We left the anchorage at Ko Mak, with a plan to sail our catamaran Ar Marg to Ko Kood, but there was no wind so we motored across to the eastern coast of nearby Ko Rang for lunch.
Like many others, this island is a National Park, but when we picked up a mooring near to the long floating pier, it seemed to be closed for business. We dropped over the side for a snorkel, and found ourselves swimming over similar smashed reef fragments to those at Ko Mak. Most of the creatures here were still embedded in the tumbled rock; parrot fish nibbled their way around cavities containing giant clams, staring with startling blue eyes out from their mantles. A myriad of small reef fish swam around enormous black spiny urchins with glowing white eye-spots.
After a good swim around the deserted reef (and tiring ourselves out trying to recover a lost pair of goggles), we returned to Ar Marg. Dropping the mooring and motoring around the corner of the island, we found ourselves in an area packed with tourist boats and little cordoned-off snorkelling areas.
Picking up a free mooring, we considered the scene. Huge multi-level wooden boats were shuttling in and out, crew-members diving off and swimming lines to shore, while gaggles of tourists in brightly-coloured life-jackets bobbed around the hulls. Whistles blew to summon each pack back aboard to move on to the next carefully marked site.
We had got the impression from the literature that there was a restaurant ashore, but this was patently not the case, so we left our tender on its davits and Vananh made lunch, a spectacular stir-fry of pork and mushrooms with quail’s and hen’s eggs.
Our next destination was Ko Kood, one of the larger islands in the chain, and the southernmost point of this archipelago. It was some hours away, so we were delighted when the wind picked up and we could hoist sail. This was the first time that we had had a decent breeze, so we could finally get acquainted with the way Ar Marg handled. There seemed to be a lot of weather helm in 18 knots of wind, so we put a reef in, and then had a good beam reach breezing along at 6 knots in the sunshine. One amusing feature of this enormous boat is that the lines drop a long, long way down from the bridge into the saloon, after tailing off the winch.
Once we’d completed our passage, David and I had a bit of fun tacking our way down the west coast of the island, finally dropping anchor off a beach on what appeared to be a sandy bottom. We tried a few times, but the anchor just wouldn’t set. This particular anchor does have an unusually blunt nose, almost as if somebody has deliberately ground it off, and it just skittered around on the hard-packed bottom instead of digging in.
The wind had dropped, and the forecast was for dead calm, so we paid out some chain and decided that she’d be OK for the night.
KLoNG Mad Village
Dusk fell as we took the tender ashore. We were heading for a local attraction, Klong Mad fisherman’s village, so we chugged slowly alongside the beach, bumping in the shallows, sitting on the bow to keep the propeller off the bottom, until we reached the narrow creek leading inland.
The village is built on stilts and the tide was very low. The local boats were all resting on the bottom as we carefully made our way past and attempted to enter the central basin. A couple of locals good-naturedly warned us off going any deeper in, so we pulled the tender up on a spit of sand next to some fishing nets.
Klong Mad, one of several genuine working villages around Ko Kood, is really beautiful, family homes and businesses built on stilts with their boats tied up alongside.
We spent some time wandering the piers and canals, noting a couple of darkened hostels and home-stays, and some enterprising locals barbecuing fresh fish, but no open bars or restaurants.
After a pleasant walk up the hill away from the creek, we discovered the Suanya Resort which had an open restaurant. The staff gave us a warm welcome, and soon we were tucking in to yet another amazing seafood meal. The restaurants on this trip have all been incredible.
We stayed until the staff were sweeping up around us, and then walked back down to Klong Mad village to see what nightlife we could find.
Vananh got chatting to one of the fish vendors, who had a cousin with a taxi, and he took us to the ‘Paradise Resort’ around the corner of the headland. This turned out to be a bit of a misnomer, but they had tables under the stars and a band playing classic covers, so we sat down for a drink.
The staff took our order and then, unusually for this part of the world, forgot all about us. It took us a little while to realise, as we chatted and listened to the band, that our drinks weren’t coming. Eventually we tracked down somebody who knew about the order, but when it finally arrived the drinks were incorrect and badly made.
We had by now spotted a tiny beach bar where nobody seemed to be having any trouble at all, so we moved over to sit there instead.
The bar staff were knowledgeable and friendly, and we had a few pleasant nightcaps before asking the resort to organise a taxi back to the village, and to our waiting dinghy.