At anchor off Koh Pethra on the West Coast of Thailand. The arms off
the sides of AKAMA are stabilizing gear to reduce the rolling while
anchored.
We found this cactus growing high above the water on the side of a rock face at Koh Khlui, Thailand
Here we see a local ferry, the smaller boat, exchanging passengers
with an inter-island ferry in the Butang Islands. Note the extensive
safety precautions (not).
Just after we took this photo at Koh Kradan, Thailand, a storm blew
up and these boats, plus ourselves and many others had to quickly find a
safe anchorage.
On the West Coast of Thailand, it is not uncommon to find these
fishermen's' shanties, often perched on a rock face and nearly
inaccessible, except by rope ladder from the sea below.
This is the biggest Spanish mackerel that we have caught to date. They are good eating.
On the West Coast of Thailand and Malaysia there are many Hongs.
These are hollow islands, usually accessible only by small caves, like
the one in the photo. Some are open to the sky and others are dark
caves.
Here we have entered a small hong, via its cave at sea level. Once
inside, we are totally surrounded by rock, but above us we can see the
sky. This hong is a small island, hollow in the centre, like a
doughnut.
Some hongs are just caves that can be entered from the sea. They are
totally dark inside until someone turns on a flashlight. This one had
spectacular colours. We hope that they come through on the computer
screen.
Once through the small hong entrance, one often finds sizeable flat
water lakes. Note the limestone formation, typical of the area.
To make a longatail boat, start with a boat, put a gimbal on the
stern, and mount a diesel engine on the gimbal, no mufflers please.
Then, put a very long propeller shaft right on the flywheel. Voila, the
long-tail boat. They are noisy, fast and fun. We have even seen some
really big ones with V-8 engines; you can hear them coming from miles
away.
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Island boasts several nice marinas. We stayed at Boat Lagoon, which
is the nicest and closest to town. We could not get the whole thing
into the photo.
This particular rock is revered by the locals...for its shape (grin).
Near the rock the locals have constructed this rather touristy
shrine. We encountered another such shrine on a deserted island that
was endowed with a similar rock...whatever works!
We don't know what sort of tree this is, but when we found this one on Koh Chong Lat we just had to snap its picture.
This beach is replicated all over SE Asia. There are countless beaches and no tourists, or even locals at most of them.
The boat in the photo has just gone through the entrance of this hong at the appropriately-named Koh Hong.
These boats are equipped with powerful lights and big generator sets.
At night, the squid are attracted up to the surface by the light,
where they are caught.
Here we have a water taxi in the Butang Islands of Thailand discharging passengers onto a ferry boat.
Just off Koh Lipi we encountered this beautiful boat. It caters to
well-heeled tourists who want to do what we do, for a limited period of
time, and in style.
If absolute luxury is ot your style of tourism, then how about a
cruise on this rather funky boat. We spotted it at Koh Racha Yai, where
the water is pure and the snorkelling is great.
These tourists are at the tail end of a flotilla of at least a dozen
kayaks. Taking tourists through hongs is big business in Western
Thailand.
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