Thailand: Day 3

Hongs

Woohoo, the day of John Gray's Sea Canoes!  We got up and headed off to breakfast.  I made sure that I did not over indulge on the pastries this time as I wanted to make sure that I didn't get sick on the boat.  Another one of those ridiculous sized "taxis" came to pick us up at our hotel.  The drive out to the boat was scenic enough.  We drove through Old Phuket and saw temples along the way.  Everything is very green and lush in Thailand.  Drastically different from India.  The drive took about 45 minutes to get from the southern end of the island up to where the boat was.  There weren't that many people when we got there.  Stewart counted/estimated that there were 38 of us.

See?  It was very low!

We got to the boat and headed out to sea.  We were going to be exploring "hongs" which are limestone islands that have lagoons in the middle of them.  The only way to get to the lagoons is to go at low tide and take a sea canoe through an opening in the limestone.  They're pretty low openings so you have to lay flat in the sea canoe to get through.  This is why it was incredibly handy to have your own guide in the sea canoe.  The main guide explained about hongs and the islands we were going by.  The time out to the first hong passed quickly.  When we got there, they put all of the sea canoes in the water, and we all took turns climbing into them.  I thought it was pretty funny because they gave us this whole lecture on how to climb into the sea canoe the correct way so that we didn't fall in the water, and then one of the guides fell in trying to get into his!

Inside a hong

We went through the opening and you could just feel the temperature drop inside.  Thailand's weather was great.  It wasn't really hot the whole time we were there.  At the end of the opening, we entered into the lagoon.  The experience was indescribable.  I feel as though I should be letting Stewart write about this since he's so much better with words.  From the outside, it really doesn't look like anything special and then you get through the opening and there's this stillness and peacefulness surrounding you.  The waters are tranquil and you just float along.  I might be willing to go so far as saying it's almost a magical feeling.  I probably could have sat in that canoe for hours just taking it all in.  Stewart says he would have wanted a bigger canoe and mattress so he could sleep there!

Mangroves in the lagoon

The nature in the lagoon was pretty cool by itself.  I've seen mangroves in Key West but the ones in the lagoon were pretty awesome.  The roots stood higher than the ones in Florida.  We also saw a mudskipper which is half fish and half lizard.  It was slightly creepy looking.  There were a couple of blue herons.  We never really saw any crazy big fish though.  Inside the lagoons were lots of schools of tadpole sized fish.  Since the water is pretty shallow inside it might be that the larger fish can't get in there.  Our guide pointed out bugs and other reptile/sea creatures.  I thought the silver bugs were cool looking until he explained they were roaches.  Yuck.  And there was a massive centipede thing that looked like a fossil.  I thought that's what it was until he pulled it off the rock. I think it was some type of anemone/urchin.  I got brave and even held it!

Another tight squeeze

When we left the first hong, we canoed around the island which was fun.  It was like an amusement park ride with the waves rocking the canoe.  Along the way, we stopped and looked at a trap a fisherman set.  Our guide was telling us it could have an octopus in it.  I was really hoping so but it just had some small fish.  I thought we were taking the scenic route to the boat but it turns out there are two lagoons in the middle of the hong!  We had another tight squeeze through it.  This one appeared to be a little more green on the inside.  The vegetation was closer the the bottom by the water instead of the limestone cliffs the first one had.  ... and this one had monkeys!  I have no idea how they got to the island.  Our guide said that they swam there.  How crazy is that??  We watched

Monkey!

 the monkey for a little bit and then explore the rest of the lagoon.  This one also had the tranquil atmosphere the first one had.  Both Stewart and I really liked it.  Stewart even started talking about where to build a house there.  I think he was ready to go Swiss Family Robinson on me.  They called the cave we went through the diamond cave because there were calcium deposits that sparkled like diamonds.  It was really cool to look at.  The guides all had flashlights to help us see things since it was pretty much pitch black going through.  The first cave had a lot of bats!  I think that would have been cool to see them flying out at night.

My ginger guide

We got back on the boat and had a snack while we headed to the next area.  At this place, they told us that we had the option of either paddling our own sea canoe or swimming in the sea.  If we took the sea canoe, we could explore a hong on our own as well as a little isolated beach.  It was a pretty easy decision for us!  Stewart and I headed off in the sea canoe.  There was a little bit of confusion as to how to enter the lagoon since the guides waved vaguely in a direction. We sat in the canoe rocking with the sea waves while debating whether going through a rocky opening was a smart choice or not. We decided to give it a try and Stewart did a great job navigating through the opening.  When we got inside, we realized that there were several ways in and we probably took the hardest!  We took turns paddling and exploring the lagoon on our own.  Then we decided that we wanted to

One of the openings

head over to the beach that the guides had pointed out.  We went out to the open water which was rougher than the lagoon.  Stewart saw a jellyfish along the way.  We got to the little beach and explored for a few minutes before heading back to the boat.  We decided that as long as we were over on this side of the world, we might as well swim in the water!  When we got to the back of the boat, the guides went to help me out.  I looked at them and said I'm going swimming and went over the side of the canoe.  It wasn't the most graceful move on my part!  We swam for a very short amount of time and got out.  Dinner was a Thai buffet that was quite tasty.  The lunch they served was so good too!  I'm beginning to think that I don't eat Thai food as often as I should!

Loi Kratang

While we waited for the sun to set, our guides helped us make Loi Kratangs.  They're offerings to Buddha, and you also get to make a wish.  There's no way that I'm creative enough to make one on my own so I was thankful that the guide basically told me where to stick everything.  Stewart and I did have to fold the banana leaves though.  It was beautiful sitting on the front of the boat watching the sun set over the islands.  Definitely felt like paradise!  Once the sun set and it got dark enough, we got ready to get back in the sea canoes. We were going to light our kratangs and set them floating in the water.  We also were going to get to see bio-luminescence in the water.  I wasn't quite sure what to expect with that.  We headed into the lagoon and each sea canoe kind of chose a spot to hang out.  Stewart and I lit our kratang and set it in the water.  There was something mesmerizing about watching it float.   I'm not
even sure how long we were sitting there watching it.  The night was perfect for it too.  There weren't any clouds in the sky and the moon was reflecting on the water.  After awhile, we picked up our kratangs (we don't want to litter!) and headed back to the boat.  On our way, we ran our hands through the water to see the bio-luminescence.  It was so cool.  It was like our hands were causing sparks underwater.  If we splashed the water, where it landed lit up as well.  Apparently, the plankton in the water causes this.  Stewart and I had fun splashing the water throughout the cave.

We sat at the front of the boat on the way back to the dock.  The weather was perfect, the sky was clear, and there was a nice breeze keeping us cool.  Occasionally, there was a fish that would jump out of the water alongside the boat.  And we saw a meteor, flaming ball of something.  It was a decent size too!  It was such a perfect day!