Firefly - Koh Lantra and the Trang Islands

Today is Monday 21st March 2016 and this morning Firefly took us south to Hin Beawa where we had planned a swimming and lunch stop. The sea breeze has developed, earlier that it usually does and we are now sailing another 30 miles to Koh Tanga for the night. We left Koh Muk at 0800 this morning and the easterly breeze only managed to reach 6 knots so we motor sailed all of the 15 miles. Since leaving Phuket its the first time we have had to motor any significant distance and it has been useful to get the batteries and all of the portable electrical equipment on board charged up fully.

Our route south back to Malaysia has taken us to some beautiful islands that lie off the mainland coast and Koh Lantra and the Trang Islands were no exception. We sailed into the anchorage off Klong Dao Beach on Lantra just before dark and stayed there for several nights. We met up with Peter and Lynne on Sunchaser, friends from the Indonesian Rally and had an enjoyable evening catching up with them. A hot days touring the somewhat over developed island on a moped was followed by a day trip with Andaman Sea Divers to Hin Daeng and Hin Muang. These adjacent dive sites are both rock pinnacles barely protruding from the surface and a long way offshore.

After Richelieu Rock, Hin Daeng is supposedly the 2nd best dive site in Thailand and it did not disappoint. A month ago our dive trip to Richelieu had been cancelled due to rough weather and instead we had some average dives at the Surin Islands. However, the weather was kind on this occasion and the sea was calm. Muang and Daeng were both superb, clear water and spectacular underwater structures and scenery. There was limited hard coral but the colour was provided by a forest of soft corals, principally purple on Muang and red on Daeng. Considering the amount of commercial fishing in the area the marine life was also surprisingly abundant although we did not see either Mantas or Whale Sharks. Daeng is known as a place Whale Sharks visit and this is the right time of year - however the statistics do mean that chances are quite slim - the dive guide said that in 400 dive trips they had only been sited on 12 occasions.

We left Lantra yesterday morning and in a north easterly offshore breeze we managed to sail the length of the west coast and anchored at Koh Ngai, the first of the Trang Islands as the wind dropped away. After a swim and lunch the wind was back, this time a sea breeze from the west and we sailed on to Koh Muk and anchored in a bay on the east coast between 2 towering cliffs. A couple of hundred metres down the coast of the island was the 100 meter long cave that leads into the Emerald Cave, another spectacular hong. Leaving our visit as late as possible we rowed the dinghy into the cave just as 50 or more, happy Thai tourists had just swam out, all wearing lifejackets (no canoes here as in Phang Nga Bay) and were boarding their passenger boat. There were a couple of longtails there too and their passengers swam into the hong just after we arrived.

Clearly we are tourists, very privileged ones too as we are on permanent holiday! However, we do know how to behave in such an awe inspiring place - mainly by keeping quiet! Anyway, it was not long until they all left again and we had the hong to ourselves. This would be the last one we would visit so we stayed as long as possible savoring the immense height of the sides, at one point we estimated that they may be a 1000 feet (later the chart confirmed the island is 343 meters high). It was good that we left when we did as the tide had been rising while we were inside and with quite a choppy sea the exit point of the cave had become quite small. Fortunately it was just the right shape for an inflatable with an outboard and by lying on the floor we managed to squeeze through and escape intact!

Our stop at Hin Baewa earlier today was enjoyable due to a large patch of nice coral and clear water just in front of the place we anchored. Getting into the water for a swim to cool down we swam into quite a strong current and were pleasantly surprised as we came across the coral. Swimming into the current near the island (where it was less strong) and drifting back to Firefly in the deeper water was so good that we did the circuit twice, spotting a black tip shark just before finishing, only the 3rd shark we have seen in Thailand. Probably because there was just a light easterly breeze this morning, this afternoon's sea breeze came in earlier and is stronger than usual. We have up to 15 knots of breeze just abaft of the beam and are cruising along at up to 7.5 knots with just a little help from Adele, perfect!

Paul and Susie