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After 10 relaxing days in the marina it was time to depart land life again and head to the Islands.  We began by heading further East to Ko Phanak for the night.  A good stop to jump off the back of the boat and swim again.  Juliette is unbelievably confident in the water now.  She will not hesitate to jump off the transom into the water and snorkels over the reef no problems looking for fish and shells.  Hugo too is growing in confidence.  Though not jumping off the transom on his own he loves to be held by Simonne and the two jump off together.  They both received an early Christmas present of their own flippers which they are really starting to get the hang of using.  They jet across the water together making a splash.  The water was not exceptionally clear but certainly lovely enough.  We were the only boat in the bay for the evening.  One thing to note about Thailand’s Islands is that they are made from massive cliff of limestone called ‘Karsts’.  This means that when you are enclosed in a bay one is often surrounded on three sides by towering cliffs.  Phanak was no different and the kids delighted at calling out to the cliffs to hear the echo come back.  The next morning we headed off for Ko Hong.  A heart shaped Island with a lovely white sandy beach for the kids, some reef to snorkel over.  A ‘hong’ is a Thai word describing an Island that has had the middle collapse out of it.  Thailand is littered by hongs and many are completely undetected until one goes exploring.  Typically a hong will have a cave like entrance (dark and enclosed) once through the cave the hong is then a tower of cliffs on all sides with an open top to the sky.  Some hongs are massive others not so.  Most hongs have a beach inside exposed at certain tide heights.  Ko Hong was an Island where the ‘hong’ was easily accessible.  The side of the Island had completely slipping into the sea so no cave entrance.  We took the dingy inside and it was beautiful.  Unfortunately there were about 10 other tourist boats inside also enjoying the hong.  We didn’t stay long instead opting to go the the beach on the Island outside the hong where we snorkelled and swam for ages.  The kids played on the beach and swam too.  We were the only boat at this Island for the night also – very peaceful.  In the morning we sailed to Rai lay.

The beach at Ko Hong

Laroobaa at anchor, Ko Hong