We then headed and arrived at another island complex but this time we pulled along side a larger pontoon and was told to make sure that we had waterproof containers for our camera's etc (thank god for my brilliant waterproof dry fit bags) so we all went onto the jetty not not quite knowing what to expect.
We soon saw multitude of manned canoes waiting to pick us up in pairs, I thought that it was just to get us over to the island "No" it was for a major canoe tour of the islands exploring multitude of caves that opened up into hidden chambers and fantastic mangrove forests which turned out to be truly amazing with it's mud skippers and the occasional site of an eagle - truly with nature, with the added bonus that in one of these caverns our paddler suddenly stood up (most perturbing) and started giving me a back message and keep on saying in a really broken English "you are VIP" but clare when she got the gist of what was happening was miffed that she was missing out
Then the sky's truly opened up to bless us with our first experience of a monsoon that came down in sheets but extremely warm to the point that I actually enjoyed it (little concerned that I had a £1200 camera in a bag slushing around in a canoe that was quickly filling with water)
After a while I didn't really care but just enjoying the whole silly thing which ended up with our canoe racing two other canoes(with some mad Russians on board ) back to the pontoon, they cheated by appearing like a Viking long sheep with their hands being used like oars.
Soaked but happy we set off for lunch on a floating island (see photograph) This is a remarkable village, the whole of it built out over water on stilts and with a giant rock monolith guarding its rear. Their must of been 20 tables in each hut running along the water front one of which we were offered a seats around one which we shared with the Russian family. We looked down at a huge fresh fish sitting in the middle of the table looking at us and each of us had a plate of hot rice which was supplemented by a number of plates of vegetables, I got stuck in and it was so tasty and warm - clare stuck to her crisps and coke.
After an hour we headed back to the main land and the hotel. Great day!!