Ban Ko Muk, Trang, Thailand
April 10, 2014
An early start to make the boat at 8:30am saw me looking like an English sweaty mess as I lugged my life on my back like a turtle and headed down to the beach to get the taxi boat out to the floating jetty to head off for Ko Mook. The boat to Koh Mook was a six-hour trip but was broken up nicely along the way by the sight of what looked like two whales launching themselves out of the water. I’m not sure what type of whales they were. The guys on the boat didn’t really speak enough English but they were at least 20ft long and made quite some noise as their massive bodies crashed back into the water. I was too much in awe and enjoying the sight to get my camera straight out so didn’t manage to snap any real decent shots of them but it was immense to see them.
After a few hours we docked somewhere on the mainland which we weren’t expecting and sat around for an hour wondering what was going on until eventually another boat docked and we were ushered onto it to sail the final stretch to Koh Mook. After a while you start to get used to not really knowing what is going on and you put your faith in the locals that they are looking after you and pointing you in the right direction. After another hour we finally approached Koh Mook and the boat slowed down enough for a taxi boat to pull alongside and for a handful of us to throw some bags aboard and hop on.
We didn’t have anywhere sorted to stay on Ko Mook but knew the island was one of the more remote islands around so when asked where we were headed we just followed our noses with the other folks on the taxi boat and went to the nearest beach in search of somewhere to stay for a few nights.
Koh Mook is very small and only really has two areas to stay in. A beach further to the East that has a few huts and one big exclusive resort and Charlie beach to the south which has a fairly pricey resort and 3 other cheap places to stay. After mooching round for 10 minutes we settled on Rubber Tree bungalows which was cheap and clean and pretty cool as it is surrounded by rubber trees that you can watch the locals farming on a morning. Once settled in and after a bit of food we crashed early ruined from our days on Koh Lipe.
The following day we headed out to do a walk around the island. I did say it was small and just fourty minutes of leisurely wandering in the heat will get you from one side of the island to the other. With our new snorkels packed we went out to see what we could find. The answer was unfortunately not a lot other than total seclusion. The beach with the fancy resort on was no good for snorkeling but we happily spent the day ambling around and enjoying the lack of other travelers and tourists.
The beaches on Koh Mook are very clean and quiet and you are lucky to pass even one motorbike as you wander down the small dirt tracks that link the various areas of the island together. Once back we checked with a few people about where to snorkel and what to do with our time there and decided to rent a kayak for the following day to go round the coast exploring the areas that you can only access via the sea. Once sorted with that we chilled out with some of the goodies we had left over from Boom Boom bar on Koh Lipe and sat back on Charlie beach with one of the best sunsets I have seen yet in Thailand. With limited electricity, as is the way on these small islands it was a chilled early night with a few smokes and a bottle of Thai whiskey along with some decent crack before we bedded down ready for the next day.
Up and out nice and early after a good nights rest we searched out the cheapest Kayak we could find from the local lads at the end of the beach and off we paddled in search of the Emerald cave and a secluded beach we were told is good for snorkeling. Neither of us are Olympic Kayak champions so the hour it took us to round the headland and find the Emerald cave was quite a challenge. We had been told the cave would be accessible all day as the tide would be low and as we went past it the hole to get through was too small to even swim through let alone Kayak so we headed on to the snorkeling area and left the cave until the return leg.
The small cove and beach we finally paddled into was amazing. Totally secluded and with crystal clear water. The beach there is only about 50 yards long and is surrounded by massive limestone cliffs all around. It’s a bit like the beach on Phi Phi from the film of the same name but smaller and much quieter. The snorkeling there is brilliant as well with a massive variety of fish to be found around the bases of the cliffs where the rocks are. There were some massive fish to see there but I’m not sure what they were.
As we came to head off after a few hours snorkeling and beach seclusion the weather and water had changed a lot and it was a bit like Benny Hill trying to paddle out of the small bay against the current and into the choppy waters of the Andaman sea. As we rounded the bay towards the Emerald cave the sea looked as though it was boiling it was very unpredictable and choppy. The cave entrance again was hard spot, masked by the lapping waves and we dared not even risk getting too close to the rocks let alone attempting to get through a small tight 80 meter long channel to the Emerald cave. With the weather closing in and darkness not long away we paddled with all our might in the vicious waters to make it back to the safety of Charlie beach.
Once back and dry and sorted the heavens opened up for the night and the small dirt tracks running dow to the beach turned into rivers and streams. It’s now low season here as the weather is changing. It’s the hottest month of the year and just entering the rainy season which in Thailand means some serious amounts of rainfall. Koh Mook is amazing for its seclusion but after snorkeling and Kayaking what we could find it was time to sort out our next move and luckily we came up with an absolute blinder. We knew we were going to head to Koh Lanta next in time for the Songkran festival but most of the boats advertised that we asked about were 1,500 Bhatt per person. That was until we stumbled across one boat advertised in a restaurant that was only 550 Bhatt each and took 6 hours to get there as it included snorkeling at several islands on the way to Lanta. Result! A third of the price of any other boat and some snorkeling spots thrown in for free. You can’t go wrong with that so the boat was booked and Lanta bound we are just in time for the Thai New Year.
