Simon Mossman island hops around Phang Nga Bay.
KEY POINTS:
If it wasn't for the sea snakes, the emerald green lagoon would be worth a cool, refreshing dip.
Deep in the well of a partially hollowed-out limestone island, the glassy waters in this "hong" lie undisturbed except, perhaps, by the ripples from our inflatable sea kayak. For a few minutes, it is our private universe - save for the macaque monkeys, eyeing us suspiciously from their hidden perches around the walls.
Welcome to Panak Island and one of many such hongs (the Thai word for rooms) dotted throughout Phang Nga Bay, a marine reserve in the Andaman Sea nestled between Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi provinces in the centre of Thailand.
Historically, the limestone crags were created after the Indian subcontinent collided with continental Asia 30 million years ago.
Today, the only collisions are likely to be between competing tour company kayaks trying to squeeze in and out of the lagoons through sometimes claustrophobic cave tunnels.
Cruising in through one such tunnel, the hong opens up like something out of Jurassic Park or Tarzan, with Asian reticulated pythons dripping from the jungle canopy and who knows what other species hidden from sight.
At some point in time, the limestone roof of this huge cavernous chamber collapsed, creating the hong, the sun shining new light into a lost world. In the centre of the lagoon, a solitary mangrove rises on mangled tentacles from the water and for a few moments, it's a paradise of calm and serenity.
Suddenly, the silence is shattered by the sound of an invisible "something" crashing down through the leaves and branches 100m above. Seconds later a macaque flies 10m through the air from one vine to another before deftly landing on a rock on the waterline just metres from our kayak.
A second, older monkey appears alongside growling and obviously hungry.
"They probably don't like getting wet," I reassure my wife, who's growing mildly concerned at the proximity of the new arrivals.
"They swim between the islands in Andaman [sea]," laughs our gleeful Thai guide Mike, as the first monkey plunges into the water. "They eat crab, but also they like this food," adds the guide in the next canoe, waving a banana.
Of course, the monkey needs no further cue and carefully pinches the banana from the guide's hands.
As it turns out, the monkeys are harmless; so too the python stuck to the side of a rock wall nearby.
The reptile looks for all the world like a rubber toy snake stuck there for the benefit of us tourists.
Indeed, one bloke in the next kayak suggests just that, prompting Mike to paddle up to the wall, teasing the python gently with his oar in the hope of provoking a response.
It's all too much for my wife and the bloke's partner in the next canoe, who nervously motion our guides to move swiftly on, preferably away from the water's edge.
And so our tour continues, as we thread our way from island to island, hong to hong, from open sea into bat-infested tunnels and caves. Some are so low, with barely a metre between the ceiling and the water, that the only way in or out is to lie flat in our kayak.
More than 100 limestone islands litter Phang Nga Bay, including Koh Ping-gan - better known as James Bond Island for its exclamation mark-shaped limestone tower which starred on-screen in The Man With the Golden Gun.
While die-hard kayakers would probably relish the challenge, some of the islands are scattered too far apart for mainstream tour firms to kayak between. Instead, after visiting each sea cave, we return to the main boat to motor on deeper into the Phang Nga marine reserve.
We won't make it as far as James Bond Island today, but our itinerary does take in a remote island beach where we are dropped off for an hour of relaxing and sunbathing on the beach before being whisked back to the frivolities of Phuket.
- AAP
