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We took the short ferry ride to the large island of Koh Lanta. We headed 45 minutes by pick up truck down to the south, where we were sure to find less tourists. We were right, Klong Jark bay was perfect and surrounded by the lush national park. The beach was almost deserted so we relaxed here for the rest of the day whilst the sun began to set. The next day we hired a moped. The woman for some reason trusted us with her brand new one that had only done 200km. So we bought some bottled gasoline from the nearest bamboo shack and navigated north SAFELY along the coastal path winding our way around the cliff edge. We were heading to Lanta Animal Welfare, the animal rescue centre run by volunteering farangs. After playing with some of the kittens, they showed us around the complex and introduced us to some of the dogs that they were caring for and who needed a home. We then volunteered to walk 2 of the dogs, Dave and Doris along the beach. These two were rescued from a hotel owner who threatened to poison them if they weren't taken away. I can't see why they would be any trouble, they were such lovely dogs- apart from when Doris decided to poo in front of about 6 sunbathers and with no 'equipment' we were forced to just walk on! Embarrassment over, we hopped on the bike around quite a few steep bends (again very safely) to the colonial Old Town for some fresh fish and prawns. On the way back we stopped off and booked our diving for the next day with Scubafish and retreated back to Klong Jark.
The next day we did three dives at the world class sites of Hin Muang and Hin Daeang, deep pinnacles three hours offshore on Scubafish's awesome dive boat. During first dive we had to complete our Adventure Deep Dive certification meaning we can go 18 metres plus. We jumped in and the current was so strong on the way down we all had to clamber down the buoy rope with both hands for the first 15 metres. It was like being in a wind tunnel, but underwater- not particularly pleasant. We let go of the rope and continued to 28 metres down. We accessed each other for nitrogen narcosis, exchanged data on our dive computers and then we were able to enjoy the dive site. It was the best site yet, great visibility with so many schools of large fish, shrimps, a jellyfish, moray eels, giant triggerfish and to top it all off- A 4 metre wide MANTA RAY just above our heads. Whilst we flapped around becoming low on air and then holding on to a piece of dead coral to avoid the current pushing us in the wrong direction, the manta ray above was so graceful and moved so slowly. It was incredible! The next two dives contained even more fish, some so curious like the giant porcupine fish, that it would swim right next to us. We even got nipped by the tiny but beautiful cleaning fish which were part of the manta cleaning station! It had been an extremely successful diving day. Koh Lanta had been a brilliant place to come back to.
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