Ko Lipe - The Sun Arrives

Finally after a week of crappy weather the sun appeared full on and proper when Tuesday afternoon arrived. The seas were a little roughed up by wind but I tried snorkeling off a couple of beaches. It wasn’t good. Just a bunch of sandy coral and murky water with a few fish here and there. I did get in a good swim though and found a great section of quiet beach with white sand and a shady mix of trees. I sat awhile as my attitude adjusted to an environment that looks so much better under the sun. The water no longer looked drab. Turquoise reached out to abruptly meet a much deeper shade of blue with the horizon backed by another Island in the distance. The beach was sparsely populated with a few Europeans and one obvious American with knee length multi pocketed shorts, beer gut, and #26 Nascar hat.

Later in the day I walked around the rougher pockets of the Island and took some photos of the squalor. It doesn’t look as bad when the skies are clear. I took a photo a guy building a fire in front of his shack to cook dinner. A really great photo would have been of the entire family sitting on the front porch of their corrugated tin home but I was too embarrassed to ask. It reminded me of an early 1900’s photo of a black share cropping family in Mississippi but in a tropical setting. With so few windows and no air conditioning I wondered if they even have a fan. I assume they do. I think the section of tin homes, from what I can tell, is where the original natives live. The ones that were on the Island before it was developed for tourism.

Tuesday night I was sleeping pretty well until about 4:30 am. Around 5 am I felt an earthquake. A small one but definitely without a doubt an earthquake. I got on the internet a little later and sure enough, pretty much due west, off the tip of Indonesia, there was a 6.5 quake around 5 am. A strong quake. My first thought was Tsunami but I couldn’t find any warnings issued. Indonesia gets a lot earthquakes but very few actually trigger a Tsunami. It all has to do with geology, depth, etc.

A little later as locals started moving about I asked if anyone felt the quake. No one knew there was a quake and everyone commented they were sleeping at 5 am anyway. Around 9 am I met up with Mr Same, my snorkeling guide, I asked him if he knew about the earthquake. He didn’t know what I was talking about. I asked if there would be a Tsunami today and he said no so we went out for a great day of snorkeling.

It’s taken me a little while but I’ve kind of figured out how the Thai Island thing works. Basically, there are a bunch of Islands. Certain Islands are well set up for tourism so that’s where everyone goes. Some of the Islands like Koh Phi Phi are way over developed and appeal to young people wanting to party etc. while other Islands are a bit more low key and relatively quiet. A few of the harder to get to Islands are naturally much nicer but have limited accommodation and prices tend to be a bit upscale if not expensive. With a little research and planning you can probably find an idyllic vacation at one of those islands. Now, there are also few lesser known and harder to get Islands that are not very developed at all. Turantaro, is probably the wildest and a national park. Accommodation is offered by the park and can vary from tent camping to basic bungalows. I suspect supplies and amenities are limited as well. Also, you might have to deal with monkeys raiding your camp and so forth.

Now, there are a bunch of smaller Islands that don’t have anything except a nice beach and good places to dive and snorkel. So, the way it works is that you stay at one of the Islands set up for tourism and use it as a base. From there you book a day trip from a tour operator that seems to be on just about every corner. Whatever you want to do can be done and usually the price is very reasonable if not cheap.

Yesterday, Wednesday, I went on a guided snorkel trip with a long tail boat for the entire day. A group of seven with guide and boat driver. It cost me around $17 USD with lunch and equipment included. Ko Lipe is actually a group of Islands with everyone staying on one main Island. The other Islands are completely unspoiled aside of visiting tourists raiding certain beaches every day.

The shining sun has done wonders to turn around my initial impression. I’ve more or less switched into a vacation mode without feeling like I have to be an adventure traveler or rough it too much. In Thailand I can afford to travel at a little higher level. Since I seem to be liking Ko Lipe I’ve decided to stay put a couple of extra days at the boutique hotel.

Yesterday while snorkeling I saw lots of colorful fish, a moray eel, and a sea snake. The sea snake sort of scared me at first because I have never seen one and they are very poisonous. I swam back to the boat fairly quickly to ask about it. The guide said they are dangerous but not from a distance. The boat driver said the same and that they just like like to feed on small reef fish. Not to worry. We also visited monkey beach on an island guarded by monkeys. I don't much like monkeys. They steal your stuff and bite. 

At one spot, when I was snorkeling with the boat driver and guide, we spotted a squid. Squid are really cool to watch under water. I watched it a while then turned away only to look back again and see the boat driver sneak up to it with a knife. When he stabbed the squid it emitted a huge cloud of black ink. I was more than a little surprised. The reefs and Islands are supposed to be part of a national park. At another reef the boat driver hopped in and caught a couple of fish with a spear. Ok well, I’m sure it was all eaten by the evening but I think the locals need to be educated a bit on conservation.

For Ko Lipe the vacation season is just getting started. It looks like dry season has just arrived. The bad weather that I experienced the previous week was caused by a very slow moving low pressure system. Well, the low is on it’s way to India and appears to have developed into a cyclone. Probably the last of the season. In retrospect I kind of wish I’d spent another week in Myanmar but really it’s all good and not every day is going to be perfect. I’ve got one week left before I return home so I’m just going to enjoy it as much as I can. As always, these trips go by way too fast.