09 April 2008 – 22:41

The Islands
An early start the next morning offered us the opportunity to go snorkelling round some of the nearby islands.

Along with around forty other people we took a similar ferry that had arrived the previous day out for a couple of hours further down the coast to our first destination of the day. Along with a few other ferry boats, we stopped at a remote island location. These islands stood as limestone towers covered in lush vegetation which precariously clung to the sides. The water around the islands was shallow with some coral.

We were all issued with life jackets (which most of us took) and snorkelling equipment. As the sun was beating down on us I chose to keep a T-shirt on and at first the life jacket too, and swam with the many shoals of fish that swam almost oblivious to the flailing and flapping swimmers around them. I soon discarded the life jacket, as I chose to dive deeper into the water to try and get closer to the coral that lay further down.

The water, much like back in Khao Lang, was pleasantly warm but salty. The water however was full of stinging plankton and if you moved around too vigorously, you tended to be stung. A couple of people on our boat seemed to be allergic to the tame little stings, and after they emerged from the water, had noticed that their skin had reacted and come out in little bumps where they’d been attacked!

The coral itself was fairly disappointing, much of it seemed dead within the boundaries of where we were supposed to swim, but further round the island we were closest to was a slightly better view – having said that, I only saw three types of fish, a couple of star fish and a bit of lifeless choral.

All too quickly we were all called back on board, and headed further along to our next destination. When we arrived we saw several other boats moored near a watery cave. We were supposed to swim into the cave, but the high tide had beaten us, so the captain decided to take us to our lunchtime destination and perhaps try again later.

We soon arrived at another island, but this time a privately owned and inhabited island. This island was the type of island you see on postcards. Crystal clear green / blue waters, white sandy beaches and people sun bathing and swimming. Our boat purposefully beached itself so that we could climb out of the boat and walk on to the beach with only getting our feet and ankles wet.

Due to the island being privately owned by the hotel we couldn’t venture too far, but we didn’t really need to, for the “boat staff” had erected a makeshift kitchen on the beach for us. They served a welcome vegetable stir fry buffet style of a meal with a selection of cold drinks, which were eagerly accepted by all.

I wandered along the beach a little looking in vain for a toilet, noticing that much of the beach had similar wreckage just off the shore line into the trees as I had spotted on our own island. Some of the concrete buildings looked either abandoned or were being squatted in, which seemed a shame considering the beauty of the island itself.

After our meal, we swam in the waters for a while, generally soaking up the beauty and tranquillity, before we were called back to our boat for our second go at the cave.

En route we stopped off at another island to do a further spot of snorkelling. This time we had more fish and I think people were more willing to venture further from the boat to find something to see.

We only had about 15 minutes in the water before we were taken back to the cave.

Many more boats had joined us by the time we had arrived, but thankfully the cave was safe now to enter, and it looked like some of the other tourists had already been in and were coming back out.

It was our turn as we all donned our life jackets and in single file we followed a rope into the dark. At first the cave seemed very dark, and it was clear why we had to closely follow each other through as the cave was pitch-black. Looking back to the entrance once dark I could see the reflected light bouncing off the walls and sea bed turning the water an ethereal luminous green which would have been a superb photo opportunity had I had a camera!

As we followed each other’s voices often touching life jackets of our comrades and strangers alike, and occasionally hitting the walls or sides of the cave, we felt our way through into the open air and in to a welcome surprise. It turned out we had encountered a well known pirate’s secret lair. The watery cave had led us into a completely enclosed rocky amphitheatre. The limestone walls rose vertically for over 200 feet with only a little green vegetation which held on to what little footing it could find, leading to the blue sky roof.

Inside the area had a sandy shore to one side that had some trees hugging the edge. The water and beach was populated with very excitable Japanese tourists, who filled the space with laughter and shrieks of delight. We all angled for some obvious photo shots, one or two of us being ushered into the Japanese group shots as well!

All too quickly it was our turn to leave the hidden gem, and make our way back to the boat and after the two hour journey back to our Hotel on Khao Sok.

On our return we decided to unwind in our own way; many of us had caught the sun and chose to have a shower and cool down. Some retired to the pool.

In the evening we returned to the restaurant we had visited the night before. A long day on the boat had tired us out too much to venture into the town itself, so we reasoned that the restaurant was a short walk to a known and reliable eating establishment.

That evening Katie didn’t join us for the meal, but we had agreed to meet up later at the hotel to go into town for a drink. However, literally as we had finished the meal, the heavens opened and a thunderstorm with torrential rain enveloped the beach area. We made a dash back to the hotel, but some stopped and made shelter in a Rastafarian bar. I made my way back to the bar to meet up with Katie, but of those that did go to the restaurant and returned with me, decided to retire to their chalets, I suspect because of the long day in the sun. When Katie arrived (with umbrella!) it was soon decided that the trip to the town was off, so I escorted Katie through the torrent of rain back to the bar for a drink with the others, before I too decided to call it a night.