, secondly other boats came through, while others left anchor spots. This made for crazy and dangerous snorkelling conditions. I think the backpackers in the film “The Beach” were right to keep it a secret, shame it didn’t stay that way. Especially scary when a big long tailed boat with those open bladed propellers whizzed past, very close to me. And to compound our snorkelling experience we were joined in the water with thousands of jellyfish. They were small, but were definitely stinging jellyfish. While in the water I could feel the stings pretty much all over my body. They were too numerous to avoid. Most people got out, but to be honest I was enjoying the snorkelling too much to give in. I kept diving down, and holding on to rocks (not corals!). There were fewer jellyfish down deeper. Eventually the swarm of jellyfish moved on, and apart from a few
Busy day on the water
Now which boat was mine! stragglers, it was peaceful and serene, except of course for the underwater clicking of outboard motors.
We then headed to the beach itself. It was a beautiful beach, but was covered with bodies of people sunbathing and lapping up the incredible views. It was hard to find a spot to sit down, and enjoy the experience.
On the way back we stopped for our final snorkelling of the day at a spot between Koh Phi Phi Lay, and Koh Phi Phi Don. This spot was not busy when we got to it. It seemed to be in the middle of the ocean, but I got pretty excited with I seen the coral from the surface. Lots of coral heads, plate corals, lots of Moorish idols, Sergent Majors, and Damselfish filled the water. Amazing snorkel, and great way to end the day.
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