Tues - 2nd June 2015
The 7 island tour wasn't part of itinerary but after sloth-ing away for the past few days, it's time to get a little adventure. Our trip's details and price here
Itinerary:
- Phra Nang cave
- Ta Ming Island
- Si Island
- Poda Island
- Mae Urai
- Chicken Island
- Tup Island
- Night swim with bio-luminescent planktons and a fire show.
The hotel pick-up by Mariam Travel arrived on time at 12:30pm. We were transported to the Ao Nammao pier just a few minutes away from Ao Nang.
Masks and snorkel were distributed and you got to write down the equipment numbers to ensure you return them later. We pasted the yellow stickers to distinguish ourselves from people from other tours. It was a gloomy day and as we walked to the pier, it started to drizzle.
Today, we have a big boat. There were around 35 people on this trip. A pretty large group on a low season, eh? But it's okay as long as we are well taken care of. We had to be transported by a smaller boat to the bigger one from the pier. I had a very bad experience climbing in and out of boats. Lesser did I know this is going to be one of the many in and out I am gonna do today. Yikes!
On board toilet becomes handy on a day trip
Our guides are a cheerful and funny bunch of dudes. I don't know how they can do this every day and still have so much energy and passion to give their customers the best experience.
The guides ensured our safety, gave good instructions and announced our destinations. Overall, they are very professional and well organized. I am not sure where the bad reviews come from? Maybe during peak season? Anyhow, everyone in this trip had a really good time and I've never seen tips given so generously by everyone including ourselves :)
The heart of our big boat. Don't mess with it...
First stop is the Phra Nang Cave. Home of a princess spirit known to help fisherman and couples trying for kids. We just took pictures from the boat. The prehistoric looking cave looks magnificent rising up from the sea bed.
Smaller islands around Phra Nang
Next stop is TaMing island where we get a 30 minutes snorkel with yellow surgeon fishes. We were informed not to step on the corals as they are sharp and may have sea urchins. Yes, I saw those sea urchins and freaked out. Quickly swimming back to the safety of the boat. Haha! Chicken!
Speaking of chicken, the chicken island was just around the corner. Resembles a chicken?
Next up is the Si Island. This is one of the best snorkeling site as we were surrounded by four rocky islands, thus the name Si. Si in Thai = 4. The scene was picturesque and we felt so exclusive with only our boat in here. Hobbes took out his fish feed and got a school of surgeon fish circling us as I squirmed away.
Up next is the east of Poda island where we get a chance to do a deep water dive from the cliff. Dare devils including Hobbes went for it. Everyone was cheering from the boat as 3 guys and a lady went for it. The hanging ladder had its second step broken which requires jumpers to get up from step 1 directly to step 3. That was the toughest challenge and jumpers tried to leverage on the wall cliffs but was prevented by the guides as the walls were filled with sharp barnacles. Jumpers came back with cuts and bruises as barnacles were growing within the ladder itself. Damn!
Cuts and a crab?
Fruits served
It was almost sunset as we reached our next destination - Tup Island. To me, this was the best one among all! Before sun set, the tide is low where a strip of white sands emerges where you can walk across 3 islands! Have you walked from one island to another? I have!
Visitors can walk to the bigger Chicken island and the other 2 smaller ones Tup and Koh Mor islands. Water is pristine here with white sandy beaches. To make it even sweeter, we had a setting sun as our back drop. As soon as the sun set, the strip slowly disappears as water rises. This is when the guide holler for us to head back to the boat.
Storm was brewing from the distance.
It was night fall as we waited for the small boat to return from transporting the first group back to the big boat. Felt a bit scary at this point. The bio-luminescent night swim was still on the schedule. We were transported to this dark location known to have plankton that emits lights. They said it's truly magical to swim at night as they twinkle like stars in the dark waters. Our dare-devil group including kids jumped into the dark waters for the night swim. The tour guides were extra careful for the night swim and everyone must hold on to the ropes laid out by them. Kids were screaming "Alien! Alien!" and for those who did not swim, the tour guide swam around the boat to show off the twinkling light from the creatures. They will only emit light with movement. It's was a unique but I was expecting more lights as seen in the pictures.
We can't catch these creatures on camera as they are too illusive and you'd definitely need a good camera. Some luminescence plankton caught by camera elsewhere in the world.
Photo Source: http://secondglobe.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Jervis-Bay-Australia-the-Bioluminescence-2.jpg
@ http://secondglobe.com/item/bioluminescent-plankton-jervis-bay-glow-in-the-ocean/
Our tour is coming to an end. The guides said if there's no rain, they'll perform the fire show for us. Unfortunately, it rained pretty hard. At that point, all we thought about was to get to the shore safely. It was pouring as we reached the shore. To my amazement, I was the only one who had an umbrella. Haha! This is what I called "Sediakan payung sebelum hujan". Though, I must admit the reason for my umbrella was to shield myself from the morning sun. Haha!
We were ushered to our respective Song-Thew back to our hotel. The guides waved at us and said "Thank you and hope to see you again!" amidst the pouring rain. I can feel they really mean it and amazed with their sincerity and personalized touch.
We were a bit greedy and with our wet-selves strolled into 7-eleven again to get some instant noodles for a night snack. The first thing to do as soon as we reached our room was to hit the showers and wash up everything including the clothes we had. Then settled down with our instant noodles as the rain pours outside.
What an amazing day! The rain was a blessing in disguise as it gave us a cloudy day out in the island. No heat stroke or sun burn. Of course, sun screen is a must.
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