Thailand - Khao Lak, James Bond island

After a day of resting, some swimming and a nice massage on the beach we were ready for the next adventure. We booked a trip to James Bond island.

We had to get up very early, as the pier, from which our trip started, was almost two hour drive away, not just because it is so far, but also because of the traffic jams on the way through Phuket. After some snacks and coffee on the pier we sailed to our firs stop, the Khai Nai island, for snorkelling. We first moored on the South side of the island, but the visibility in the water was terrible. While we saw many pretty corals, fish and a moray eel, it was impossible to make a decent photo.

Then we were brought to the NW side of the island for some beach time, and luckily it was also possible to snorkel there. And it was really nice, at the edge of the swimming area there was a drop off with lots of corals and fish. And visibility was much better.

We found this pretty Latticed butterflyfish (Chaetodon rafflesi) there.

And this is another relative of the squirrelfish, a Streaked spinefoot (Siganus javus).

There were also plenty of sponges there, like this Giant barrel sponge (Xestospongia muta).

This pretty fish is a Crescent wrasse or Moon wrasse (Thalassoma lunare), probably because of the moon-shaped yellow patch on the tail.

Corals were plentyfull and healthy, this one is of the Acropora family, maybe Acropora selago.

Our next stop was Panak island, where we got helmets...

...and walked through a cave or rather a tunnel...

...to the middle of the island.

This must have been a cave in the far past, but then the ceiling collapsed and now there are mangroves growing there. We were there at the low tide, at high tide the tunnel is probably flooded and acces not possible.

Our next stop was Panyi island, where the muslim village is, for lunch. The boats on these floating piers are mostly tourist boats and the houses facing these piers are restaurants where tourists are brought for lunch. The tourism here in Thailand is huge industry and if one wants to go places and see things, one has to accept it. 

We had quite a nice lunch, we're always happy if there is some Thai food available. Next we had some time to explore the village or rather to shop in many shops with souvenirs.

We escaped the crowds and shopping and found some back alleys that seemed more interesting.

Our next stop was Khao Phing-kan island or James Bond island. It is known from the movie The man with the golden gun. Although I'm a huge James Bond movies fan, the shapes of the island and rocks impressed me even more than the fact that it starred in the movie.

And this is the famous rock Khao Tapu from the movie and it is really stunning.

Here is the other side of the island with all the tourists.

I had to wait a bit for the right moment to take this photo of the rock alone without the people.

Our next stop was Hong island, where we boarded the kayaks and made a tour in and around the island. Each kayak had a local guide who also did the paddling, but ours allowed Tomaz to also paddle for a while.

The surroundings were very pretty...

...and we again paddled through the tunnel in the rocks...

...to get to the middle of the island.

It was really fun and we saw many pretty views...

...and rocks.

Late in the afternoon we boarded our boat again and headed back. It was a long day full of action and we were quite tired.

But after disembarking on the pier we still had to get back to our hotel, it was again a two hour ride through busy traffic though Phuket.

Of course the next day was a day for relaxing, swimming and a nice massage on the beach again. Then our time in Baan Krating was coming to an end and it was time for next adventure. 

To be continued...

Thailand - Khao Lak, Similan islands - part 2

After lunch we visited the second snorkelling spot, this time there were less boats around and less people in the water. Again we saw some very pretty things under water.

This one is Oriental sweetlips (Plectorhinchtus vittatus).

These are the Singular bannerfish (Heniochus singularius).

Finally we also saw a Giant moray (Gymnothorax javanicus).

There were plenty of Cornetfish (Fistularia commersonii), but they kept the distance.

This bright fish is a Coral rabbitfish (Siganus corallinus).

And this is the least colourful butterflyfish, the Black pyramid butterflyfish (Hemitaurichthys zoster), all in black and white but still pretty.

We also saw this Barred thicklip wrasse (Hemigymnus fasciatus).

When I first saw this guy I thought it was a Picasso triggerfish (Rhinecanthus aculeatus), just in less bright colours that the ones we saw in Maldives so many times.  But by searching through my books and internet I discovered that it must be a Reef triggerfish (Rhinecanthus rectangulus). And I'm happy to have found something new!

These are Humpback unicornfish (Nasa brachycentron), quite a rare sight for me.

Unfortunately the time for snorkelling was much shorter than the beach time and we were brought to another beach soon. This one is the famous beach where everybody is hiking up to the rock to make some selfies. If you look closely you can see how many people are up there. We of course didn't go, but found ourselves some shade and waited there for the ride back.

But all in all it was a very nice day, and a first opportunity for proper snorkelling in this holiday. 

In our bay the water visibility was not suited for snorkelling, there was way too much sand in the water, as you can see in the photo. But we were observing wildlife while we were sitting on our terrace and eating fruits, without even having to swim or go anywhere. The rocks down there were very popular with herons...

...and we often saw one or more Pacific Reef Herons (Egretta sacra) resting there.

Many times we also saw a turtle down by the rocks, it is the brownish speck on the left upper side of the rock. I don't know which kind of turtle it was.

Sometimes an Indian Pond-Heron (Ardeola grayii) also sat on these rocks, but this one was photographed on our way to the village. The funny thing is that this heron looks completely white when flying, I first thought it was a Great white egret, but then it landed and it was almost completely brown.

In the trees around our terrace were many squirrels, this one is a Northern Gray-bellied Squirrel (Callosciurus caniceps).

They were moving very fast and I was really happy to have managed some good photos.

When we were too lazy to go to the beach, we visited the hotel pool and most of the time we were alone there.

Most of the evenings we ate in the village in different restaurant, and it was mostly very good. But what I noticed was that obviously tourists have trained the Thai cooks to cook very mild food. If you don't ask and say you like it spicy, you usually get a very mild food, but also with less flavour. We often had to ask for chilli flakes or prik nam pla (fish sauce with chilli). Pity!

On our way to the village we were often wandering how on earth these tangles of power wires even manage to work. It all looks so random and so unstable.

This giant plant is the Giant Elephant Ear (velika alokazija or Colocasia gigantea 'Thailand Giant' ).

Some of these plants were also in our resort, with many other ones. It was really green and lush and well kept.

There were plenty of birds in the trees, but with trees so high and dense it was very difficult to spot them. Luckily this pretty guy sat on the palm right next to the path and was so busy singing it didn't pay much attention to us. It is a Yellow-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier).

This is the neighbouring bungalow, ours was just like this one.

And this is the same butterfly as in part 1, just showing its wings from the underside - the Great Eggfly (Hypolimnas bolina).

I found these Red sealing wax palms (Cyrtostachys renda) very pretty.

Most of our days ended with cool beer from our fridge on our terrace, but sometimes they ended with cocktail on hotel terrace above the pool.

To be continued...