For the last couple of days we have been hopping between islands in Phang Nga Bay and along the West coast of Phuket.

The views are spectacular with limestone rocks bursting up out of the water and lots of ‘Hongs’ and caves to discover by dinghy.

A local long tail boat came along side us and we bought freshly caught king prawns for supper.

They were delicious marinated in lime juice, chilli and garlic and barbequed.

During the day there was a steady stream of tourist day boats that came to anchor and unloaded numerous Kayaks which they filled with holiday makers and a guide to paddle them into the Hongs. We were pleased to have some boats to follow into the dark caves, but we couldn’t keep up with them and we soon found ourselves in pitch black not knowing which way to go !

We diverted back to the boat for a torch before trying again, as we entered the cave lots of wild monkeys came bounding down the rocks to see if we had any food for them.

We paddled into the dark cave for some distance before we realised that there was no exit, we would have to turn around to head back. Katie shone the torch onto the nearby rocks to guide us and as we got deeper into the cave the light shone on the rock ceiling showing hundreds of bats hanging above us – Katie screamed and we made a hasty retreat !

Last night we anchored off a beautiful white sandy beach where we met a very big lizard which began approaching me at an alarming speed as I was taking it’s photo, so it was my turn to scream and run away.

Finally, last night we had some good news from London when Charlie rang to say he was on the 2pm flight out of Heathrow – after three days of delays and several wasted trips to the airport he should be with us around lunchtime today.

Katie was over the moon and we all celebrated by putting up the Christmas decorations and opening a bottle of bubbly.