Journey to number eight

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Time to make a new attempt to get on the boat. Yet another early morning packing up routine but this time we are rewarded with a driver who appears on time and we ride down to the Khao Lak pier, which is on the far side of town. We check in with the ticketing office and receive little stickers to put on our shirts, identifying us as "two day, one night" travellers. Among the people waiting at the pier we can see both two nighters as well as day trippers. The pier is chaotic and bustling with activity and lots of boats and small ships. There is a small navy base next door and a little market were Kay finds some precious chicken snacks to bring along. It seems the entire group consists of Thais, the farangs already left the day before I guess. Around 9 am we are escorted to one of the small ships that is getting ready to take off. We install ourselves at first inside the big cabin but quickly shift to a nice spot on the upper deck with great view as we finally leave the pier and set off for the three or so hour journey to Island number 8, a.k.a. Ko Similan, the largest of the nine islands.

Occasionally we pass a few fishing boats, and sometimes we are overtaken by speed boats at full throttle, making the trip in less than half the time. The staff serve some light snacks along the way and we have a good time on deck watching the very deep blue water. Suddenly Kay notices strange movements on the surface. Darting like arrows, flying fish are jumping out of the water as they are scared off by our boat. Their scales and fins glitter as they fly several meters across the surface. As number eight slowly comes into view one of our guides comes up to join us and gives us a quick low down of the islands. Basically, the nine Similan islands are due west of Khao Lak and are famous for great diving and clear water. The islands are all covered by thick tropical forest and there are very few facilities available. There are lots of good spots for encounters with mantas, the occasional shark, maybe even a sighting of the Whale Shark if you're lucky. We round the island and sail into a small bay and a natural harbour with shiny white sand and amazingly clear turquoise water. Our guide notices Kay's chicken snacks and asks if he can have it. Imagine her long face when it goes over the side and into the water. This is suddenly changed as a large school of fish of various kinds quickly descend on it. "Oooooooiiiiiii.... fiiiiiiiish!!!" As we transfer to long boats the fish are constantly around us swimming so close to the surface you can easily make out their shapes and colours. Amazing! This place certainly looks like paradise on Earth.

We're eager to start exploring the place as we say goodbye to our friendly guide but instead we are herded to the visitor's center where the local guides welcome us to have a spartan lunch in a big camp site. For a moment a bit of chaos ensues, as everyone stand around waiting for the food to appear. I suddenly feel a nice headache coming on, if you are stupid to sit in the sun for three hours, we'll here's your reward. I don't really know how much time we spend at the camp, which is busy from groups leaving the island and others arriving or hanging around. Before we can go everyone will be assigned tents in the camp. There are a few bungalows for hire but they've been booked since long. It seems to take forever until we are given small blue tents with absolutely no extra gear, we'll be sleeping directly on the ground. Anyway, when everyone is ready we zip up the tent and go onboard a double decked diving ship. The afternoon is spent travelling to some well known dive sites around the smaller Islands just south of number 8, possibly Ko Payu and Ko Miang. From time to time we meet up with other ships heading back and forth between the good spots. At one point we spot a large sea turtle going for a piece of floating trash which is a rather sad sight. We return when the sun starts to go down and after having some fish for dinner on the ship we return to the now pitch black island.

I've been a bit dizzy during they day and feel a bit better in the evening, but once I go to sleep I have some really disturbing dreams and am hot like hell. At two am I get up and cruise as carefully as I can between the tent poles to the restrooms. While in there I hear a strange sound coming from a blurry shadow on the opposite wall. For a moment I try to decide if I should put on my glasses or just bugger out of there. Curiosity wins, naturally, and I can see it is a fairly large lizard clinging to the wall chewing on a big nightswarmer, making that quirky and crispy noise. I stumble back into the darkness and get all confused which tent is ours, since they all look pretty much the same. Back inside I lie down on the ground again and try to relax. Doesn't really matter which damned angle I try, or which side I lie on, it certainly is not comfortable. At around five am the camp generator is suddenly switched off and for a moment everything becomes dead silent and peaceful. The distant rumbling of waves crashing in on the beach is all that can be heard. Soon the first daylight can be noticed and all of a sudden a cacophony of bird song breaks loose all around the camp, and I realize I have survived the night on Ko Similan...

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Photos

Fishermen
Presumably the type of boat they wanted to put us on yesterday

Experienced travellers
I could learn a thing or two from them...

All hands abandon ship!
The Andaman Princess deploys her life boats to ferry the guests over to the shore

National Park Department Cruiser 701
Keeping an eye on things at number 8

Chicken thieves
Nothing remains of Kay's precious snack

Watch where you put your feet
The beach was full of dug in wasps

Grmmblll
A groovy headache coming on...

Leave me alone!
This small monitor became a superstar as it slowly crawled right through the camp