Ko Muk 2 and the Emerald Cave

Caduceus
Martin and Elizabeth Bevan
Sun 3 Jan 2016 11:10

Position           07:22.51 N 099:17.18 E

Date                 1110 (UTC+7) Sunday 3 January 2016

Distance run    1.4nm over the ground

 

Wait for other boats to go and then move proved the correct tactic and we anchored in this beautiful spot which for the time we had to ourselves.

 

Tham Morokot on Ko Muk 500 metres north of the Emerald Cave and between two cliffs

 

Our new anchorage put us close to the entrance to the Emerald Cave.  The smart advice is to wait until late afternoon when the light is still good enough and the day trip boats have departed.  When we motored past in the morning there was a collection of at least 20 longtails and three large boats carrying getting on to a hundred passengers each all of whom were in the water for the experience.

 

The Emerald Cave is a swim through of some 80 to 100 metres into a landlocked hong.  Unless the tide is high you can also get a dinghy, paddling only no engines, or canoe through but what chaos that must make when the crowds are there I cannot start to imagine.  We sat it out in our magnificent bay until 1500 and then dinghied round the corner to find the last of the large boats leaving and just 4 longtails left.  One of the longtails waved and suggested that we attach ourselves to his buoy which was just outside the cave entrance.

 

Swimming though, us and thousands of fish

 

Inside the hong looking back at the entrance.  Only about 20 people in there which showed the benefit of waiting

 

Emerging from the cave back into daylight on the outside

 

When we got back we were rewarded by the sighting of this fine fellow on the beach