12 January Ko Kradan
14km
Before loading up our gear on the kayaks, we
paddled 2 kilometers farther along the coast to Emerald (Morakot) Cave, a famous
sight in the Trang Islands that can get swamped by tour groups. The water-filled
cave—dark in the middle—leads from the sea to a lagoon, beach, and jungle
vegetation in a “lost world” enclosed by sheer limestone cliffs. Our early
arrival meant that just a small number of other visitors had come. By going at
low tide we had plenty of headroom kayaking in the cave, but the lagoon just
barely extended into the lost world. The cave journey for us went very quickly
on a kayak. Most visitors arrive on boats, tie themselves together and swim in, which
is a big adventure for them. The cave entrance at the sea lay in dark shade in the
morning, so we didn’t see the pretty colors of sunlit water.
Day 5: Ko
Muk to Ko Kradan
We ready our three
kayaks for the trip to Emerald Cave, just around the the headland.
We pass this
strange rock feature.
Low tide makes
entry easy.
Inside the short cave
We reach the lost
world.
Our
group finds each other in the lost world.
Sheer limestone
walls enclose us.
Areeya and Chris
emerge from the cave.
Back at the
resort we had breakfast, then loaded up for the 6-kilometer crossing to Ko
Kradan, an island just 4-kilometers long and as little as a few hundred meters wide. It
lacks a road and 90% of the island is part of Hat Chao Mai National Park. Most
of the people here work at the resorts, all of which are on the island’s east
side. We stopped at the first beach on the east coast on Ko Kradan, where Chris
suggested we practice getting on and off the loaded kayaks while in the water.
We will need this skill for upcoming snorkeling sites that lack a shore or pier.
This took me a little practice, and I found it easiest to propel myself up on
the kayak while kicking with fins, turn over in the seat, then rotate my feet
around to the front. We snorkeled around the sparse corals in the shallows
awhile, then got in the kayaks and headed to a better spot half way down the
side of Ko Kradan. Here the best corals lay near a short drop-off well offshore.
We saw lots of corals, fish, and other sea life including anemones and their
resident clownfish, best known as “Nemos” after the character of the 2003
animated film Finding Nemo.
The view of Ko
Kradan from our guesthouse on Ko Muk.
Areeya and Chris on
the crossing to Ko Kradan
Areeya,
mirrored by the surface, enjoys a snorkel. (photo by Chris)
A beach runs along much of the east side of
Ko Kradan, and we continued south to near its end and pulled in at the rustic
bungalows of Ao Nieang Beach Resort. I went out for snorkeling here, finding it
very good and similar to our last stop where the best coral and fish lay along a
modest dropoff. A late lunch of fried rice and egg filled me up, then I had a
light dinner of French fries and boiled noodles. In the evening most of the
group made a jungle hike across the island to Sunset Beach, a place we would by
kayaking past tomorrow.