Given that we had a very early night last night, we were both awake with the birds this morning, although we did have a somewhat “rocky” night. It was only after we’d had breakfast and set off on our first dinghy excursion of the day that we realised just how lumpy it was beyond the protection of our anchorage with a rather large northeasterly swell running. Nothing was going to deter us, though, as we headed to our destination; Koh Phang Kan, also known as James Bond Island, after the movie “The Man with the Golden Gun” was filmed here in 1974, starting Roger Moore and Britt Ekland.

With neither of us knowing what to expect, we were pleasantly surprised; the island was gorgeous and we had it all to ourselves, with the exception of the two friendly Park Rangers. Sheer bliss!

Once we’d beached the dinghy on a bed of broken shells, we took our time meandering around the island, discovering, amongst other things, that the infrastructure had recently been refurbished and what a great job they’d done.

Besides some excitement around the snake we stumbled across, it was, however, the natural beauty and the rock formations that captured us, including the “centrepiece”, Khao-Phing Kan, formed from a crack and rock slide, coming to rest in its leaning position. The myriad of caves were just as fascinating though. We trust the photographs tell the story!

By 1000 we were back onboard and had weighed anchor; destination Koh Hong less than an hour away and by 1050 we were securely anchored again.

After a morning coffee, we hopped back in the dinghy and headed off on our second excursion of the day; to find another one of the “Secret Gardens”, known as a “Hong”. Although we’ve been inside a few others during our time in Thailand, this one was stunning, not to mention, the fun we had of paddling through the opening at low tide which opened up into a large lagoon, much larger than we had expected or seen before.

As we paddled the dinghy from one “chamber” to the next, we were in awe of the beauty; the jade water against the multi-coloured karst limestone cliffs, the bird life, including soaring sea eagles and cranes, as well as all the nooks and crannies with amazing rock formations, all made for another wonderful adventure, far exceeding our expectations and, once again, having the garden all to ourselves!

Fighting the wind and currents as we paddled furiously through one of the exits, giving us both a good workout, we then enjoyed a slow dinghy drift back to Paw Paw.

With a few tourist boats arriving by then and bouncing us around in their wake, we decided to move on to our chosen anchorage for the night; the west side of Koh Phanak. However, once we were settled, due to our early start and all the excitement of the day, after lunch, we both needed a nap.

It was, unfortunately, the storm, bringing strong winds and torrential rain which passed over us just as we finished our barbecue dinner, that added some unpleasantness to an otherwise spectacular day!