Hummingbirds can fly at 60 mph, yet the can hover with enough accuracy to thread a needle.  They can also fly backwards.  There are no hummingbirds in Southeast Asia unfortunately.  There are plenty of other beautiful nectar-eating birds such as sunbirds and spiderhunters.  These birds also spice up their meals by eating some insects and, as their name suggest, spiders.

Trang Province and Tarutao Island

We were in for a real good time right from the start.  Our long-time buddy Bill was coming over from the states with a life-long buddy of his.  In fact, Rick has known Bill since he was a few months old.  I reckon that qualifies as 'life-long'.  Simon Warren of Ultimate Asia, a newly formed trekking and general adventure company, was also on this trip.  Simon used to work for the same sea canoeing company that I did.  We both left about the same time.  Simon had organized this trip.  He called us to join him.  What a buddy!

Ko Muk is a very popular vacation spot for Thais from Trang province. During the high season, November through March, Thais frequent a very special cave called the “Emerald Cave”.  It's called this because of the color of the water just inside the cave entrance.  Hundreds of Thais swim anxiously through the cave daily.  Once through, the scene is awesome – a near pristine beach inside the island.  We saw no litter or damage whatsoever.  This is very impressive considering what other areas that receive mass tourism look like.

We prefer coming here during the low season.  If we go during the high season, we wait till no one else is there.  Going late in afternoon is usually all we need to do.  We've been here twice this low season and we've not encountered others.  It's truly magical when you've got it to yourself.  There are still orchids and other epiphytes in this lagoon.

We had hired a longtail boat (traditional Thai motorboat) to take us out to Ko Muk.  It's a short ride, but we weren't as interested in the crossing as we were in getting out there.  Our boatman told us to watch for a big turtle that hangs out around a particular point.  Well, we didn't see the turtle this time, but it was quite pleasant sitting and waiting.  We were in the shade of some towering cliffs and there were White-bellied sea eagles soaring overhead.  I'd still be there if they hadn't insisted we leave.

Our journey around the island landed us on a couple fairly nice beaches.  We ended up at a beach with some new bungalows.  The fried rice went down quickly.  It' s funny how a simple dish like that can be so good at times.  After eating, I asked around to see if anyone was interested in paddling back to the mainland.  The plan had been to take the same longtail boat back.  We had arranged for it to meet us at this point.  Rick piped up and said he'd love to join me.

Once we left Farang Beach, we had the best side of the island, the one with the high cliffs, all to ourselves.  The magical lighting of sunset on the sheer limestone cliffs is ineffable.  We  would paddle a bit, then sit in amazement.  We saw Crab-eating macaque monkeys getting their last tidbits of food before dark.  We saw Brahminy kites and White-bellied sea eagles soaring high above the cliffs in slow circles.  'Yep, this is what life is all about' I thought to myself.

We finally left the island at dark.  The paddle back was very pleasant.  The stars were sprinkled across the skies.  The rich blue bioluminescent plankton left circles of light in the water with every paddle stroke.  Looking back, there was what appeared to be lit up stepping stones in the water.  If you've got some speed up, you can put your hand in the water and leave trails of light.

There was still Tarutao waiting for us.  I had been there a few times, each time seeing something new.  This time, the treat would be brief, but well worth the trip.

Pak Bara (literally the mouth of the Bara river) is the standard pier for trips departing for Tarutao Island.  Tarutao is a marine national park.  It’s also been designated by UNESCO as an ASEAN Heritage site.  Tarutao National Park consists of 51 islands – seven big ones.  The main island features tidal rivers, primary mangrove forests, primary hardwood forests, primary nipa palm forests (this palm’s fronds are customarily used for roof thatching), and lots of wildlife.

We had to get up early to make the tidal river that Simon was leading us to.  It's a great place with a good variety of mangrove.  A freshwater creek flows into it at its upper reaches, so we saw species of mangrove from all zones – freshwater types, brackish water species, and full saltwater varieties.

Oh, that special treat I referred to earlier happened on our way to the tidal river.  We were in a huge cove.  The water was dead calm.  The skipper yelled for us to look at the dolphins on our starboard side.  Those weren't dolphins, they were dugongs!  I've seen them four times in seven years.  They’re as unmistakable as they are rare.  They are similar to the manatees of Florida (USA) which are just as endangered.

Upon coming back out of the tidal river, we opted to paddle down a wonderful coastline.  Simon paddled out to tell the escort boat captain to pick us up 'down there'.  Well, the paddle was going just fine when the escort boat came looking for us.  It seemed that the clouds in the distance were packing a punch.  The skipper had been listening to the fishing boats talking about getting pounded out at some island just north of us.  We hopped back aboard and as we were in transit to the park headquarters, where we would spend the night, the weather hit us.  It wasn't too bad, but we did the right thing by not taking a chance.

We did some paddling on the tidal river back at the park headquarters.  A huge area of mangrove exists here.  We split up to see what we could find in the many different channels.  Roy and Rick had an encounter with a crab-eating macaque monkey.  It was close enough to jump onto Roy's boat at one point.  Bill and I saw a bird or two.  I couldn't make out one bird that was deep in the mangrove.  I'd sure like to know what that was.  It sort of looked like one of the many cuckoos, but it wouldn’t sit still long enough for a positive ID.

We joined back up and headed on together.  Monkeys watched us from a high cliff.  We could see their outline against a clear sky.  Um… we watched them 'making out' too!  On our way again, we saw what Bill was after.  He just loves his reptiles, especially snakes.  A Reticulate python was coiled up on the fork of a mangrove tree right overhead.  Bill ventured directly under the snake.  He said he'd sure be happy if that snake landed in his lap.  This was a sentiment the rest of us did not share.  We all mentioned that they can still bite even if they're not poisonous.  He told us it would hurt like crazy… but, he stayed under it.  As our luck would have it, the snake ignored us after briefly giving us a quick scan.

The final day of our journey landed us on Ko Khao Yai (literally, it means island - mountain - big). Again, we had the whole place to ourselves. There was a bit of a swell coming in. The swell was hitting one side of the island pretty hard. We were being bounced around a bit and decided to not push our luck. It was pretty thrilling for the short period we were there. Some of the rocks had formed 'blow holes'. When the waves arrived, the water would shoot really high up into the sky. A weird rumbling sound preceded the water spraying. It was fascinating. There were several of places where it was doing this. The most notable was one spot where the water shot in a massive mist high into the trees. It must have generated tremendous force in order to do what it did.

We worked our way back around to the calm side of the island. We got amazingly close to a juvenile monitor lizard. The little guy must have thought that we didn't see it.

Trang and Tarutao are still not affected by mass tourism.  We just love going there.  Even in the high season, it's easy to be alone.  We've never encountered other paddlers down there.  Fishermen come around at times.  So, to get a real taste of southern Thailand, Roy and I highly recommend giving either or both of these exotic spots a try.  You'll not be disappointed.