Monday We set off early for a five hour longtail boat trip deeper into the rain forest. Apart from a shower the weather was good. We saw so much wild life. Macaque monkeys long tail and short tail, hornbills, eagles, langurs monkeys, several groups of deer and an enormous bison. We stopped off at some huts where the park rangers and their wives live miles into the rain forest. They had a shop there for supplies and a lot of beer. Tied to their dock were two enormous cat fish alive and breathing soon to go to market. We had a great morning. In the afternoon the others went kayaking again and they found a long rope tied to a tree which they had great fun swinging out into the water from. They met a boy ... read more

Saturday We had breakfast in the restaurant next to the river and then went, in the mini bus, to Sonchana Farm and Elephant Sanctuary. It was such an intimate experience. The four of us were met by the farmer Soncha who was growing rubber trees, sugar cane, pineapples, bananas, and papayas. We walked through his farm, crossing little streams with planks of wood as bridges, looking at his plants. But the star of the day, or maybe even the trip, was Samboon a fifty five year old elephant with one tusk. He had been rescued by the farmers father who bought him three years ago when the elephant could no longer work. Somboon is partially blind and was injured badly and had to go the elephant hospital. Now he lives a happy life on the farm. ... read more

We have had such a great time on this beautiful island. The others swam with the sharks again this morning, the boys for over two hours. We swam in the pool and messed about on the beach. Then we packed our bags because tomorrow morning we leave here at 5.0am to catch the ferry to Don Sak. This afternoon the the weather changed. It is windy, the sea is rough and we have had a few spots of rain. We are hoping our ferry won't be cancelled because of rough seas. ... read more

I hardly dare whisper this but the weather is perfect. Monsoon! What monsoon? Early this morning the others were out looking for sharks and I sat on the veranda with my pot if tea. Mollie came back after about an hour and said "I think that's enough swimming with sharks for now". We did laugh - how blase is that? We've had another lovely day pottering about swimming etc Included here some screen shots from the go pro ... read more

Today I overcame my sea phobia and went snorkeling with the others. So many different colored fish and only a couple of feet from the shore. As we swam further out it was sad to see all the broken coral that had obviously been trampled on by us humans. This cove is quite shallow. George and the kids went snorkeling on the other side of our little peninsular and said that though it's a bit of a climb down to the water it is much deeper so the coral is still beautiful. I'll go there next time and see it Later in the day the three came back from a long snorkeling session and told me how they had seen a black tip shark and they had followed a turtle for about half an hour. They ... read more