Day 86, Year 4: Paradise Found
Date: Friday, January 16, 2009
Weather: Beautiful, Still with Very Strong Winds
Latitude: 07 degrees 57.541 minutes N
Longitude: 098 degrees 48.447 minutes E
Location: Between Ko Dam Khwan & Ko Dam Hok, Thailand
What a special anchorage we found today. We are anchored between two beautiful islands with limestone cliffs that rise straight out of the sea and between the two there is a tiny little island that is the perfect day spot for beach activities. At low tide there is a sand bar that connects the tiny island to the Ko Dam Khwan, the southern island in the group. This island is also called Chicken Head as there is a rock formation on the southern tip that does indeed look like a chicken’s head and neck. It was high tide when we arrived and we took the dinghy to the small island that had a bit of beach exposed. The sand is white and the surrounding waters are that beautiful, clear turquoise color that you only get when the sand is really white. Sam played for almost four hours on the beach, much of the time under an umbrella held by either Oma or Mama. We all took turns snorkeling and after a couple of tries in different places, Heather and Jed found a beautiful reef between the two main islands and “requires” another day of exploration. Tomorrow morning we will look at our schedule and see if it is possible for us to stay here one more day. It truly is magnificently beautiful and the underwater world here is begging us to explore. Today I saw more parrotfish feeding in one area than I have ever seen before. Often we see small fish have a feeding frenzy, but we have never before seen parrotfish doing this. Our friends, Tina and Robert of Shirena, also arrived here this afternoon and they also plan to stay another day or so.
The challenging part of the day was getting here. We motored into 20 knots of wind right on the nose with choppy seas. After a couple of hours of this, we finally concluded that Sam really doesn’t get sea sick. He was a real trouper as we hobby-horsed our way here. It’s a good thing, because the northeast monsoon winds are not going to subside. When we leave here we will have to head straight into the wind to get to the Krabi area, but after things should get a bit better as we will be heading northwest and won’t have the wind directly on the nose.
So for tonight we are tucked into a beautiful spot and the anchorage is calm even though the winds continue to blow. All of us are really enjoying our time island hopping in Thailand’s Phang Nga Bay.
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| 090116 Day 86 Thailand–Ko Phi Phi Don to North Ko Dam Khwan |
