Day 44, Year 5: Ko Kradan to Ko Muk
Date: Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Weather: Zero Wind All Day; Gusting to 20 in the Anchorage
Latitude: N 07 degrees 22.54 minutes
Longitude: E 099 degrees 17.16 minutes
Location: Ko Muk, Thailand
We are sitting in the cockpit enjoying the aftermath of a beautiful Thai sunset. The sun glows bright red as it dips below the horizon, and then the color show begins. First the sky looks painted with baby blues and pinks. A little later the pinks become reds and the baby blues turn a grayish-blue, a dusky horizon. I have one photo from last year that someone wrote to me about on the Picasa website asking if the colors were real or photo-shopped. They are real and it is beautiful.
We defrosted the freezer today and then I wrote emails while Mark launched into a number of projects on his TO DO list. Today it was plumbing chores. It was lunch time when we finished our jobs and we decided to pick up anchor and have lunch on the one-hour motor to Ko Muk. Tina and Robert were still working and said they would be along soon. Ko Kradan’s anchorage was billed as 8-10 meters in mud. I didn’t mention in yesterday’s log that it had taken us 45 minutes and three tries to get the anchor to stick in what seemed more like coral rubble than mud. Well, when we pulled up the anchor, we unfortunately pulled up a hunk of coral, albeit dead, but still, we hate that. When we reached Ko Muk, Tina and Robert called on the VHF and said that their anchor was stuck under coral and that they were going to the little resort on the opposite side of the island in search of a diver. Robert had used his hooka to go down but he couldn’t get enough air to stay more than a few seconds and he couldn’t budge the anchor. We stayed by the radio waiting to see if there was anything we could do. There are more resorts on this island, so if they didn’t find help we said we would dinghy down to the resort area and see if there was help here. Luckily another boat that was anchored a bit south of Robert heard his radio calls for help. The people aboard were from Spain and younger and quite fit. Tina said the one guy just did a free dive and in three minutes had their anchor out of the coral. I guess that is what youth can do for you.
Once Shirena arrived, we got in our dinghy and headed just a bit south to the Emerald Cave. We knew the tide was going down, so we chanced taking the dinghy in the cave. Robert got in the water and pulled us the 80 meters through to the beautiful little hong on the other side. When you emerge from the cave you see this beautiful white sand beach and towering cliffs rising to the sky all around you. The cliffs were literally dripping with greenery, thus the name Emerald. It is the prettiest hong (open area reached after going through a cave or very narrow opening) we have seen.
Tomorrow we head north about fifteen miles to Ko Lanta. According to the Lonely Planets and friends who visited there last year, there is a restaurant there with the perfect beach setting and good food. So hopefully tomorrow night we will celebrate Tina’s birthday in style.
 |
| 091209 Day 44 Thailand–Ko Muk |
 |
| 091209 Day 44 Thailand–Emerald Cave on Ko Muk |
