Thailand - Koh Haa

Before traveling to Koh Lanta I did a bit of research whether it is possible to snorkel from the shore there. There wasn't much information, some bloggers suggested the NW rocky part of Koh Lanta Yai was somewhat suitable for it, and this is why we chose our hotel here. A bit to the South from our hotel, only a couple of minutes walking, was a big bay with sandy beach and we went there for a swim one day, but also to check if it was possible to snorkel there. It was rather shallow with sand in the water, but we did see two snorkelers at the rocky edge. While swimming was nice, and we always prefer the sea to the pool, we were missing a fresh water shower and a possibility to change from our wet swimsuits.

I also checked the possibilities of going to snorkelling trips with the boat already at home before departure. Once I read that the whale sharks are often seen at Koh Haa, I knew I wanted to go there.

So we decided to make a snorkelling trip to Koh Haa with the Hidden Depths Divers on Saturday. We were picked up at the hotel and once in dive shop we even got breakfast. Next we sailed to Koh Haa with the speedboat, some 40 minutes to SW. Koh Haa is a group of six islands (name actually means five islands) in the middle of Andaman sea.

It is a part of natural reserve, so one has to pay the entrance fee. The rangers are there on their boat and are watching over the boats, divers and snorkelers. When we arrived, there were already several boats there and plenty of people in the water.

There is even a sandy beach on the biggest of the islands.

The boat got tied to the buoy in front of the sandy beach and first the divers jumped into the water and then us. We were the only snorkelers on this day and we even had the snorkelling guide, which was very nice as we surely would have missed some of the interesting things he was pointing out to us.

This little beauty didn't need pointing out, there were more than plenty of them everywhere and they were stinging, especially in contact with more sensitive skin on the face and neck. But it wasn't too bad, except for one that smacked me under my nose and on upper lip which was quite annoying.

But the pretty scenery distracted us from jelly fish. There were many anemones with clown fish there, this one with Skunk anemonefish (Amphiprion akallopisos) in company of black Threespot damsel (Pomacentrus tripunctatus)...

...and plenty of Blue sea stars (Linckia laevigata).

This cutie is a young Cube boxfish or Yellow boxfish (Ostracion cubicus), I like the colour (they are this bright yellow only when they are young) and especially the lips. We also saw a bigger black one with white spots. So cute!

The corals were healthy and in great shape, this must be one of the leaf or sheet coral, maybe a Lettuce coral.

The Titan Triggerfish (Ballistoides viridescens) didn't pay much attention to us. I still remember an aggressive one in Maledives many years ago that tried to byte Tomazs fins.

This is a cute butterfly fish - according to my books it is a Lined Butterflyfish (Chaetodon lineolatus).

This is a Mat Zoanthid, a colony of animals related to anemones and corals.

This is probably one of the brain corals, not sure which kind.

And a Cushion star (Culcita novaeguineae).

I'm in dilemma about this one as well, it is definitely a coral tree, but I'm not sure which. Because of the colour it could be the Black coral, but I don't think they can be found in such relatively shallow water. Next to it to the left there is a Powder-blue surgeonfish (Acanthurus leucosternon).

And here's another mystery, it is definitely a pelagic predator, but doesn't look like one of the Jacks or Trevallies nor Rainbow Runner. I might need more books about underwater life in this part of world.

Update 12.3.: I just got a book Indian ocean reef guide yesterday and was eager to check all the creatures I wasn't able to identify. While this one is not in my book, I discovered a couple of great resources on internet as well and find out that this is a member of Jack family, the Leatherback or Lesser Queensfish (Scomberoides lysan).

And this one I know for sure - it is a Great barracuda (Sphyraena barracuda), it was pointed out to us by our snorkelling guide, Moo.

A pretty Giant moray (Gymnothorax javanicus) is showing its teeth.

This was a mystery for a while, I was thinking it could be some flatworm (not nudibranch, since ther were no signs of gills). Then the dive guide of Hidden Depth Divers had a genius idea - it is a shell of a crab, because of two arches on front edge, where the eyes would be. I researched a bit and it could maybe be the shell of Red coral crab.

I guess this might be one of the Fusillieres. There are many kinds with different colours and patterns.

