Wundabar on the Reggae Queen!

Okay, so where to begin? I guess first I have to explain the picture of Theeya and Lorna.  Lorna (19 - from Scotland and here for six months volunteering at a school) is staying at Seaweed Hostel. Theeya and her boyfriend, Ah, (remember the guy with stars on his head?) run the cafe and manage the hostel for their friend.  They were going to a market in Bangbieng and invited Lorna  and I to go along.  Really, really good food for really cheap.  It was fun and I got back just in time to be picked up for the snorkel liveaboard.   Okay, now for the weird part.  Of all the ginjoints on all the snorkel boats in Thailand, I have ended up on an all German snorkel trip.  The head of the trip (Ralph or Rolf) is also German.  I mean really; what are the chances??  I know maybe one person who could get by in this situation (Wade).  My German Sucks!  I can't even wrap my tongue around the words.  All of that being said, they are all very nice and the trip has been great so far.  After asking me how old I was, they have told me I did a guut job on the first full snorkel day and designated me president of the trip.  (I told them I'd rather be queen.   Ha!)
We have just left the Surin Islands where the Moken picked us up in a longtail boat and took us to their village.  The Moken are another tribe that left Burma under duress and the Thai people allow them to stay on Surin. However, they leave when the rainy season begins.  On Surin we snorkeled in two locations and spotted many fish but much of the coral seemed dead.  On the island, we waded out in the mangroves and saw a lot of baby black-tipped reef sharks.  There had to be at least 30 of them and maybe more, each about 2 1/2 - 3 feet long.  Sorry you won't get to see pictures of them.  They're on my other camera.  We left Surin and headed toward Koh Tachai and on the way, came across a boatload of people from India on their way to Malaysia.  Their boat was old and run down and there were a lot of them on that boat.  The captain and staff on our boat are a Thai Muslim family and really wonderful people.  All of the sudden we turned around and the captain tossed them two bags of food.  I'm not sure why these people were fleeing India or why they are going to Malaysia, but I hope they make it.  The other thing we encountered was a pod of dolphins that followed us and swam next to us for a long time.  Snorkeling at Koh Tachai was great with lots of healthy coral.  We are moored by the island overnight and will head to Koh Bon and the Similan Islands tomorrow.  To be continued.  . .
Have left Koh Bon where we didn't see mantas but did see white-tipped reef sharks and a giant moray eel, as well as all the usual suspects, more dolphins and lots of flying fish.  It's been great.  One thing I forgot to mention is that our shoes were confiscated before we got on the boat (Thai people believe it's bad luck).  This is okay except we hiked across Koh Bon through the jungle to a scenic outlook BAREFOOT!  So far, so guht!
Made it to Similan Islands 8 and 9 and they're magnificent!  Snorkeled with a turtle and amazing numbers of fish.  There was another hike tonight to watch the sunset from atop a giant rock but I sat this one out and watched from the boat with a beer.  My feet aren't made for hiking barefoot.  Ended the night with the best dinner yet with lots of fresh fish and then we all went up on the top deck and talked, had a second beer (I think a couple of the guys were on their third or fourth) and toasted each other.  I've learned a few German phrases and have an invitation to visit Stuttgart, Frankfurt and Koln.   Today we finished with two more snorkel trips on islands six and seven.  As Karen would say "Ah supah ser guht, yah."
Off to Khao Sok jungle tomorrow.

For Dee

Donald Duck Bay