World Adventure

Hi All,

Another day in paradise.

We went down to Azuri (?) Beach and negotiated 500 baht for a triyak and paddled off heading for monkey beach hoping that it was early enough to avoid the swarms of other tourists that converge on the area later in the morning. Vanessa added a pair of socks to her full body cover as the sun has been giving her a pair of red socks where her skin is exposed each time we have been kayaking while in Thailand. It was quite calm and we could see the bottom as we paddled out for the short 1km distance to monkey beach and found a postcard setting of white beach, clear blue water and no tourists. There was a lone monkey. We sat in the shade of a tree on the beach for a while before heading off to explore the coastal cliffs of the island. Water was still clear and calm and the only disturbance on the surface was a high speed barracuda going airborne chasing a garfish. The outcome of the chase is unknown. It is so much nicer to paddle at our own pace as it gives us more time to absorb the surroundings. Sometime the surface of the water was awash with hundreds of striped fish near outcrops of coral covered rocks and at one stage we stopped at a small blow hole which was breathing out its misty breath in tune with the rythm of the lazy swell. We slipped through the a narrow passage between a large rock pillar and the island catching a surge of water to pass us through safely; an exciting experience.The cliffs of the island are vertical and some have beautiful limestone formations of revealed caves. Sometimes the  cliffs had stalegtites and other times large caverns. We reached a more exposed area toward the southern end of the island where the swell was larger. We came across a small bay but it only had cliffs inside it with a few brave trees clinging onto small platforms. We headed back out to the ocean and continued along a little further finding a narrow entrance to a sea filled gorge with towering cliffs.The water was a little shallow at the entrance to the gorge so the focusing the energy of the waves made it a rough ride but once inside it again was relatively calm. We could not see where the gorge was leading as it had tight turns blocking our view so we were pleasantly surprised to find a small beach about 15m wide at the end and a small unused bamboo hut with thatched banana palm leaves set a few metres back. There was a bamboo truss path leading up into the jungle behind but we didn't follow it. So we had found a magical spot where tourists did not visit. We pulled the triyak onto the beach and ate some of our lunch crackers and just enjoyed the setting. A couple of long tail boats with tourists came into the gorge but did not enter far enough to see the beach. We didn't stay too long as Vanessa for some reason found the area a little creepy; I found it exciting. We headed back out to open water and for a fleeting moment considered the possiblity of paddling across to Ko Phi Phi Lay island about 2km away but decided against it and turned around and headed back towards monkey beach. It was nice to be paddling in the shadow of the island cliffs as it was quite steamy in the sun but at least we were in sheltered waters without wind. We turned around the point to see that monkey beach was awash with tourists and when we got closer we saw that there were at least 7 monkeys getting plenty of attention. It didn't take long before the whistle on the boats were blown and the tourists piled back on and raced off to their next destination. We pulled the triyak up the beach under the shade of a tree, tied it up and stored our gear so that the monkeys would not take the opportunity to do a little theiving while we were out snorkeling on the coral reef nearby and then took a couple of postcard shots before the next boat load of tourists turned up minutes later. The snorkeling was alright and Vanessa found a small moray eel and I found some red and yellow coral 'bushes' which we hadn't seen before in Thailand. We were heading back in when a person snorkeling in a lifejacket and flippers required help as he was drowning. It must have been difficult to manage be he seemed fairly confident in his claim and was rescued by one of the nearby boat hands. We headed out again across the bay to a nice beach about 1km away but a longtail boat turned up with a couple of french tourists at the same time so it wasn't quite ours. Along the way we found an upside down straw hat floating in the water. Inside the hat was a school of small fish and on the underside of the brim a crab! I moved the triyak into the shade of a some rocks and onto one of Vanessas toes which didn't make her too happy. I went for a walk up a path on the beach through the jungle to the crest of the hill revealing another beach and surprising a monkey lazing around in a nearby tree. Vanessa was ready to snorkel by the time I got back. There were too many pink jellyfish around and I also spotted one of the almost hidden enemy, the small clear sperm shaped jellyfish, the same type which had previously given me chilly lips near Krabie. There was not much fish life around although the coral was quite good. We decided that it was time to leave before potentially getting stung. It was a hard slog getting back to Azuri (?) beach as the wind was in our faces and the tide was running out of the bay. The headland provided some relief and all we needed to work out was where on the beach we had hired the triyak. It was a tricky paddle in through the rocks in the shallow bay and luckily someone came out and met us to collect the triyak as the tide was well out. A great day out. Had dinner at Samees again. Actually Samees is really called Thank You's but I only worked that out last night.

Tomorrow we head on the morning boat to Phuket.

Bye,
David and Vanessa