This one is a Common porcupinefish (Diodon hystrix), if you look closely you can see spines all over its body.

And this is one more thing I learnt while writing this blog - when I was taking the photo of this, I had no clue of what it might be, I was thinking maybe some eggs of some creature. Then I came across a similar photo on Internet and a description, that said it is a Bubble coral. I really enjoy researching and learning these things.

And here are some more Fussiliers, this time of different colour and pattern.

After the first dive and snorkelling we got some delicious snacks and drinks on the boat. And then we moved to a smaller island in hope to escape the jellyfish. There still were some jellyfish in some areas, but we were able to avoid them and it wasn't too bad. And the scenery was again stunning.

This Giant Moray was dancing among the corals and rocks.

This is a very pretty White spotted jellyfish.

We found a whole garden of these Cup Corals in many pretty colours.

I don't know which jelly fish this is, but it was of very unusual bright pink colour. I found one exactly like this one on Internet, photo was titled Pink jellyfish, so I'm not sure if that's the name of jellyfish or just the title of photo and the author does'n know the name of the jellyfish any more than I do.

This is a Bearded scorpionfish (Scorpaenopsis barbatus), again pointed out to us by Moo. Not easy to spot.

This is one more beautiful coral, that I don't know how it's named.

I was actually taking the photo of the big black fish, but the small fish around it were so dense, it is difficult to see the big one. The big one looks totally similar to Redmouth Grouper from my book of fish of Maledives, I'm not sure about the name of small fish. Update 13.3.: it is almost certain the Redmouth grouper (Aethaloperca rogaa).

We saw several Banded sea kraits (Laticauda colubrina) and we've seen them already many years before in Fiji. I know they are highly poisonous, but I never perceived them as threat as they are absolutely not aggressive, always occupied by searching food in corals and rocks and ignoring divers and snorkelers.

These are the Crocodile needlefish (Tylosurus crocodilus), there were plenty of them around and they were quite big.

Couldn't resist one more photo of White spotted jellyfish with Tomaz.

It was great to see how many fish were there, these small fish built the biggest schools. I think they are the Tropical Silversides (Doboatherina duodecimalis).

After the second snorkelling, once we were all aboard, we sailed back to Saladan. We got a delicious lunch at the dive shop and talked about what we saw in the water for a while. Even without seeing Whale sharks it was a great trip.

Back in the hotel we took a shower and washed all our equipment, and then spent the rest of the day by the pool with drinks and eating a delicious curry.
 

Thailand - Koh Lanta

This winter I decided it is time for some traveling to warm places again. Captain needed some persuasion, but in the beginning of December I booked flight tickets and hotels in Thailand. It didn't all go smoothly, just couple of days before New Year the airline decided to cancel one of our flights and offered a replacement with which we wouldn't be able to catch the connecting flights. It took two weeks before we sorted it out, we  booked all the flights one day earlier and booked one more night in hotel, luckily the same that we booked for the first week there. Then three days before departure I got a terrible cold with very sore throat and clogged sinuses. This trip didn't seem to be born under the lucky star.

Our departure was on Tuesday, 16th of January, first we flew to Istanbul, then to Bangkok and then to Krabi. After a 2 hour ride in taxi we reached our destination Coco Cape Lanta Resort on early afternoon on Wednesday. 

First thing we saw was this great view from restaurant over the pool to the West. I was really happy, as I'm always in doubt how truthful the photos and information on Internet are.

Bungalows were placed in nice wood on top of the hill. They were spacious and equipped with everything we needed.

We had a huge balcony looking East, even bananas were growing next to it.

We could see the sea through the trees, it was not the typical "sea view", but it was nicely shaded and there were so many birds in trees chirping, singing and making all kinds of noises that it was a pleasure to just sit there and listen to them.

Hotel had two restaurants, but with the same kitchen. This one was nearer to the shore, with lots of shade and its own small pool.

There was no classical beach here, it was rocky and at low tide all the rocks came out of the water. When booking this hotel I thought that we might find a way to get into the water and would be able to snorkel here, because it was rocky.

The restaurants in the hotel were quite good and not pricey and we ate and drank there very often. These are two of the drinks we had most often, the young coconut and fresh mango juice. Besides Singha beer, of course. The curries were also delicious, including my favourite one - the seafood curry served in a young coconut.

