The Similan Islands

Current Position: North 08*34'114 East 097*38'576 - Moored off Ko Miang Island.

The Similan Islands named after the Malaysian word 'Sembilan', meaning 'nine', are a group of nine islands roughly 35 miles west of the coast of Thailand and 50 miles south of the Surin Islands. Much like the Surins the Similans are run by the national park and beautiful green islands fringed by pristine coral reef. The water clarity is even better than that of the Surin's and are home to an abundance of tropical fish. With the diving supposedly the best in Thailand dive charter boats arrive in flocks and present a never ending stream of activity.

We've been tied to a mooring here for almost a week and have been able to find something new to do everyday from Hiking the trails ashore to discovering new little bays to snorkel and an array of fish we've never seen before! We're sad to leave but today we are heading back to civilisation and the hustle and bustle of Patong Bay on Phuket island. We finally ran out of fresh food and have been eating through our stores of tins for a while now, with both of us craving a nice big salad and fresh meat we've decided it's time to head back and reconnect with the outside world with definite plans to come back again soon!

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The Surin Islands - Another Paradise found.

Current Position: North 09*24'876 East 097*52'449

We've been here in the Surin Islands for over a week now and are loving their beauty both above and below the water. The Surin's consist of two main Islands managed by Thailand's national Park, roughly 35 miles off the west coast of Thailand and 5 miles south of the Myanmar (Burma) boarder. Thanks to the National Park the islands are pretty much untouched except for two ranger stations and camp grounds for tourists and a local 'Sea Gypsy' village which is home to the 'Mokan' tribe.
There are loads of Mooring balls provided for both us cruisers and the many dive boats that frequent the islands which helps to protect the pristine reef from badly placed anchors. The water is crystal clear and the beaches pearly white fringed by dense green rain forest stretching up to the tips of the islands high peaks. We've probably seen more species of coral fish here in one place than anywhere else we've been and all this can be seen by jumping off the back of the boat with snorkel and fins!!
The ranger stations have a small restaurant for the workers and campers which has allowed us to stretch out our diminishing food supply as we are almost out of fresh and making the most of our stored up cans. We're low on petrol for the dingy engine so we've been kayaking everywhere which has actually been a lot of fun and allowed us to sneak up on monkeys and huge lizards on the beach...the exercise is pretty good too! The Park fee for seven days for us and the boat is 500 Thai Baht which equals about $15 US or 10 British pounds and well worth every penny. Tomorrow we'll be heading 50 miles south to the Similan islands, also a part of the national park, consisting of nine islands and supposedly even more abundant in marine life!

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Almost in Burma!

Current Position: North 09*43'654 East 098*23'061 - Anchored off Ao Yai Beach on Ko Phayam island - 10 miles south of the Burmese Boarder.

In the past ten days we've slowly made our way up the west coast of Thailand stopping at some fantastic bays and only once seeing other cruisers. The scenery is beautiful with miles of white sandy beaches fringed by thick green jungle and inhabited by local sea Gypsy villages. The weather has been pretty good although it's supposed to be the North East season and the wind continues to blow from the North West making some of the anchorages a little rolly and the odd afternoon thunderstorm bringing a deluge of rain. Temperatures have been up around 35*C/95*F everyday making a walk on the beach feel like your walking in an oven...even the water temperature is so warm that going for a swim doesn't really help to cool off!
For the past two days we've been anchored off a beautiful island called Ko Phayam and a little piece of heaven just 10 miles south of the Burmese boarder, There's a 3km-long sandy beach scattered with a number of eclectic beach bungalows each with their own bar and restaurant. It has a much more laid back atmosphere here compared to the hustle and bustle of some of the more touristy islands further south but still has enough going on to keep us entertained! Yesterday we hiked the concrete moped 'highway' that crosses the island through cashew nut plantations to have lunch at the 'main' village, named this as it has the only dock that services the island, a beautiful walk shaded by the lush vegetation with some great little restaurants along the way to stop and cool off.
With the full moon the tides here are huge at the moment and yesterday we made the mistake of leaving the dingy at the top of the beach at high so when we returned we had to drag her 300 feet along the beach in the heat of the day - it took us over half an hour and we could barely breath by the time we finally got to the water. We won't be doing that again so today we'll blow up the inflatable kayaks which will be much easier to carry then rent a moped to explore some more and keeping a little cooler!!

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Patong Bay, Phuket.

Current Position: At anchor in Patong Bay: North 07*53'515 East 098*17'072

We've been anchored in Patong Bay on the West coast of Phuket Island for almost a week now and have enjoyed walking the streets of one of Thailand's most busiest tourist towns. There are more bars and restaurants than we've seen in one place for a very long time and a great place to People watch as tourists line the streets with freshly fried skin and cash to burn! Every inch of the beach is taken up with hundreds of colourful umbrellas and sun loungers with tourists getting Thai Massages as they soak up as much sun as possible in a two week period.
Just across the road from the beach you'll find vender's selling everything from dried squid to copies of DVD's and tailor made suits. At night the real shows begin with 'Lady Boys' lining the streets trying to get customers into the bars... Local Thai guys dress very impressively as Women and with all the right operations it's almost impossible to tell the difference!!

This afternoon we plan to start heading north along Thailand's West Coast to cruise up to the boarder of Burma and the off lying islands for a couple of weeks.

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