Thailand - Surin islands - part 2

In the late afternoon we returned to our bungalow. The view from our balcony was beautiful. 

After a shower and a short rest we went for a walk. One of the interesting things we saw was this Cluster Fig (Ficus racemosa), where the figs grow straight from the trunk and branches.

By this time the day tourists left and the beach was almost empty and very peaceful. Our bungalow was similar to the one in the background.

Also the area in front of the dining room, where there were dozens of people during the day, was almost empty. I started looking up into the trees in hope to see some birds. And all of the sudden I saw the most unusual animal, the kind you only hear about, the Sunda flying lemur (Galeopterus variegatus). At the closer look I saw there were several of them. I couldn't believe my eyes! Something so special and so cute. This was beyond my expectations. The fun fact is that Flying lemurs are actually not lemurs and they don't fly. Sunda flying lemur and Philippine flying lemur make up the entire family of Cynocephalidae and are closely related to primates. Their flying is actually gliding and they are better adapted for flight than any other gliding mammal. In flight they resemble flying squirrels. 

At 6 in the evening we had dinner. It was described as "set dinner" (contrary to buffet style lunch), but we didn't expect such a Thai feast - there was fish, prawns, prawn fritters, vegetables, rice and it was all so delicious. And we had some fruit for dessert. There was also plenty of water and soft drinks, in Thailand alcohol is not allowed in national parks. Probably in the manner - if you want to drink and do stupid things, don't do them in protected area. And anybody should be able to live without alcohol for couple of days.

After the dinner and some talking with fellow snorkelers we returned to our bungalow to charge our cameras and devices, electricity was only available from 6 in the evening to 8 in the morning. And we went to bed early, we were pretty tired after a long and eventful day. 

Next morning while we were enjoying our delicious Thai breakfast, we saw flying lemurs again. And I took another couple of dozens of photo. How could I have resisted - look at this furry cuteness with those large eyes and red ears!

Although I was so overwhelmed by the lemurs, I still noticed this pretty butterfly, the Large Yeoman (Cirrochroa aoris)...

...and the Medium Egret (Ardea intermedia) that landed on the roof of the restaurant. 

And at 9 it was time for snorkelling. There were significantly less of us on the long tail boat than the day before and the snorkelling sites were also not too crowded. Maybe because of that we didn't need to use the life jackets this time, which was great. But visibility was not great, there was a lot of plankton floating in the water, you will notice them as small pink dots on the photos. But the area was really beautiful with  unbelievable amount of healthy corals. 

I think this might be a Lobed brain coral (Lobophyllia).

There were also some impressive Table corals (Acropora) there.

And where there are so many corals there is also plenty of fish - these two are the Red-tailed butterflyfish (Chaetodon collare).

Towards open water there were many fusilliers, the two on the right are the Goldband fusilier (Caesio caerulaurea) and on the left there is a Black-axil chromis (Chromis atripectoralis), similar to Peacock chromis from previous post.

I'm not sure which coral this is, but even with extended polyps one can see the ridges and valleys, so I tip on one of the brain corals.

Here are some more Acropora corals, this time mostly Staghorn corals.

I also took a photo of Tomaz.

This fish looks like it was wearing a pyjama - it is a Striped surgeonfish (Acanthurus lineatus).

And Tomaz took a photo of me.

We already saw the Raccoon butterflyfish (Chaetodon lunula) before, first time already in Maldives, some 30 years ago.

Whenever I looked in direction open water, there was literally a soup of fish swimming near me. Beside Black-axil chromis (Chromis atripectoralis) there are also several bigger Topsail chubs (Kyphosus cinerascens) there.

This is another parrotfish and this one I managed to identify - it is a Greenhead parrotfish (Chlorurus troschelii).

This is one of my favourite fish (I know I say that often :) - it is a Longfin batfish (Platax teira).

Here is the Topsail chub (Kyphosus cinerascens) once more with Bluestreak cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus) cleaning it, with lots of corals in the background.

Here is one more Striped surgeonfish (Acanthurus lineatus), with its striped pyjama, surrounded by Staghorn corals (Acropora).