The pools more than made up for the lack of beach. It wasn't rare that we had it all to ourselves.

One day we saw a small green snake with black pattern slowly gliding out of one of the poles that was supporting the umbrella over the pool. We were too slow with the camera and by the time we got it, it climbed back, I think that only its nose is still visible. By the colour and the pattern we figured out it was the Golden tree snake or Chrysopelea ornata, non agresive small snake very mildly venomous. We were sad to have seen one bigger one dead on the path. I can see how it is maybe scary for most of the people to see a snake so close to their bungalow, but it still makes me sad to kill such beautiful creatures. Hopefully this smaller one from umbrella is good at hiding from people.

One more delicious thing that we enjoyed by the pool - coconut ice cream, also served in young coconut.

Our hotel was a couple of kilometers away from the village of Saladan, but it wasn't too far to walk there in the evening. We ate there several times, did some shopping, and if we were too lazy or it was too hot for walking, we took a tuktuk.

On two days we rented a scooter and did road trips through island. Our island, Koh Lanta Yai, is about 25 km long and it is easy to explore by scooter. Ours was a nice red one, and I guess we were among few people using helmets when driving.

First day we drove along the West coast towards South and then across the island through the hills in the middle to the Eats coast. On the way we stopped for breakfast. 

This was our view from the terrace to the islands in the East.

Thai breakfast (rice with chicken and some spices) was lovely...

...as well as my shrimp cakes, all accompanied by fresh mango juice.

Next we made a stop in Old Town. It was already very hot, that's why there is so few people on the street.

We saw some beautiful flowers...

...and a cat sleeping in planter.

Most of the houses are built above the water. The sea is very shallow here and not of the prettiest colour.

In the port on the pier we saw this giant lobster, probably a monument in honour of fishermen.

The colours of bushes and plants were amazing.

This is an entrance to one of the restaurants built above the sea.

It was really hot so we didn't wander around for too long. We drove back along the east coast and saw many small plantations of rubber trees. We stopped in nice shade near one and found this guard dog napping in the heath. He didn't even open his eyes when I came closer.

This is how the raw rubber is gained from trees.

Next trip with scooter started the same as the first one, just this time we wanted to drive all the way South along the West coast. We stopped somewhere in the middle of the island and walked through real jungle...

...to one of the pretty beaches. It was pretty empty and there was even some shade. We went for a swim and then continued towards South.

Next stop was for breakfast (or early lunch) at this place - I'm not sure which I liked better, the sleeping cat on the table...

...or the creative name of the place. They have a nice shady terrace overlooking a small bay, nice food, fresh juices and it's the kind of place where you could spend hours and hours not doing much, just ordering a fresh juice every once in a while.

We drove almost to the South end of the island. There is a natural reserve there with entrance fee and one have to have sensible shoes as the trails there are rather rough. We didn't have the shoes and it was again really hot, so we turned back North. But even what we saw along the road was pretty wild and overgrown.

And then we had to stop on another beach, we chose this one because there were so many boats anchored there. 

While rushing over the sandy beach to the next shade we saw this lovely sculpture, quite artistic, that was actually a giant bin for plastic waste. A great idea, plastic waste, especially plastic bottles are one of the big problems in Thailand, as well as in whole Asia. Even the areas where there is some waste management and infrastructure, the plastic is often carried there by wind or it is transported by sea from elsewhere.

We found ourselves a nice spot in the shade in restaurant and had some bananas in coconut milk and banana fritters. And afterwards we were even too lazy to go swimming.

On our way back, a bit further, we saw a group of monkeys climbing on power lines.

Hiring a scooter in Thailand is very cheap, but the roads are not very good and after a couple of hours of bumpy ride in 35 deg C one has enough. We ended both our scooter trips on late afternoon in the pool at our hotel.

Happy Holiday and all the best in 2024!

 

Have a lovely Holiday time and wish you lots of joy, health and happiness in New Year!

And lots of fair wind!

P.S. In absence of photos with winterly motifs I'm posting this one I took last week in Mali Lošinj. The temperatures were almost high enough so one could swim around the Christmas tree....