I Heard From A Local That You Can Wade Across The Sea To That Island...

One sunny late morning on the island of #KohSamui ( #Thailand), me and my friend took a bottle of water, a towel and our snorkling goggles, and headed off in our flip flops towards this curious looking mini-side island over there...

It was a lot further away than it looks, we had to meander around the sands that outline the island we were on. There was a particular chuck to the north that has higher sands which allows us to cross the sea. Everywhere else around here gets too deep.

This Hat Man caught my eye's amusement...

And a bit further down we met Hat & Necklace Lady, she was so happy, i wondered how long she spends out here lugging all that around trying to sell things in this ever growing heat to passers by... but still, her smile was adorable :)

And THIS! I thought was a beautiful thing to randomly stumble across...

Crab Balls!

There was a wetter section of beach we walked across that had lots of teeny tiny little crabs scuttling around, but who fled like lightning back into their teeny tiny holes as they sensed us approaching. I bent down to see if i could see them in their holes, so many crab balls! (I'm sure #DavidAttenbrough has explained what these are before but I have forgot and haven't the time to digress... but I remember thinking how cool these little guys are!)

The beach closed up to a thinner strip of sand as we approached the buldge of our island, the marker in which we knew meant we were nearly at our goal.
We passed a row of hut houses, local people fishing, some women washing clothes as their children played nearby.

And here we are, the shallows, our adventurous pathway to a paradise territory unknown...

We waded across to the mystery island. The sea between here and there was at most bum height. The sand was white and fine, easy, albeit a bit slow, to walk across. Especially because there were scattered rocks and scanty urchins lurking about.

But it was morning when we set out so we could see everything clearly. The water was warm, clear, beautiful!

It took us over 10 minutes to cross and we came up to the pebbley gradient that led up to a sandy mixed with bobbley pebbles beach.
This was our view from the other side to where we had just come from...

It was nearing midday and it was getting pretty hot, and this just made us feel more lazy and tired, keen to find a cove or secret beach, anywhere that we could access and play in the sea comfortabley.

There were a couple of goats just along the path to the right of the beach. As we sat on the sand in the sun, we watched them and wondered who they belong to, and on such a small rocky type island. To the back of the island behind us were just pure massive slabs of rock and big boulders with jaggy sheer drops, there was no way anyone would be living on that bit. But there was this little farmy grassy patch and a shed in the distance...

At this point of noting our surroundings, we picked up on a red wooden sign post on the floor ...

We decided to hurry off and out of sight in order to avoid being told off and sent back before having had a chance to explore things. We headed to the left because it looked a lot easier to navigate than the rocky right.

As we rounded the first corner, coming away from that little beach landing spot, the view, the sounds of birds, peace and quiet in the air, the water ripples lapping at the rocks, the salt in the air... my words can never do it true justice. It was like a breath of everything you always find yourself dreaming of when you get too stuck in the daily grinds of life, and you just daydream that island away from everything... Never felt so far from another human, and the surrounding sea was like this big calm moat keeping me safe from hassles and noises and busy-ness... i could imagine how explorers felt when first discovering our world.

As we walked, trees, bushes and brambley vegetation arose to the right of us

To our left, as we kept going forward and around towards to furthest point away from land on the island, the rocks had turned more slabby...

And then just ahead of this we were halted in our progress because the beach almost suddenly stops, and turns into some prickley leafy jungle patch...

We were hardly prepared for this environment, in shorts/shirt, swim wear, flip flops! I love doing things on a last minute whim but i am always totally unprepared!

ALAS!!!

At one point we started considering turning back. It was around this particular moment in time where my friend had scouted ahead to attack the log and rock hill, and a branch broke underneath him forcing him to land on his arse, gaining more skin damage.

It felt like hours had passed since we set off, we were down on our water, hot and sweaty with sore legs and scratched skin. No sign of a comfy cove, no sign of sand at all. Just rocks, wood and jungle type things.

We made it passed the stupid log of doom bit, and rounded the corner to the right... to be greeted y our next Indiana Jones type challenge... Rock Climing... In flip flops!

