Today I had decided to take the kids to Coral Island in one
of the long boats moored at Kantary Bay.
The fixed price is 2000 Baht for a boat for the day. Karl had read some scathing reviews of Coral
Island and opted not to go. As for the
kids and me, we were up for an adventure and we had one!! We walked to the aquarium and found a
boatman. He explained that as it was
windy, the boats might not get to Coral Island but that we could go to Lone
Island and possibly head on to Coral Island if the wind died down a bit. All this is fairly limited English but we
understood and the water was quite choppy looking at it from the beach. We all donned the life jackets provided and
felt a BIT more confident as the boat lurched through the metre high
waves. More than a little scary!
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| The journey outward bound |
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| Serious adventure! | | | |
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| Serious relaxing! |
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| Just the two long boats - no other vessels or transport or even a pier! |
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| One hermit crab after another - couldn't collect any shells as they were someone's home! |
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| Serious Paradise! |
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| Serious Serenity! |
When we got to Lone Island, there was only one other family
with 3 kids and the boatmen, the island security guard and us! Paradise! The water was clear and warm and we loved
swimming. Unfortunately the coral is all
dead which is incredibly sad because it will never be restored. Exploring along the beach we found hundreds
of hermit crabs. Not a single beautiful
shell was unoccupied. There were also
sand coloured crabs so beautifully camouflaged that you just saw something
flash across the sand before you realised it was a crab. Apparently there is a big monkey who shows
himself sometimes when searching for tamarinds.
We didn’t see him nor did we see the cobras that live in the jungle
–Phew! I did ask what the tracks were on
the beach, and it was then that the boatman told me they were crab tracks not
snake tracks. Lone Island is
magnificent, totally unspoilt and not on the tourist trail. We were very thankful that it was windy
because we wouldn’t have been there otherwise.
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| Hermit crabs everywhere - really thrilling! |
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The waves and wind had apparently settled by midday or so
and the boatmen decided it was time to set off for Coral Island. The waves and wind were strong and it was
breathtakingly scary to say the least.
When we finally, and it was with quite some difficulty, got close enough
to the shore on Coral Island to jump into the water and waves to get to the
beach, it was with a : “Please hurry Madam”.
I seriously needed to sit and gather my nerves again.
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| They told us they were komodos but I think they were giant goannas |
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| Luke not phased by the wild waves but kept life jacket on all day. |
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| All the Chinese tourists were adopting this pose with their scarves.... |
Coral Island was as Karl had researched: full of tourists
and being asked for money at every turn.
We were offered seats on the beach but when he said: “Pay later”, we
opted for sitting on the sand. It was
very windy and the waves very lashing at the shore and we were really wondering
if we would actually be able to take our long boat back to the safety of
Panwa! The prices for food were ridiculously
expensive so we made do with our humble 7-11 snacks. The kids were great and didn’t complain. Tim and Annika and I enjoyed a bit of
swimming but water was really rough. Luke loved building on the shore and
enjoyed some good waves, too. However,
the highlight of Coral Island was 2 komodo dragons roaming at the far end
amongst the rubbish behind a humble sign on which was painted KOMODO…well maybe
they were just huge goannas but they were rather foreboding.
We saw the boat man put on his life jacket and swim to
shore. He informed us that the waves are
still 1 metre but will be 2 metres at 3PM – in about an hour. We took no time in grabbing our bags and
waiting for him to bring the boat close to shore. Getting into the boat was an exercise in
itself and we sat very still all the way back to Kantary Bay. We all had jelly legs when we finally got off
the boat. It was a seriously fantastic
day and we were very thankful to be back safely. I gave the kids the option of walking back
and having an ice cream or taking the bus!
The ice cream option won and we the 2kms back to our apartment.
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| Homeward bound to dry land! |
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After a lovely day of adventure, the mundanities of life like washing still have to be done. I did a load of washing at the Laundromat and we had a
dinner lacking veggies as “Banana man’s” shop was closed. We now know it is closed on Tuesdays and
Fridays.
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