Most of our meals were at the FlameTree Restaurant right on the beach. Breakfast usually consisted of an iced coffee, a coconut shake, and a banana roti.
This was the house that 4 of us stayed in. Karen & Rick had the main bedroom and Sue and I each had our own bedroom. Sue\’s bedroom in the back right and mine in the back left.
A view towards the front of the house from my bedroom.
Shoes off and rinse your feet.
In the jungle but only steps from the beach.
Morning shooting lesson with MeRa.
Longboat love.
This is how stuff gets on the island. One load at a time.
We had our afternoon free so I floated in the sea with some of the gang.
Around 3 pm we hiked over to another beach for time lapse photography. I need to get some software to put the time lapse together but will share these in the meantime. This beach has food boats. Coconut Shakes!
As the sun went down we positioned ourselves for the sunset and some long exposure photography. Here\’s our crew shooting Brian in the water.
We woke up in our beautiful Thai house in a jungle at the beach. It\’s going to be a good day in Thailand.
A walk down the beach to get our iced coffee and roti breakfast. Just amazing.
Another day another longboat.
MeRa took us for a walk/tour around the little town. We found these langer monkeys hanging out in the trees.
And a Water Monitor making it\’s way accross the sidewalk. It\’s related to the kimono dragon.
We made our way to another beach which was stunning.
We will be back to photograph this beach tomorrow.
These are the naughty Macaque monkeys. MeRa didn\’t like us being this close because they are known for being not so nice and stealing phones and cameras.
We had most of the day free and I spent it floating in the ocean. Around 3 pm we hopped in a longboat to catch a ride to a Chinese Junk boat. We were going on a fun snorkel/dinner/sunset trip out to the outer islands.
Our first destination. Here\’s Blaze jumping off the top of the boat.
And yours truly, as captured by the captain on his GoPro.
I went out for a snorkel. It was ok, not great. I wasn\’t so happy these fisherman wanted to fish in our snorkeling spot. You can see our boat with the red sails in the background.
Chicken Island.
The crew on this boat were all pirates. But they were the friendliest pirates you\’ve ever met. I got that shirt for Don.
Charla (or Charlotte) was born and raised in Italy and was a journalist in her country before she started traveling the world. She speaks 5 languages and is smart and funny and sharp as a tack. And she loves her sugar glider.
Teresa was so fun and funny!
Fun was had by all.
Drinking Rum before 10 am makes you a pirate not an alcoholic!
I was working on getting the shot above with Charla when MeRa came over. She knows how to work the light and taught me how to capture this amazing shot of her.
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Beautiful Golden Light out on the Andaman Sea.
Me in the water shooting Sue shooting the sunset.
I knew it was going to be another amazing day.
We had dinner on the boat as the sun set. We made 3 stops today and have one more to go. Before we got to shore we stopped in a spot to do a night swim with the bioluminescent algae. I don\’t love the night swims but I had to check it out. When you jump in and start moving your hands underwater it looks like little sparks in the water. Very cool!
This morning we woke up to all the sounds of the jungle. The gibbon monkey has a unique whoop sound that we heard off in the distance. They would call back and forth to each other. The gibbon is also called the white ghost because you rarely see it.
Today we are leaving Khoa Sok Park but not before we have some fun.
The funny thing about being on the water is that is really carries sound. I was sitting outside my bungalow at the end and heard MeRa talking on the dock. She said something like…the light is gorgeous right now, let\’s capture it before it changes. So I grabbed my camera and off I went.
When MeRa says SHOOT, we shoot! And she was so right about the light. She has such an amazing eye for beautiful light and composition. I was awed and inspired by her talent.
Capturing the ladies capturing the light. Notice the flying drone on the left side of this picture. Brian did some pretty cool drone videos on our trip.
Here is MeRa\’s InstaGram post from the mornings shoot.
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Then it was time for our adventure. Even though we are in the middle of the lake in the middle of the jungle, we took a longboard to a trailhead for a little hike and swim. As we approached, another boat appeared in this sunshower of light. Amazing!
Then we were off. We hiked about 2 miles up and over the mountain. All my hiking in California made this a piece of cake.
Typical scene. It\’s so awesome hanging out with other obsessed photographers. I was definitely with my tribe. No judging here!
There is a tiny village on this lagoon in the middle of nowhere. We are getting on those bamboo rafts.
Even in the middle of nowhere, boys need their video games.
As we approached the edge of the lake to dock, our guide had us all sit as it might be a bumpy stop. Seriously it was a gentle glide to the edge. An air force landing.
Our destination was this cave that had only been discovered about 20 years ago. And the cave was huge.
Our guide Tic. We hoped his wife\’s name was Toc but it wasn\’t.
Looking up at the scallop shell like formations.
This is a really amazing formation that looks like elephants.
Then off we went again. Our plan was to get out to the middle of the lagoon and jump in for a swim. The guides thought we were crazy because generally thai people can\’t swim.
But we did it! Here\’s Karen taking the jump. Her husband Rick said that Karen would never do something like that with him but with us she was having alot of firsts. And her lipstick was perfect! Karen was all sorts of awesome!
Our guides looking at the crazy Americans.
Serenity now.
Then it was back to the dock for a hike back through the jungle. On our hike our guide pointed out elephant tracks and you could see where the foliage was just flattened. Amazing to think that wild elephants roam in that jungle. We also saw tarantulas hiding out in their holes. We heard the gibbons. It was a pretty remarkable hike.
Back to our longboard to a lift to our bungalow.
Each longboard is decorated. Love this.
Then it was time to leave Khoa Sok. We were here about 24 hours and it was just about right. Such a hidden gem.
The boys snoozing on our luggage at the front of the boat.
Before we left on our hike this morning, the guide told us to spray bug spray all over our feet and shoes because of leeches. We sprayed and then sprayed again after swimming. As we left Khoa Sok I noticed a couple of blood drops on the top of my foot. I figured leeches but no big deal. Then I took off my shoe and my heal was dripping in blood and the leech was on the bottom of the boat. And then Karen checked her feet and she was bleeding too. We were attacked by leeches! A funny moment to remember that was remedied with an antiseptic wipe and a bandaid.
So we took our longboat back to the pier on the \”mainland\” and jumped in a van and drove to Krabi. Once in Krabi we jumped in another longboat for our final destination.
Our longboard parked off the beach and we wet-footed it in as the guys carried in our luggage.
Luggage service in Thailand.
Pure happines.
MeRa and Brian kept trying to get us to leave the beach to check in to our houses but we didn\’t want to leave. So happy we have 3 nights here.
The White House 