Swimming through the Emerald Cave

Saturday was an awesome day! We were picked up at the hotel for a 4 island Trang Sea Cruise.  We travelled about 40 min. To the pier and to our surprise it was Fred and myself along with approx. 50 Thai people.  No one was able to speak any English except for 2 young men.  All day we thought they worked for the boat company but found out only 1 of them worked for the boat and the other was on tour just like we were.  Alex, guy on tour like us,  helped us out all day long explaining things or making sure we were enjoying ourself.  Fred and Alex soon started questioning each other out about the other person's country.  Can't imagine anyone being as curious as Fred but Alex seemed to be.  Fred got his worn out pictures to show them what snow was like and the conversation continued...

Our first stop at Morakat Cave (Emerald Cave) at Kooh Mook Island, was the reason we chose to do this excursion.  It was a fantastic cave wither earls green water running through it.  We can't remember the name of the movie where the boy swims through the cave, but that is exactly what we did.  We formed a human chain as we got off the boat and paddled our way through the dark cave.  It was pitch black, as it was approx. 200 m to the other side .  Every once in awhile our guide would shine his light so we could see the inside of the cave.  It's hard to describe but in places it was very low and the colors on the walls and ceiling were red, black and cream.  We were told that in Feb. and Mar. The colors are brighter before the rainy season begins ( couldn't understand the reason for that). Emerging from out of the cave we came to a small beach with lush jungle growth surrounded by four solid limestone walls.  There was no way out except the cave or begin to climb.  What an incredible sight, our pictures won't do it justice.  We spent about 1/2 hr. enjoying and taking pictures, then we formed the human chain to paddle our way out and return to the boat.  What an awesome experience.
We had our buffet lunch on the boat.  It consisted of green curry and fish cakes (very spicy and hot), steamed rice, battered squid, fried noodles with vegetables and watermelon for dessert.  I went up for my lunch and Fred said a few Thai ladies were very concerned that he wasn't going.  They were pointing and trying to get him to get some food, so he did get up to get some lunch.  One of the Thai ladies dished him up a huge bowl full of rice, not much room for anything else.  He is wonder how they eat this much rice 3 times a day???
The second island stop was at the beautiful Koh Kraden Island.  Most of the island is in the Haad Chaomai National Park and the rest of the island has rubber and coconut plantations.  It had a powdery white sand beach and the water was crystal clear.  This isn't where we stopped to snorkel but it is suppose to have beautiful coral and colourful fish on the beach's north end.
The third island, Koh Chueak, was where we stopped to snorkel.  The fish were abundant and all around the boat.  People were feeding bread to the fish and it was great watching the fish attack the bread and sometimes even a finger.  There were many fish but not a lot of different kinds if fish.
Koh Ma was the fourth island we stopped  at to snorkel and see various kinds and colors of coral.  On the face of the rock island's wall there were tons of bats hanging in the trees.  The bats stay on the wall during the day and at night they fly to a near by island to have supper (eat the insects and scare the tourists).  We weren't able to get a real good explanation as to why these huge bats were out in the  sunlight all day long.  Their wing span would be like a big crow.  It was very interesting to see.  We had a great day and arrived back at the pit by 4:00.

Supper was at the night market eating at the vendors.  We are getting quite brave - not really -  we watch to see which vendors are busy and go to those ones.  Good pork on a stick...yum.