Thailand - Surin islands - part 3

Although we had only about 40 minutes for each snorkelling, after four of them we were pretty tired when we came back in the late afternoon. So after a shower we only managed a short walk around the area. We saw this map of the islands near the restaurant, with diving and snorkelling sites on it.

In the trees we also saw a monkey, but it was too far and too fast even to take a good look let alone for taking photos. After a very good dinner we went to bed early.

Next morning we started to pack, in the middle of the day we had to leave the bungalow. While we were taking our things from the balcony, we noticed some movement in the trees below our bungalow and saw two Southern pig-tailed macaque (Macaca nemestrina). And finally I was able to make some photos.

Just look at those pretty faces! 

And the show wasn't over yet - all of a sudden two flying lemurs came flying by. But unfortunately I wasn't fast enough with my phone to make a photo.

Near the beach we saw a Pond-Heron (Ardeola grayii) again.

After another delicious Thai breakfast we boarded a long tailed boat again. I had to take a photo of captain of the boat next to us as he was manoeuvring the boat away from us and the pier.

Our first snorkelling stop was near the small island Hin Kong. I was already watching it the day before on our way back and it seemed to me that it could be a nice spot for snorkelling, quite far away from everything in the middle of the bay.

The bottom was mainly large boulders and not so many corals, but the fish were abundant, just the water was quite deep and there was less light, that's why all the photos appear very blue. But we were hoping to see some sharks. 

We saw the Blue-faced angelfish (Pomachantus xanthometopan) again.

And here it was, the promised shark - the Blacktip reef shark (Carcharhinus melanopterus). We were swimming a bit away from the group and were really lucky to have seen it, because it wasn't in the mood for company and as soon as it saw us it disappeared in the distance.

And here is the Blue-faced angelfish (Pomachantus xanthometopan) once more, this time from the side.

We also saw this really big Cuttlefish (Sepiidae), you can see how small the Feather star looks in comparison. 

Next we moved to snorkelling site named Ao Pakkad and on the way saw the white egret (the small white speck in the lower left corner of the photo).

This snorkelling was actually a "drift dive", there was a very strong current there and we actually didn't need to swim but were carried by the current along the shore over the corals to the place where our boat would pick us up. I tried swimming against the current but it was really very difficult and I struggled when I wanted to stand still to take a photo.

We saw another kind of angelfish, the Royal or Regal angelfish (Pygoplites diacanthus).

 There were also some pretty pink Mushroom corals or Plate corals (Fungiidae in family of Cnidaria) there, I remember seeing so many of them in Koh Tao.

And then there were sharks again - the Blacktip reef sharks (Carcharhinus melanopterus). I saw two of them and while the water was not so very deep and they weren't too shy, somehow I didn't manage to make good photos, this is the best one. Maybe because they were very fast.

We also saw some very pretty Sea Anemone (Heteractis magnifica), this time with blue mantles, with Three-spot dascyllus (Dascyllus trimaculatus) fishes around them.

After snorkelling we hurried to our bungalows to shower and finish packing. Then we had a nice lunch again and afterwards we spent the early afternoon chatting with fellow snorkelers and eating ice cream, I was happy to have tried durian ice cream which was delicious.

At three in the afternoon we were brought to the boat for the journey back to mainland, which took an hour and half. And then it was another almost two hours by minivan to our next hotel.

To be continued...