Day 13- James Bond Island!

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My original plan before we left was to book a sea canoe trip with John Gray. But I really didn't know whether we'd have time or not, and opted to wait. We'd asked the dive shop (which is also owned by Gerd-Noi) if they had diving day trips, but apparently all the trips, even the daily ones, go out to the Similans. So, basically you leave at 7 a.m. drive 20 minutes to the bost dock, take an 1 1/2 -2 hour boat ride (depending on where their going) dive twice and take the boat ride back. No thanks...

We went up to the shops to get Bill a new pair of sunglasses around 10, and found a booth that arranged tours and such, as well as taxi service. The price for the car from the airport was pretty steep (2400 Baht) and we wanted to se if they had a better rate for the trip back. Not only did they have a better price (1100 Baht!) but they had a day trip to James Bond island that included sea canoeing.But- it left at 8:30...no problem, the woman told us, we can have someone take you right now!

So we said what the heck, ran back to the hotel to grab our stuff, and the car picked us up a few minutes later. We drove down to Phanga Bay. we boarded a longboat, and headed out to sea. It's a nice ride out, and the scenery is beautiful. Our first stop is a floating restaurant, where the sea canoes are launched. We hop in, and Bill and I are somewhat disappointed to find we have to be strictly passengers on the canoes, we can't do it ourselves. No matter, off we go in and through some of the sea caves and mangroves. There are several other canoes, but at one point we veer off the beaten path and find oursleves alone on a very pretty stretch of mangroves. It's very relaxing...

Back to the floating restaurant for a cold drink before heading off to James Bond Island. Not very crowded, which was surprising...we'll have to watch "Man With the Golden Gun" again...as well as "The Beach". Of, and Ponheary said the movie "Two Brothers" was also filmed in the temples at Angkor Wat, we'll watch that as well. Walked around, took some pictures, and bought a necklace at one of the booths.

Then, off to lunch at the Muslim Village. It's a surreal sight to see this whole group of restaurants and even a Mosque in the middle of the sea! Had lunch at a restaurant out there,the food was amazing...but as usual WAY too much for two people! Tom Yam soup, fresh prawns, whole fish, chicken in green curry, and pork in a sweet/spicy sauce with pineapples and chilis. Fabulous!

Then, back to shore and off to the Monkey Temple. It's really a cave that has a large reclining Buddha and several hundred bats flying around on the inside, and hundreds of macaques running around on the outside. We buy bananas, and feed a mother and her small baby. The cave is very cool, and our day was quite enjoyable. Drove the hour and twenty minutes back to the bungalows, took a quick dip in the pool, grabbed our cameras and sat on the beach to watch the sunset. it was really very pretty. Then back to the room to make sure all the dive gear is packed for our 2 days 1 night on the boat. They're picking us up at 7, so we head to bed early.

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