Graptolite - Another Shrimp on the Barbie

Graptolite's Sailing Log
Martyn Pickup & Heike Richter
Mon 5 Jan 2009 14:35
08:04.60N 098:40.81E Ko Hong, Phang Nga Bay, Thailand

For the past couple of days we've been cruising around Phang Nga Bay. I
don't know how I've reached such a ripe old age without being here before.

The sea is a bit silty in the northern part of the bay where some big rivers
enter and here the sea is a jade green. There are hundreds of small islands
scattered about. A typical one rises vertically from the sea for about 50-60
metres, there are plants growing out of every crevice and on the top and the
bases are often undercut by the sea giving the impression that they are
floating around. Down the sides of these (Permian) limestone cliffs are huge
stalactites that drip off the bases where they overhang over soft white sand
beaches. You will have seen some of these islands already as they feature in
films like 'The Man with the Golden Gun' and the 'Beach' but it's not the
same as clambering over them.

The oddest thing about some of these islands is the 'hong' (Thai for room).
Sometimes through a narrow cleft that you can dinghy into, or sometimes
crawling through a tiny cave, you enter into a vast space of lost world in
the inside of the island that is open to the sky and completely enclosed
with big vertical limestone walls with a lagoon or mangrove for a floor.

Dinner tonight was a pile of big shrimp bought from a passing fishing boat
this morning. As we must have overpaid they threw in a whelk-like creature
the size of a small melon that Bonnie turned into chowder. They also threw
in a small crab but it was a bit too snappy to bother with so we let it go.

M