I Never Thought That We Would Be In Phuket,

spending a whole day without seeing another tourist,

but it was going to happen today,

we were off on a cruise which I doubt many have ever been on,

we were going to visit the mangrove forests, a wildlife and bird watchers paradise, just a 45 minutes drive from Phuket Airport, notice the shallow draft of the boat, ideal for low water levels,

thanks to Gordon and his crew we were going to places that I had never even thought of visiting, Gordon's company River Rovers offers a totally unique service,

times of course very depending on the tide, an incoming one being preferable, for us our schedule was to board the boat at 11.00 in the morning the tour finishing about 7.00 in the evening,

as we arrived fresh fruit was laid out to welcome us, as well as some fried chicken,

Gordon's brochure, a bit small to see on the screen, but have a look here for contact details,

Gordon, an extremely experienced yachtsman, he has literally sailed the world and taken part in the Admirals Cup here in Phuket,

Diana relaxing at the rear of the boat,

and me near the beer chiller,

in the far distance a giant Buddha, we will be visiting this later in our stay,

although the boat is spacious it has a relatively small engine which by the way was very quiet, but powerful enough to make rapid progress across the bay,

a neat if wet way to reach the good fishing spots,

Gordon gave us a commentary on all that was happening around the bay, this boat the Polaris dropped anchor here last week but no one seems to know what it is, a training yacht perhaps?

this is the bay that many of the long tail boats that were destroyed in the tsunami in 2004 were rebuilt,

and a shrine for the many thousands of people that perished that day,

at this point Gordon came into his own, an avid bird watcher he spotted two eagles in a tree, an unusual occurrance, to my shame I have forgot what they were called! but spectacular as they slowly took flight as we approached the channel to the mangrove forest,

the mangrove forest begins,

just out of interest, the kitchen, like the rest of the boat is immaculate,

as we neared the channel locals went about their daily work,

although out to sea it was getting rougher by the hour we were in the shelter of the bay,

the channel begins,

at the mouth there are some buildings and a small village,

an unloading dock,

and safe anchorage from storms,

boats being unloaded as they arrive,

we then enter the forest, at this point the river forks, we take the right one as this is where monkeys are often found, a monkey call is employed to entice them,

we are now in the mangrove forest, all the time Gordon was telling us about the surroundings and what birds and other wild life we might expect to see,

but so far no monkeys,

eventually the passage way became so narrow we could go no further,

so it was decamp into one of the two kayaks, many thanks to Gordon and the crew for the pictures, I guess it was because I was the heaviest I got the rear of the kayak, Da and Jeff at the front,

with Diana between us, I think Mr. Gravity was a little unkind to me, my end of the Tri-yak deep in the water with the front up in the air,

then we were off,

paddles all over the place,

we did not see any monkeys, but I doubt if they could have done worse!

for one brief second it looked like we were in time, it did not last,

into the forest we went,

it was I must admit a real adventure, I had never even thought of this before, so I must say full marks to Jeff for aranging it all at such short notice,

my forward view of the forest,

the good news is that encroachment has been halted and a active program of planting is under way,

it was a thoughly catiavting experiance, one I know we will all remember for a long time to come, another piece of good news for the forest, we hardly hit any of the trees, except this one on our way back,

we then back tracked our way in and went up the left hand fork, just at the entrance of it a boat builder makes repairs,

then monkeys, Gordon mentioned that they were not on this side of the river very often, which also explained why they did not hear the call,

I wonder who taught this one to stick out his tounge?

there were about 25 in the troup,

some like this one with a bay holding on for dear life,

the boat boy took on of the kayaks over to them with some food,

the good news is that they are still a little wary, unlike some of the monkey troups out here, so no danger of being bitten,

which is good news the boat boy,

whilst some come to the kayak, others like this one wait in the trees for food to be thrown which they then catch, some must have good cordination!

then time to continue our adventure,

keeping close to the cool box I chatted with Gordon, as we made our way back to the bay,

I was once reading about fusion food, two unrelated items are brought together to make a third I think it was about, well here is a fusion boat,

take the top off of a pick up truck, nail it on to the top of the boat and you have a great shelter onboard!

looking across the bay some new houses are being built,

not quiet finished yet,

a few more locals going to work,

then lunch was served,

as you might expect all fresh that morning, the food was delicious,

we slowly made our way across the bay,

one of the many yachts out here,

there are so many deserted bays out here you are spoilt for choice over which one to land on,

although there is a building on it no one appears to live there,

so a quick look ashore,

and along the coast to our next port of call,

which was this one, whose name I have failed to remember,

Diana was fascinated by the hermit crabs on the beach,

but was wary of being bitten,

then it was off on it's travels again,

now as slow as hermit crabs are these are as fast, called ghost or wind crabs they are almost impossible to catch they are so fast,

at the rear of the bay there is a lagoon which fills up every high tide,

with even more hermit crabs in it,

mangroves slowly making up new ground,

and taking root in what seems like an impossible place to grow,

from the back of the lagoon looking towards the sea,

mangrove marches on,

the view to the next bay,

as Da strikes the pose,

I have split this post into two, the reason being when there are a large number of pictures it takes a lot longer for the blog to react, so if you want to continue just hit the label 'older posts'.