I knew we were off to a good start when I saw how excited Jeff was about the boat, because it was a "real" boat, not a Thai longboat like we've had on our last few water adventures.
When we got on the boat at the marina, Jeff and Vivian excitedly claimed spots right at the front of the ship.
It was a nice, calm spot at the beginning, but once we got moving on the water, it got windy and a bit more thrilling.
The slash and burn fires in Indonesia and the resulting regional smoke and haze have been big news items in southeast Asia, but they are also becoming news stories internationally. Large parts of Indonesia are in a state of emergency because of the air pollution the burning is causing, and the haze has spread to Malaysia and Singapore causing school closures and event cancellations. We haven't been affected in Bangkok, so it didn't occur to me that by going south to Phuket we would be within the haze, but as we got out on the water and looked at the islands in the distance the haze was obvious.
This blog isn't really the appropriate venue for me to rant about my thoughts on this, but it is a HUGE issue which impacts a lot more than tourist sight seeing and doesn't seem to have an immediate resolution. Sigh. Okay, back to vacation.
Once we got closer to the islands, you could see how cool they were and why they're heavily featured in tourist brochures.
The cliffs are limestone made of compressed shells and other marine fragments. Along the edges, you can see the evolution from shell to limestone.
Our first island stop, Koh Phanak, was one that had cave openings around the outside that you could pass through to get to a lagoon in the middle. When we landed the boat on the beach we were greeted by monkeys.
These monkeys are also billed as a tourist attraction, but I am NOT a fan. They are mean, and we know at least one person who was attacked by this type of monkey going after food she had in her hands. The tour guides gave us little bananas to give to the monkeys, but you could tell their hearts weren't in it, and they kept warning us to keep our hands open and just offer, not try to hold on to the bananas at all.
After the monkeys, we got to the fun stuff, hard hats and flash lights for our cave exploration. The water started out pretty shallow, but we had to walk through some parts that were pretty deep, so monkey Vivian jumped on Jeff's back.
The walk through the caves was cool, and we used our flashlights to point out interesting rock formations. Jeff tried to take pictures, but, because of the lighting, none of them really came out. It's a good thing we had the hard hats though, because mine scraped the top of the cave more than once. Of course Vivian managed to look up at the top of the cave and have her hat fall off into the water. Luckily, it floated, so we got it back and on her head again pretty quickly.
The best part was looking up at the jungle around us.
There were some fun things down below too. Our guide showed us a good spot for a peekaboo photo.
He also pointed out the mud skippers hanging on the mangrove roots. These are fish that can use their front fins to pull themselves out of the water. They can breath both air and water. In concept, they're really cool. In reality, they're kind of brown and blobby.
After some exploration, we headed back out of the cave. As we got to the exit, we could see that other boats were showing up for touring.
We left that island, and after a short trip arrived at Koh Hong for sea canoeing. We docked at a floating station, and then got in our own canoe with a guide.
We followed the other canoes to a crack in the island's wall. Vivian loved it.
There were a few low ceilings in these caves too, so we all had to lay back on each other in the canoe, so we wouldn't get our heads knocked.
Vivian flipped the laying down forward and just relaxed and enjoyed the ride.
In addition to getting us around, our guide pointed out rock formations that looked like animals, so that we could take pictures. Here are the dolphin mother (on the left) and her baby (the shadow on the right).
Some were better than others, and Vivian got a bit skeptical, so I explained to her that it was like finding animals in the clouds. That inspired her, and she started finding all kinds of things in the rocks.
Our guide also offered photography services. He didn't speak much English, but he would stop the canoe and wave for our camera at good photo spots.
Our next stop was "James Bond" island where two James Bond movies have been filmed. We were back on land and with our regular guide for that island, and talk about being prepared for photo ops! He had two toy guns, one gold for The Man with the Golden Gun, and he told Jeff and Vivi where and how to stand.
It's not exactly the same as the movie, but it's pretty close.
Our guide also positioned Vivi for some cool perspective pictures with the little island in the middle.
Boats aren't allowed to go near that island, because they're afraid the bottom will erode and the whole thing will just topple over.
The main island also has some cool caves, big surprise ;-) Jeff and Vivi went exploring.
By that point we were ready for lunch, so they took us to Koh Yao Noi, one of the larger islands, the kind with roads.
We got off the boat and onto the back of a pick up truck for the ride to the restaurant.
We got family style plates of several traditional Thai dishes. None of which Vivian was particularly interested in. Luckily, there was some chicken in a sweet sauce, and they had banana smoothies.
We enjoyed as much of the view as the haze would allow us to, and after lunch Vivian played on the beach with the other kid on our tour.
On our drive to the restaurant, our guide had pointed out the "gas stations" which are basically drums of gasoline with a pump, measuring container and a hose attached. The different colors tell you what kind of gasoline it is. We were so intrigued, that he got the driver to stop on the way back to the boat, so that we could get a picture.
The colors make it look like juice or soda, but it's definitely not something you want to drink.
We had a bit of a ride to our snorkeling spot, and as we were going along, the guide came up to the front of the boat to ask if Vivian would like to drive. At first we thought he was joking, but no, he was totally serious.
The driver let her go straight for a while to get the feel of it. Then he had her do some zig zags, and finally she took the boat in a whole big circle. She was SO pleased with herself.
I'll be honest, I was a little worried while she was driving, but there were no other boats around, and Jeff kept reassuring me that driving a boat is nothing like driving a car.
When we finally got to our spot, it took Vivian a little while to get used to the snorkel gear. She didn't like it at first, but once she got the hang of it, she really enjoyed it.
The water wasn't super clear, so it was a bit hard to see the fish, but they were there.
Vivian and I both got a kick out of swimming right through a school of fish that was zipping around the coral. They all just swam around us.
There were also some clown fish. Jeff got a great picture of "Nemo" and his dad.
As if we hadn't had enough fun already, they took us to one last island. This one had a beach, and the boat docked a bit out in the water. It was shallow and calm, so it was good for swimming or sunbathing.
Vivi played splash games with the other kid, and after a bit, I went back to sit on the boat. I had reached my sunshine max by that point. The haze protected us from the sun's full power, but it was still a lot of sun.
Luckily, that was the last island, because by that point, Vivian was pretty much done. She curled up in a little ball and asked us to help cover her with a towel for wind and sun protection.
We're not sure if she fell asleep or not, but I wouldn't be surprised. It was a glorious, exhausting kind of a day. We definitely want to do another boat tour if we go back to the area.