I only saw the Harlequin sweetlips (Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides) this once.

I was excited to see this Gorgonian sea fan (Melithaea sp.), I only saw it one more time. Unfortunately the close-up photo was not sharp.

In the afternoon, after another good lunch, we went snorkelling again. This time it was only four of us and we had the luxury of having a long tailed boat all to ourself. The first site we went to was a beautiful drop-off and we were even alone there. There was so much to see! 

This is a shy Blue-ringed Angelfish – Andaman species (Pomacanthus annularis). Don't be fooled by its false eyes that are intended to make it look bigger and more scary. The actual eyes are on the second neon blue line quite close to its mouth.

This also not very common coral is probably the Green Cup Coral (Tubastrea micrantha).

This golden beauty is a Feather star or Bright yellow crinoid (Comanthus Bennetti).

This was probably the "catch of the day",  the big Napoleon wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus), I saw it many times before, but not in Thailand. It was very shy and didn't let  me come closer, but I was lucky as I was the only one from our group to have even seen it.

This is again one of my favourite fish, the Blue-faced angelfish (Pomachantus xanthometopan)...

...and probably is this one, the Emperor angelfish (Pomacanthus imperator), one of my favourite fish as well.

This unusual fish is a Blotched Porcupinefish (Diodon liturosus).

The Phantom bannerfish (Heniochus pleurotaenia) has the cutest eye lashes of all the fish, unfortunately it is not so very visible in this photo.

This pretty Sea Anemone (Heteractis magnifica) was quite a sight with its white mantle, and accompanied by Western clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris) and Golden damselfish (Amblyglyphidodon aureus).

And at the end of the second snorkelling we saw a big Star puffer or Starry pufferfish (Arothon stellatus).

To be continued...

Thailand - Surin islands - part 1

I hope you ended year 2025 and started 20026 with a fantastic party. We wish you

ALL THE BEST IN 2026!

And here is the next part of our Thai adventure.

Two days after the trip to James Bond island we again had to get up very early. We were picked up shortly after 6 and we traveled up North for two hours to a pier in Khura Buri, from where we sailed to Surin islands National park by boat. The National park was established in the 80's and long protection from overfishing and extreme mass tourism has helped preserve nature above and under water. We were going to stay there for two nights/three days to finally get some good snorkelling. 

The boat we were travelling with was very similar to the boat on our James Bond island tour. Our first stop was the Moken village.

Moken people are sea gypsies that live in this area for a long time, nowadays in this village and not nomadic any more. Of course the restrictions of National park have had a big influence on their traditional lifestyle and the tourism probably even bigger one. I hope they sell enough souvenirs to the tourists to compensate for the stress of having hordes of people around their houses every day. I found information about them in exhibit area well presented and interesting, as well as these colourful totems.

Tomaz was mostly interested in an old boat made from a single tree.

Luckily our next stop was snorkelling. Finally! Although it was pretty crowded, there were 30+ people on our boat and there were couple of similar sized boats there already, the underwater world was very pretty. Lots of corals and fish, also this Parrotfish. I haven't been able to identify it yet.

This elegant fish is a Pearly spinecheek (Scolopsis margaritifer).

I think this might be my first photo of the Swarthy parrotfish, female (Scarus niger). Very nice lipstick colour and very white teeth!

I was amazed how abundant and very healthy the corals were. Unfortunately I haven't figured out which coral this is. Yet.

The Anemone Corals (Goniopora) got their name because their polyps are so long, as you can see in the bottom of the photo, that they resemble anemones.

Here is another Swarthy parrotfish, female (Scarus niger).

We saw several Crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci), but no too many. They can be very damaging to coral reefs, if there are many of them.

I am pretty sure that this shiny yellow thing is a sponge, but I couldn't find any more detailed information about ti.

After snorkelling we were brought to the main area, where the restaurant is, and were taken to our bungalows. I expected more basic furnishing but it was quite comfortable and pretty. We even had an air conditioning. And the location was beautiful with great view. We quickly showered and went for lunch. Also the food was not bad, at least the Thai dishes, I admit we didn't try the rest.

