The second day of A&A in Thailand we were off on an incredible adventure with John Gray Sea Kayaking. After a recommendation from one of Debra's friends we all agreed this was something we had to experience. We're were picked up from the hotel and drove about an hour to the NW corner of Phuket. There we boarded a boat that would take us to some unpopulated limestone islands in the Adaman Sea. Everything about this day was perfect including the boat rides between the small islands, the delicious Thai food, and the cave kayaking.
We were given guides to paddle us through the small sea caves. These tunnels through the islands were beyond small and could only be entered at the low tide. Even then we had to lay completely down on the inflatable kayak and turn our heads aside as the ceiling of the caves scraped by. We were all so nervous that we would scrape our faces on the sharp barnacle covered rocks. A&A's guide Don hit his head pretty hard on the first entrance but aside from that there were no other injuries.
We spent the day exploring different caves and inlets around the islands. The guides were all so knowledgable about the environment and the animals in the area. We were able to see bats, crabs, monkeys, birds, and mudskippers. We even got off of the kayaks at one point to stand in the waist high water and smush our feet in the fine silty mud at the bottom. At the end of the day we also had about an hour to kayak ourselves to a remote beach that was made up of thousands of seashells. We wandered back and forth looking for the perfect shells.
All of listening intently as Don told us that the silt was bat poop! Turns out he was just messing with us...
Feeling the shallow silty bottom
Monkey spotting on the edge of the island
Back on the big boat our guides helped us create bamboo krathongs. These are beautiful floating lanterns that have incense, candles, marigolds, orchids and other plants. Each pair on the boat had a different krathong which made the experience even more special. After watching a gorgeous sunset we paddled into a cave to light and release the krathongs. It was beautiful sight seeing the krathongs floating and illuminating the pitch black cave. The guides then had us make a wish and blow out the candles.
A&A's beautiful krathong
Blowing out our candles and making a wish
Ours on the left and A&A's on the right
We drifted over to a darker part of the cave and the guides showed us that if we dragged our hands through the water we could see bioluminescence plankton! It was beautiful to see the water light up as you ran your hands or feet through the water. We splashed water on the rocks as well to see the specks glow. Our guides were very dedicated to our experience and would yell and scold anyone who turned lights on and blocked the bioluminescence glow. The perfect day ended with a beautiful star lit cruise back to the mainland.
