The one we were able to see at high tide this morning, though, was a cutout cove surrounded in the same limestone cliffs and lush vegetation, but with a sandy white beach to one side. It was actually breathtaking, it was so beautiful.
The Thai translation of the word “hong” is “room”, but the naturally created “hongs” are described as “a secret, hidden garden, with a beautiful and peculiar landscape to explore; a sanctuary within the limestone karst islands of the Andaman Sea” and that is exactly what we had the good fortune of enjoying today.
Geological, however, they are sinkholes within the rugged karst cliffs, which create a unique lagoon, that can be up to 300 metres in diameter, supporting a unique and thriving ecosystem, as the lush vegetation gets plenty of rain and sunlight through the open “roof”, which in turn supports monkeys, birds, insects, lizards and snakes, while crabs and fish thrive in the lagoon. Unfortunately, these are also known collection locations for bird’s nests.
However, it’s not only the “hongs” that provide the spectacular scenery of this area. It’s the myriad of “toothy karst peaks”, providing the most striking and interesting rock formations, together with the colourful, dense jungle in which they are clad, rising dramatically out of the sea, the latter varying in colour from a deep jade to shades of blues and turquoise, as well as the unusual bird life we’ve seen. There was also, however, a rather odd, if not creepy, setup we saw in one of the caves and decided not to linger.
In between our dinghy excursions, it was baking day on Paw Paw, which resulted in a loaf of bread for Roy and a gluten-free banana loaf to share. This afternoon we also enjoyed a lovely long walk on one of the nearby beaches and we swam of the back of Paw Paw; twice today!
We were definitely immersing ourselves back into our sailing lifestyle, but, as Roy rightly pointed out, it was: “a pity we’re having to enjoy it in isolation”!