The surroundings were really pretty, colour of the water inviting. Shortly after lunch we were dinghied to another snorkelling site, this time with a long-tail boat, just like these are on the photo.

There were less of us on the boat, but the snorkelling sites were just as crowded as the one in the morning. And again we were told to wear the life-jackets as in the morning and again me and Tomaz figured out how to float them near us so we were able to dive down to see and photograph things. While I understand the security aspect of it, especially with all the boats coming and going and masses of people in the water, it is just not possible to snorkel with a life jacket on. Inflatable diving buoys would have been much better. 

It was again very pretty and colourful in the water and we saw so many interesting things.

This wrasse is a bit of a riddle, I browsed through hundreds of photos of wrasses in internet but couldn't find an exact match. From the pattern on its head and body it could be the Tripletail wrasse (Cheilinus trilobatus), but I'm not sure.

This is a Staghorn coral (Acropora nasuta) and you can just tell by the way it looks that it's healthy and doing well.

These two beauties are the Rip butterflyfish (Chaetodon trifasciatus).

I spotted several fish, two Blackeye rabbitfish (Siganus puelloides), the Checkered snapper (Lutjanus decussatus),  Rip butterflyfish (Chaetodon trifasciatus) and Peacock grouper (Cephalopholis argus), gathering together and I was of course curious why. At that time I didn't see the small moray in the middle (in the crack in the coral left from the yellow rabbitfish)...

...only when it came out of the crack I saw that a small Giant moray (Gymnothorax javanicus) must have been hunting or eating something, and all the other fish were waiting around in hope of getting some crumbs.

Here is the Peacock grouper (Cephalopholis argus) once more, just because it is so pretty. And it is still waiting (the moray is on the right just above it)...

There were plenty of Sargeant majors (Abudefduf vaigiensis) there, their unusual Latin name is actually Arabic and means "the one with the prominent sides".

This might be a Peacock damsel (Pomacentrus pavo), its neon blue spots are really resembling the ones of the peacock (pavo in Latin).

This one is also a Moon wrasse (Thalassoma lunare), but without the yellow moon on its tail.

This is a composition in yellow - two Latticed butterflyfish (Chaetodon rafflesi) and a female Sling-jaw wrasse (Epibulus insidiator).

The colouring of this Slate pencil urchin (Eucidaris thouarsii) was quite unusual.

Maybe not most spectacular of the fish we saw, but definitely with lots of attitude - it is the Variegated lizardfish (Synodus variegatus).

These leather corals Elephant ears (Sarcophyton trocheliophorum) are so pretty, they remind me of chanterelle mushrooms (lisičke) in the forest. Some look like leather and some already have their polyps extended and look fuzzy...

...and here is the close up with polyps that looks like flowers.

Finally I also found a male Swarthy parrotfish (Scarus niger).

These are the Golden Rabbitfish (Siganus guttatus), top left one looks like it was injured.

I was really overwhelmed by all the healthy corals we saw, this one is an Acropora coral with Golden damselfish (Amblyglyphidodon aureus).

And this truly magnificent guy is a Magnificent rabbitfish (Siganus magnificus).

This was our captain that transported us to both of the snorkelling sites and back in the afternoon. He masterfully steered the traditional long-tail boat and with all his limbs in action he looked very much like an acrobat.

We got back to headquarters already early in the afternoon and although the tide was low and consequently water very shallow I had to try snorkelling in the bay. I had to almost suck my tummy in while swimming to not touch the bottom, but it was totally worth it - I saw several damsels, a pipefish, couple of gobies and a lionfish, but because of the sand in the water photos didn't turn out good. But when I found this Pink pufball sponge (Oceanapia sagittaria), I made two dozens of photos to make sure at least couple of them would be decent. What a beauty! It has to be the prettiest sponge ever. This was such a mystery to me after I photographed it in my holiday in Koh Tao eight years ago for the first time and it took me sooo long to figure out what it was.

To be continued...