An early start - 7.30am for the moto taxi to the boat for our trip to the emerald cave, which is on the west side of Koh Mook. We'd booked takeaway breakfast from the resort so we had American pancakes and roti with us.
Visiting times for the cave are dictated by tide times as you have to swim through a tunnel to get to the cave (which has an open roof) inside. It's only accessible at low tide and is busier in the afternoon so we thought the early morning was worth it.
The moto taxi is basically a motorbike with a frame and some seats fastened to the side. A bit hair raising as the ride along the pier saw another moto taxi coming the other way with barely room to pass.
On to our longtail boat with a father son team of driver and guide.
We were issued life jackets and followed the guide with his head torch through the tunnel into the open cave, which has a beach inside and vertical cliff sides with all sorts of plants growing there. It was pretty dark in the tunnel and we were keen to keep up with the guide.
It was pleasing that the cave only had a few other visitors when we arrived as it was only about 8am. We took some time to explore, then swam with our guide back through the tunnel to the longtail boat, avoiding the jellyfish on the way!
Next stop the coral reef on Koh Kradan, a neighbouring island. By 9am we were snorkelling there with an amazing array of fish, and no other humans nearby. When we'd had enough, after about 45 mins, we returned to the boat and a platter of pineapple and watermelon.
Once we'd enjoyed the refreshing fruit we were taken to another coral reef for more snorkelling, and here we saw Nemo, amongst other fish. It was truly like the film where the clown fish swim in and out of the swaying fronds of growth on the reef. The boat men encouraged the boys to throw the melon skin for the fish and they swarmed to eat it, which was fascinating to watch.
A stop on the white sands of Koh Kradan completed our half day trip, and we're pleased to be staying on Koh Mook as the prices, at least on the beach of Koh Kradan, were double what we've been paying.
Trying to catch a breeze, and a few board/ card games by the huts passed the hottest part of the day, before a cycle to Charlie beach for a meal and a good view of the sunset.
Lessons learnt: Moto taxis are very manoevreable, which is a good job as they're often avoiding each other on very narrow roads!
No comments:
Post a Comment