(the red arrow points to Koh Tarutao)

Christmas in the Andaman Sea

Over Christmas Break Spencer and I went to an island called Koh Tarutao with our friends Norman, Dao, Jessica, and Martin. Tarutao is a very remote, undeveloped National Park in the Andaman Sea, about 4 km north of Malaysia. There were a few park bungalows and a little park restaurant to eat at, but mostly wide open, empty beaches for camping and jungles.

Tarutao used to be a prisoner camp for Thai convicts because it was so remote and infested with crocodiles, malaria-carrying mosquitoes, and surrounded by sharks. During WWII, provisions were cut off from the mainland and the prisoners and guards turned to piracy. Until about 20 years ago, this part of the ocean was avoided by ships and feared by crew because of the fierce pirates. Things are okay now, though, and the pirates have moved on.

A few days before Christmas we camped on a deserted beach, Ao Sun, surrounded by mountains. It reminded me a bit of Waipio Valley, in Hawaii, except there were beach monkeys (crab-eating macaques) instead of wild horses. We swam and snorkeled and ate friend rice.

(Jessica and Martin's tent on the beach)

A sailboat was anchored in the bay, and we swam out for a visit. Peter, captain of the 34’ Knight of Legends, invited us aboard and we met the other crew, Rixcene and Web. Peter had sailed from the Mediterranean and now the three were spending a few months sailing and diving. They had a really great sailboat with a wind generator, solar panels, a water maker, an air compressor for diving, and a computer program with maps of all of the waterways of the world tied into GPS. Wow!

Knight of Legend website: http://knightoflegend.blogspot.com/

That night we had a big fire on the beach with Peter and Web; played guitar, passed around bottles of Thai whiskey and wine, did some midnight swimming.

(Dao, Norman, and Jessica at the beach fire)

(Norman, Spencer, Martin, and Jessica on Koh Sun)

Peter invited us aboard The Knight of Legends for a Christmas Day sail. We spent all day on the water, sailing between Koh Tarutao and Koh Lipe, eating a huge meal, steering the boat, and we all took a shot of Polish Krupnik! We also took turns being hoisted up the 60’ mast – what a view!

(on our way to Koh Lipe on Christmas Day)

(Dao and Norman and Beer Chang)

Captian Peter!

(Spenny takes a detour)

(We took turns climbing up the mast)

(A view from the top)

We stayed on Koh Lipe a few more days – did some amazing snorkeling and kayaking. The island was privately owned and had a larger tourist scene – a few bars and a handful of bungalows along the beach. Nothing close to Koh Samet, though, and still very beautiful.

(Norman finds his roots)

(long tail driver - check out that steering!)