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| Snorkeling at a
remote island |
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Ao Yon is a beautiful beach in the classic vein. Nodding palms,
soothing waves and a gentle cant in the sand down to the sea, it
has a lot of things going for it so it's no wonder that a lot of
expat foreigners have chosen to live here. We're tempted to try
the water right away but after fitting us out with a snorkel, mask
and fins Jack, our guide, tells us it's time to go so into the speedboat
we clamber.
It's great to see Phuket from outside looking in and pretty soon
we're zooming past the Evason Resort at the bottom end of the island;
it looks like a Greek resort, with its white buildings nestled into
the hillside. We head directly for the east side of Racha Island
where I snorkeled last year and before we know it we're bobbing
in a sea more translucent than I've ever seen before, surrounded
by hundreds of colourful fish just a few feet above very healthy
coral.
Suzie's lapping this up and I'm happy to share this beautiful spot
with her. She can't stop smiling and I know she's taking mental
photos so she can keep them in her head. She's good at that. Later
on we're taken to a lovely sandy spot where Jack prepares a low
table for us.
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| Romantic lunch on
a quiet beach |
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You can't get much more romantic than this. We're sat beachside
with a beautiful bouquet of flowers on the table, lunching on chilled
pasta salad with fresh vegetables, cold cuts, fresh garden salad
and baguettes with butter and cheese with fresh fruit and along
comes a bottle of wine! After lunch we simply sit together in the
shade and take this wonderful spot in. We can see boats passing
a short distance away but apart from that nothing disturbs our sense
of perfect, serene contentment. How come we don't do this more often?
Still, after an hour we decide to do a little more snorkeling but
end up fooling around in the shallows for a while. "Would you
like to try another beach?" Jack asks and we certainly do,
so the speedboat heads a little around the corner and there waits
another perfect little spot to frolic with the fishies. We're lucky
because this one's a little shadier and Suzie was starting to worry
about getting too much sun.
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| An ocean for two
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Mask down in the water, lazily flapping our fins, we find ourselves
in the company of parrot fish, banner fish, cleaner wrasse, sergeant
majors, clown fish and a whole lot more that I don't know the names
of. At around a quarter to four we board our boat again and head
back to Ao Yon where we get cleaned up.
We're both quiet and don't have a lot to say; I guess that will
come over dinner. It's been quite a day and we both feel sorry to
say goodbye to Jack and the crew once back in Ao Yon. Still, we're
back at the hotel by five o'clock and there's time to do a little
shopping before dinnertime. But I don't think we'll be having fish
for dinner…
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