Malaysia And Thailand, October 2009

30th October To 3rd November - Similan Islands And Khao Lak

Over the next week, we stayed on and off at the Poseidon Bungalows, run by Swedish people, while doing various trips in between. The first was a three day snorkelling trip to the Similan Islands, in the Andaman Sea. Unfortunately I don't have a waterproof case for the camera, so you'll just have to believe me when I say we swam with turtles, saw an octopus hiding in a cave, found Nemo (actually, several), got bitten by sea lice (in reality baby jellyfish), and countless types of fish including the peculiar Lionfish. Other interesting encounters were with Unicorn Fish, with their air-to-air refuelling probes (or is that my imagination?) and a sea snake spiralling back down to the bottom after breathing. I even came within six feet of a reef shark, but I didn't notice, which was a shame!

We had beautiful weather for our trip - mostly sunny, light winds, and consequently not much in the way of waves. The trip that went out after ours was in mountainous seas, everyone was sick, and they got stuck on an island and had to be rescued by the navy. Some people have all the fun!