Missing Breakfast
We woke up early for a scheduled kayak trip to Emerald Cave. We had to head out before breakfast, much to the kids’ (and my) dismay. Dale had arranged for a Koh Mook taxi to take us to Charlie Beach at 6:30, before taxis are running. When we got to the taxi station our driver wasn’t there, but Mr. Ott, our longtail boat driver, was. It was his day off from captaining a longtail and so he was driving a taxi instead.
Back to Charlie Beach
There was a local renting Kayaks on Charlie Beach that speaks decent English. We set off in two doubles and a single Kayak. It’s about a 40 minute paddle to the cave from Charlie Beach. If you get there before 8:30 or so the National Park people are not there to charge an entrance fee. Also, the earlier you go the calmer the water will be. It did take us the quoted 40 minutes, but that wasn’t without struggle. The single kayak Dale was in had the roller ‘thingy’ left in that back that is supposed to be there for pulling it across land, but removed before it is put in the water. It took everything Dale had to make it there. The roller added a huge amount of drag to the kayak.
Emerald Cave, Koh Mook
We were also send with head lamps for once you enter the cave. It is truly pitch black for a bit of the trip through. Then out of nowhere the cave Y’s. The left side of the Y dead ends after about 50 yards, while the right side opens into an oasis that seems impossible to be real. White sand beach, surrounded on all sides by vertical cliff face that is covered in foliage. It’s a magical place. How it was ever discovered in the first place is beyond me, but it seems like the perfect place for a pirate to hide his booty!
There were a couple people that had arrived ahead of us in kayaks and a few that arrived before we headed out. After the National Park service arrives they will not allow kayaks through and the throngs of boats and tourists will be so abundant that there will be a human train of people all the way through the cave. It will mostly be the Chinese that show up in huge double decker tour boats, but there will be smaller groups of people arriving by longtail boats as well.
Brunch
Once we returned to Charlie Beach we spent some time checking out the tide pools and playing in the water, then headed down the beach and up the cliff side to eat brunch. The steps to make it to the restaurant were treacherous, but the view from the top was breathtaking. It doesn’t get much better.
The food was dirt cheap – like it is in most places on the island. I think my bbq Chicken was about $2.75. We pretty much ordered a buffet and all ate a little bit of this and that. It cost about $20 to feed the five of us.
The Weather
The thunderstorms that had been in the forecast never showed up. Instead it was the calmest day we had seen yet. The ocean off our bungalow was almost like glass. It was gorgeous. But that still water also meant still air. It was super hot and without any air movement it was pretty staggering. We ended up retreating to our bungalows for a couple of hours to wait for the heat to dissipate.
Dinner in the Village, Koh Mook
We decided to skip the Italian fare being offered at our resort for dinner and walked into town to see what options were available. There were a few offering fresh caught seafood, cooked on an open grill in front of you. We gave one a try that was located right on the corner of the main intersection of the village. Since the tables (the whole ‘restaurant’) are outside it made for good people watching too.
Dale ordered a kilo of tiger prawn, which was about 20 huge prawns, and two mackerel steaks. Kadie ordered a whole crab, which was cooked whole and delivered to the table whole… it had not been cleaned. Her response as it was opened for her was ‘that’s disgusting!’ It was very entertaining to watch her face and response to the whole experience. Well worth the $6 that the crab cost. The tiger prawns were about $45, but they pretty much fed us all.
We returned to our resort after dinner and called it a night. We had big plans for the next day. Stay tuned to hear about that great adventure!
