Now we had the freedom of our wheels and made it back alive that day we decided to venture out the next day. We made the decision to head south to the National Park (as according to the map it was one straight road) and maybe catch a taxi boat to another Island and despite our hotel owners lack of enthusiasm - "It's all right if you like that sort of thing" (said in strong, bored Aussie accent) - we set off with our map. The sometimes very hilly roads were surrounded by jungle and also quite bumpy and eventually we came to a T junction!? This made no sense as the map clearly showed one straight road!? Here we found a large sign showing a map with around 6 other travellers on scooters who'd been there for 10 mins also trying to make sense of it. Within roughly 20 seconds Jon managed to convince the whole group that we should head right and without question that's what we all did. 10 minutes down the road we passed a sign for Lanta Old Town which meant we were on the wrong side of the island completely. Hoping we wouldn't bump into the other travellers we decided to stop for a break. The little town was very traditional and pretty much one road with little souvenir/craft shops on one side and cafes overlooking the beautiful blue sea and uninhabited islands on the other. The heat was immense and even Jon who normally won't leave one shop unexplored gave up after only 6 shops. We found a lovely wooden cafe overlooking the sea and ordered some food and drinks while we looked at the map that was painted on the table and figured out where we'd gone wrong. We decided to abandon the National Park and proceed further along the road to the Sea Gypsy Village which was a settlement of locals in a village of houses on stilts by the sea. As we left the cafe we noticed a Kayak and asked if it was possible to paddle across to the nearby Island but were told the kayak was broken and you couldn't get to the Island so we carried on our journey. A few meters on we saw a huge sign advertising Kayak rental so pulled over. A very helpful and very small Thai man gave us a good price and pointed out which parts of the island were best for snorkelling so we set off down some very steep steps to the sea where the kayak was waiting. Ready for criticism on my paddling technique it was a relief to find the water completely still and calm much like Captain Anderson who wasn't shouting his usual instructions.. It only took about 10 mins to reach the beautiful, deserted tropical island and a further 10 mins to paddle round its coast to a beach with a dense jungle backdrop that made us feel we were in the show 'Lost'. We were relieved to have arrived as it was vey hot and, despite the calm water, pretty exhausting. We pulled the kayak onto the sand and tied up our bags as we'd been warned monkeys were the only inhabitants of he island.. After 10 mins of securing our belongings and changing clothes etc we searched for our snorkels and masks only to find we'd left the masks under the seat of the scooter! So Jon paddled off to retrieve them leaving me marooned on the island. After about half an hour of swimming and picture taking it occurred to me that either a) it could have all been a plan and he's left me here for good b) If something happened to him nobody would know I was here or c) if either of the above were true the only food would be fish..and with that last thought I started to swim!! Luckily at that moment a very sweaty and worn out Captain Anderson appeared in his kayak and I jumped on board for the last bit of the journey. It turned out that particular spot was not great for snorkelling so headed further round the island and found another slightly bigger beach where there was slightly more to see. When the sun was getting low we headed back to the beach where I managed to kick a very sharp, clam covered rock. There was lots of blood and a quivering bottom lip but my personal first aider got to use most of his extensive emergency kit and (with the foil blanket still safely in its wrapper) I was ready to hobble back on the boat which was when I realised I'd left my flip flops on the last beach..