Feb 2, Friday.
It is hard to know what the date or day is. Or to know what day and time it is at home.
We sailed from Koh Lanta to Koh Muk on Friday. Koh Muk is located in the Kantang District in Tang province of Thailand. It was a beautiful day for sailing with just the geneoa sail up. The sail provides lots of shade for lounging. Three of our passengers were sick and had to lay low. This made cook Kop very sad because there were fewer people to eat her meals. She stands right by our table to make sure we eat enough and that we are happy with the food. She reminds me of my grandmother hovering over Bill all day long to make sure he got enough to eat.
At Koh Muk, we took the dinghy to the beach in late afternoon to check out the island and pickup supplies – water and ice. We rented motorcycle cabs to take a short tour of the island. There are no cars on the island so everyone gets around by bike, on foot or taxi. There is one road on the island that is three quarters paved. The island has about 800 full-time residents who are Thai Muslims with many of the women wearing a headscarf. Kuh Muk is a short boat ride from the mainland and has a new concrete pier where the ferries pickup passengers and offload supplies.
Koh Muk is a small island and survives on fishing and tourism. The beach is long and sandy and lined with food stalls and some restaurants, lots of shade trees and just a few “organized” chairs and umbrellas for rent. The road across the island is partially paved – apparently paving that road and building the new pier have been ongoing construction projects. The island is lush with greenery and the people live in elevated houses so the twice daily high tide can run under their ramshackle homes. There is trash everywhere – piles of plastic bottles, empty paint buckets, cement bags. It didn’t appear that any of the residents tried to clean up their front yards. The beach we walked on was clean from trash but I read during low tide the beaches are not pretty. Such a shame because this little island has beautiful waters, minimal development and much greenery. We don’t give much thought as to where our trash goes – we sort it and put the bin on the street twice a week and it disappears. However, the taxi ride was fun to get a glimpse of life off of the water.
There were many tsunami evacuation route signs in Thai and English along the paved road. In 2004, there was a massive earthquake in the Indian Ocean which sent 100 foot waves to Thailand, hitting the coastal provinces of Phang Nga and Phuket. Most islands now have an emergency siren system if a tsunami is imminent along with signs directing people to higher ground.
Our two drivers were sisters – one wore a headscarf and the other did not. The roundtrip ride cost 100 baht per person, about $3. We stopped at their mother’s fruit juice stand in front of their house.
The real highlight of the day was a late afternoon swim through Emerald Cave leading to a “secret” beach. It is best to swim through at high tide and to bring a waterproof flashlight. Some of us brought noodles for the 100 meter swim. No kayaks are allowed in this particular sea cave. The ceilings were high and some walls were covered with barnacles. This cave is quite wide and tall so there was little chance of getting scraped or hitting our heads. About halfway through it is completely dark with no light peering from either entrance. There are blowholes that make a sound like a roar. The prize though was coming out the end to a lagoon with a sandy beach surrounded by towering cliffs lined with mangrove trees and other tropical vegeatation. Going late afternoon (about 5pm) meant there were very few other people with us in the cave – just one Polish couple who took our group pictures. The cave is called Tham Morakot or Emerald Cave. It is part of a National Park – a couple of official guys in uniforms came by boat to get 200 bahts per guest.
Inside the lagoon at Emerald Cave on Koh Mook (Muk)
Looking up from the Lagoon at Emerald Cave at Koh Muk
Zoe and I tried sleeping on the forward trampoline – we lasted a few hours until we got cold. The stars were beautiful and Dave once again explained where the little dipper was from Orion’s belt. Every night he gives the astronomy lecture up on request!
Saturday Feb 3
The next morning, a group went back to the island to the local health center to see a doctor there for a possible ear infection. While on shore they went to the pier and saw the local manatees. A visit with a local Thai doctor, ear drops and a course of antibiotics cost about $30.
After the quick medical run, we headed out under sail and stopped for lunch and a swim at Koh Kradan where Ed, Zoe and I did some snorkeling. We saw such beautiful colored fish, a coral with blue tips, sea urchins, clown fish and many others we didn’t recognize.
This was the first meal in a couple of days where all eight of us were bellied up to the table. That made Cook Kop very happy.
Our stopping point for the evening was Koh Rok which is a national park. A few other boats spent the night after the day trippers left. This little spot is two uninhabited islands and reminds me of Tobago Cay in the Grenadines. The water is clear with many beautiful shades of turquoise, coral reefs for snorkeling and sugar white sand.
Sunday Feb 4
In the morning, the winds were low and there were no day tripper boats. Bill and I had a perfect paddle board over the clear waters to one of the nearby islands. The whole group later swam, kayaked, snorkeled and hiked on the park side of the island.
There is even a little snack bar on the beach selling snacks and cold drinks. Mid afternoon the beach filled with the day trippers. These two girls were interesting. They were first wearing full face masks with only their eyes uncovered. We were thinking for sun protection. But sometime later, the mask and robe came off and Instagram photo session began.
This stop has to be the most perfect place we have been on this trip and possibly tops all the beach destinations we have been to worldwide. We are glad to spend a second night at this location.