Well Cal and I had a good day today snorkeling and kayaking from Ao Nang. We went to Hong Island, and a couple of smaller islands on the way. Hong Island has a beatiful coral sand beach on one side and a mangrove-lined lagoon on the other. We kayaked around it in about 1 1/2 hours - a great memory for us both.

This is an amazing part of the world. The mainland consists of sheer cliifs that rise thousands of metres straight up. To get to Railay Beach is impossible except by boat - we stopped there first on the way to Ao Nang from Phi Phi island. We were thinking of doing a night there originally, and now having seen it I wish we had.

The snorkelling around here is on fringing coral reefs but, to be perfectly honest, it is a second best to the Great Barrier Reef. But this setting cannot be found anywhere else; cliifs plummeting straight into the sea and continuing down, apparently just as far. The main dowside for the snorkelling however is the complete lack of any fish larger than a parrot fish - no trout, emperor or cod to be seen. On the trip from Phi Phi island we passed a float literally every 100m - I have since found out that each of these marks a fish trap. Is there overfishing? It sure looks like it from what I have seen.

The whole trip from Phuket to Phi Phi then to Ao Nang was very enjoyable. I am really glad we decided to go by boat rather than overland around the Straight. Very tired however from 2 days of boating and snorkelling etc, so having done my duty and loaded the photos I think have to go to have some tea.

By the way pay particulat attention to the photo of Janie riding the elephant. She didn't like the elephant, but I think it liked her!

Cheers

Shane