June 8. Ao Nang to Bangkok
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Beach bums day. A van collected us at 8.30, took us to a jetty a couple of miles out of town, and abandoned us with crowds of others. We were efficiently organised into different groups, depending on which tour we had selected, and we walked along a very shaky gangway onto powerful looking speedboats. There we found a large chilly bin full of bottled water and, much to my surprise, life jackets. These, however, were mainly intended to be used as cushions and for the snorkelling session later on. |
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First stop was Railay Bay, just round the coast from Ao Nang and resembling an island paradise. There we collected another passenger, who waded aboard through the surf looking extremely elegant. She must have been French! Unfortunately, modesty prevented me from taking her photograph.
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Next stop was Chicken Island, named after the peculiar shaped rock at one end. From there, we walked across a sandy causeway to the next island, where we swam in beautifully warm water, looked at the small fishes and generally felt as if we were in paradise. One can understand why the Andaman Coast is becoming one of the world’s premier holiday destinations. |
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After half an hour, we re-embarked and moored off Tup Island for snorkelling. We were encouraged to wear life jackets for this so I was happy to participate. The sea was full of brightly coloured fishes and some of the crew were heaving bits of bread into the water to encourage them. I had a shock when I realised that I was wearing my watch but it seemed ok so I trusted that it would remain waterproof for the duration. Not having a waterproof camera, I didn’t take any photos.
At this stage, I managed to catch my foot on a piece of coral, resulting in lots of little stone splinters embedding themselves in my foot. This hurt quite considerably so I swam back to the vicinity of the boat whilst wondering what to do next. The crew saw me and gave me a piece of bread, which I was able to feed to the fishes. They mobbed me and would have started to nibble bits of me if their mouths had been big enough. A very peculiar sensation.
Once back on the boat, the guide examined my foot, hit each obvious splinter with a glass bottle (presumably to loosen them) and swabbed my foot with vinegar. This should have dissolved the coral. They then pronounced that I wouldn't die, that the splinters should fall out in a couple of hours and gave me a paracetamol to stop it hurting.
They were right in that I didn't die but, a fortnight later I am still trying to extract the splinters. For the remainder of the holiday, The foot hurt but paracetamol made it feel a bit better. At the time of writing, it is almost better but the medical bills & paperwork are starting to roll in.
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At Poda Island we marched up the beach onto a much larger island. There was a central area of café, toilets etc and even a small temple area. There lots of trees and lots of slightly scrubby sand.
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We returned to the boat, re-boarded and soon found ourselves next to a large fishing vessel This caused considerable excitement on the part of those on our boat so we circled it for a while taking lots of photos.I think that many of the other tour boats did the same so I assume that the fish vanished for the duration, which can’t have pleased the fishermen much. |
Last stop was Phranang Cove, home to the most expensive hotel in the area. We walked along the beach in front of it, heading towards an amazing sea cave with huge stalactites hanging over the water beneath.
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Swimming beneath these was a chastening experience as I wondered how often the huge slivers of rock fell off. The rock did provide some wonderful shade from the hot sun so that this was an excellent place in which to swim and avoid the increasing amounts of sunburn. Floating had the benefit of removing any pressure from my sore foot.
We sailed back, stopping again at Railay Bay to unload a couple of passengers, returned to our point of embarkation and were then taken back to the hotel in a minibus. There we found a shower and lay on the grass by the pool while Valerie went off for a pedicure. When she returned, we wandered into town in search of some tea. They walked, I limped. I was dumped in a bar, behind a large bottle of beer, whilst the others did some final shopping. When they returned, we had some snacks - fish cakes, salads, tempura etc - and then returned to the hotel.
The van was waiting for us when we arrived - 15 minutes early - so it was a rushed departure. We arrived at Krabi Airport, checked in and waited. The plane left and arrived in Bangkok on time and our van collected us, arriving at the hotel almost at midnight.
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