Fuck it! We've come this far, no matter what, we now had to reach the furthest point of this damn island, we wanted to see just how rocky the left turned, we wanted to know what the forward view of the ocean would look like... we wanted to sit down!!

We clambered awkwardly, dangerously, slipperlely, over these dumb rocks. And on the final plummet down the side of the last big boudler in sight, we saw signs of our treasure!

Water lining the rocky floor. The sea we have been looking for was here. A few more steps and [Angels starting singing] the wind hits my face, the heat from the sun drying the sweat off my skin. Oh that wind! It was so fresh, like, the most refreshing greeting to seeing the sea ever. In peace! Away from people and noise. The lapping sounds on the big slabs, those big slabs were instantly the point of our attention. We could hop over to them and put our towels down, basking happily in the sun.

Within minutes i was snorkeling around in the sea! One of the best moments of my life at that point. Not a care in the world, gawping at fish, holding my breath and diving as deep as i could into the large rock pools.
At one point i was so happy just floating on my back in the sea, I didnt realise how far I had started to drift out, when i did pay attention I noticed just how dark the sea looked now! It is so freaky swimming over dark colours, it was colder, deeper, and everything goes through your mind about what is swimming around below you.

I quickly faffed on my googgles. I figured if i can at least see what im swimming in, sand, rocks, seaweed whatever, then my imagination will stop overthinking the black doom that im currently floating over.
But as soon as I ducked under water my heart skipped several beats as I stared down at this endless deep blue drop into the abyss. The imagination of crazy things possible in this situation made my brain overload, panic, and so I doggy paddled with my head high out of the water, as quickly as i could all the way back to the warmer rock pools.

DANGER! Fishing!

My friend was feeling rather prehistoric and manly after navigating such territories and succeeding in our mission. And as we had now run out of water, and our stomachs were thinking of food, he decided to see if a fish could be caught the old fashioned way, death by blunted stick.

Meanwhile, back on realistic land, I discovered a new species in the shrubbery... (No idea how or where, all i know is that my mum later said she made those at school!)

DOOOOM, Always a DOOM

Then I heard a yell of doom, and then silence. I ran back to the fishing pool. My poor daft friend had slipped on a rock whilst trying to outwit the fish. The rock, slanted and covered in moss caused his foot to slip. He plopped quickly down to waist height in the pool, and sharply his leg scrapped down a pointed jaggered rock, gashing a triple-stripped blood trail all the way down his calf.

Time seem to speed up from this point but we seemed to take ages to get back to the crossing point.
My friend was in a lot of discomfort for the first part, rock climbing and jungles are no place for a fresh wound!
The sun was setting as we approached the final bend .

"Ahh Look, A munching goat!" (It reminded me of 2 things, #JurassicPark, and how hungry i was feeling!)

Wading Back

It seemed to take me twice as long if not longer to wade back across the sea.

Back on Samui, the land was soft and easy. The walk seemed far but pleasant and flat and samey. Our skin was free of rips and tares every other step.
"Let's Go Home"

We passed a funny cute dog. Watching it dig a pit furiously in the sand, i thought it was finding a bone or something, but nope. It just wanted to cool off. As we approached, it did a little twirl and then plonked its lump over the hole it just dug. And looked happy as larry with itself :)

There was a lovely looking couple getting married on the beach

And as we go closer to home, I saw my cute little flower girl friend who used to give me a flower every time i saw her, and i'd play connect 4 with her at the beach bar.

We Made It!

I stood with my hand held out feeling the big fat raindrops bosh refreshingly onto my skin. The only sounds were the thunder clashes and plip plops of water all around.
My friend had passed out in the living room so poured myself a whiskey and coke with ice cubes and sat out on the wicker chair on the balcony, watching the rain, feeling the cool breeze drying my hair whilst keep warm and cosy with a fluffy towel wrapped around me.

The perfect end to an amusing and adventurous good feelinged day.

My Island Art

THE END