Ko Muk

October 15th is the annual deadline from which ferries operate between various islands in the Andaman Sea. However, we wanted to travel from Ko Lanta to Ko Muk a few days earlier and therefore had to join a 4-island tour, which took us to another boat at the second stop, Ko Muk, that then transported us to the pier. Quite cumbersome, but at least we could go snorkeling with the other participants of the boat tour beforehand.

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't very conducive for diving, so we went for a hike on the island and took a kayaking trip to the Emerald Cave. The hike initially took us a few kilometers along the beach to Ao Lo Dang Beach. There, three dogs approached us, appearing somewhat unfriendly, so we postponed our swim until the next beach.

Ultimately, the three dogs followed us, and the path was so poorly maintained that we couldn't reach the other beach at all. Instead, we made a small detour to a viewpoint and returned to our accommodation, where we jumped into the pool. That was a nice refreshment!

On the kayaking tour, we set off with the kayak from our accommodation at high tide, taking about an hour to reach the Emerald Cave. There, like all the tourist boats, we tied our kayak to a buoy and then swam into the cave. I had no idea what to expect and was impressed when we reached the end of the cave. There was something like a small clearing surrounded by rocks. Truly a little paradise, if it weren't for the many tourists flowing in. Since we had come to the cave alone in the kayak, we only had to wait a bit and eventually had the clearing to ourselves. However, only for 10 minutes...

The return journey was considerably more arduous because we encountered quite strong headwinds. And then it was low tide when we returned to our accommodation after two hours of paddling. We had to carry the kayak a significant distance - poor timing! At least we could cool off in the pool again and arrange the transport to the next destination.