Koh Adang: Snorkel and Jungle Walks

Nov 28, 2022 - Monday

First morning on Koh Adang and its a beautiful sunny morning. It's nice to be away from the crowds and on the quiet island. We headed out early for a snorkel along the beach of the National Park just west of the resort. We signed out a kayak, hopped in and started paddling. Not an easy journey, the two person kayaks weren't easy to manage in the head on wind and waves. We found taking turns to paddle and staying as close to shore as the shallow reef allowed us a slow but steady progress forward. The kayak did steer much at all, getting caught in the waves and kicked this way and that, our progress would look like a zigzagging line. Finally we landed on the beach and walked around the point and to the snorkel zone around the east side of the point. We planned to start at the far off spot and snorkel back to the kayak. There was a designated swimming zone where we went in and an amazing coral reef that we could easily cruise along. Lots of fish, eels and corals along kept us well entertained. We kept going after the reef ended and Graham spotted a big barracuda in the distance. We went around the point trying to find more reef we knew was out there but mostly just sand and little bits of coral. Still fun to spot the small out crops, it makes you really zone in on a small spot rather then just crossing along a massive coral shelf. I always try to swim in a circle around it, checking out all the little fish gliding along the top of the reef and hiding within. 

At least the paddle back to the resort was with the waves and wind, we still took turns and the kayak didn't steer well going with the waves either but we just slowly went along and once we reached the beach, got out and floated the kayak back to the front of the resort rather then paddle. Time for a little siesta/read by the pool then a tasty lunch. We kept the afternoon pretty chill but did book a scuba trip off of Koh Lipe tomorrow. All rested up, cooled down and hydrated we set off on a hike. The plan was to go up to the cliff viewpoint for sunset but we very quickly realized the jungle hike wasn't very fast and it was very hot and humid out, we didn't want to be walking back in the dark in the jungle! The jungle path followed the shore line, similar to hiking from the cabin to fords cove. Up the hill a bit, back down, never too far away from the lightly crashing waves on the shore. The slowest part was being on high alert for snakes and critter we didn't want to step on. We saw one little snake the night we arrived and ventured into the jungle a bit and weren't keen to meet its larger friends. We carefully stepped over logs and gave some snake like vines and double take, no scary friends met along the way though. Only a few lizards making noises or darting through the bush that raised the heart rate a bit. We followed the trail along until it reached the same park we snorkelled at earlier in the day. This time we went out to the point, flew the drone and got a couple pictures. We met a friendly dog and provided some much liked belly rubs. Graham discovered the drone works as a great fan for cooling the hot hiker. The sun was getting lower in the sky so we set off back to the resort before it got dark. About an hour before sunset there a cricket type insect (we think) that starts its nightly song. Its a loud and constant whistle and while it was interesting last in the resort, it was a deafening surround sound in the jungle on the way back. We had to raise our voice to hear each other. We hiked back to the resort in time for a pool side gin & tonic to watch the sun going down. 

Not much else to report for the evening other then big meal, light on the drinks since we would be diving tomorrow and early to bed.