The Emerald Cave.

Current Position: North 07*24'828 East 099*12'764 - Anchored off 'Koh Ngai' Island.

After leaving Koh Tarutao two days ago we stopped on the western side of Koh Muk off a small beach with a couple of resorts ashore. The wind decided to blow from the North West making it a really rolly night at anchor, well worth it though as yesterday morning at 7 am we dropped the dinghy and motored around to the North side of the island to visit the 'Emerald Cave'! From the outside it looks like a normal cave and we took the dinghy through the 80 Metre completely dark passage way, for which we'd come prepared with head lamps, and finally opened up into an enclosed circular 'Hong' with a beach surrounded by high cliffs and open to the sky. The sides are coated in lush vegetation and the only way in is by the cave or rock climbing! Really beautiful and we were there early enough to be the first ones that day and had it completely to ourselves giving it the feel of a natural cathederal. Apparently Pirates used to hide their treasures in the hong before moving them on to other stores...pretty amazing as you'd never expect it to be here from the outside.

Back at the boat though the rolling had become unbearable so we picked up anchor and sailed 6 miles to this island called 'Koh Ngai' and anchored on the east side off a long white sandy beach. We spent the day catching up on sleep and then headed ashore to check out the four resorts that line the beach. Surprising enough we had landed ourselves in German territory as everything was written in German, owned by Germans and all the tourist were German! very strange but we did manage to have our first taste of Thai Green Curry for just 140 Baht which equals about 4 US dollars. We made a slight mistake with the Tides though and had to wait for three hours before the water came back in far enough to cover the reef so we could get the dingy back to Blue Moon. Today we are moving on but not sure where to, there are so many islands that we'll just pick somewhere along the way that takes our fancy!!

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