[Railay,Thailand] We were both looking forward to the half day, 4 island snorkelling tour we had booked. We got to the tour operators office early and it was still all shut up. Odd. We had breakfast and then at the designated time we moseyed on over to the office again. Still all shuttered up. There was a young French girl hanging around outside that we initally assumed was another tourist waiting but, who as it turned out to be, was our snorkelling ‘guide’. I use the term guide here in the loosest form as she turned out to be utterly useless. Gina informed us there was a problem with the big boat and we would be using a longtail instead. We were also the only two people on the tour today. No problem for us though, we were just hoping the grey rain clouds would wait till after we were done snorkelling.

We hopped on the longtail along with Gina, our boat driver and a seriously gap toothed boat drivers buddy, declined the offer of a beer from gap tooth and made our way out to the islands. About 20 minutes in we pulled into a beach. Our guide did not know what was going on and initially seemed to think that this was where we were going to go snorkelling. Turned out, boat driver and buddy had forgot the snorkelling gear and had pulled into a mates spot to borrow some. We got going again and shortly thereafter anchored at what looked like a nice deep rocky spot next to a pinacle of rock in the middle of the sea. Unfortunately our borrowed snorkelling gear turned out to be complete rubbish. Sims snorkel leaked and the strap on my mask didn’t tighten which made it unusable.

We pfaffed around trying to fix them ourselves. Gina and the crew showing no interest whatsoever. We eventually gave up after receiving no help and told them the gear was unusable. We were both really miffed. So they steered us over to another island, where another tour operator was doing a deep water soloing tour, to borrow some gear off of them. Then instead of going back to our starting point, they just motored on over to the second snorkel spot (round the back of chicken island)!

There were loads of these little black and yellowy green striped fish where we got in. Sim had thoughtfully bought some biscuits with him and these little fish (+/-10 cm) swarmed to his mesh pocket on the outside of his swim shorts. These fish are just too cool. Turns out they like bananas and rice too. They must be the most common fish in Thailand but they are colourful and there are lots of them so they swim right up to your face. Just too cool. We like them a lot.

There wasn’t a great variety of fish where we snorkelled. The coral sadly is completely dead. We did see some large parrot fish (we both dig these guys) and some beautiful angel fish (Sims favourites). We still thought it was great though.

Island number three was beatiful but crowded. It didn’t matter though. It was the typical Thai postcard setting. Brilliant blue water and white sand. We fed the fish some more biscuits. They were coffee flavoured butter biscuits by the way – so watch out for vicious caffiene driven mutants. Then snorkelled in the very shallow water. One or two different types of fish here. A massive parrot fish different from the previous ones and some spiky sea urchins that we steered well clear off. Unfortunately the strap on Sims mask broke but it was time for lunch anyway.

On the way to island number 4 we swung by the deep water solo guys to return the gear. We tried to tell them the mask strap had broken but no one seemed interested. Guess some other poor tourist will find out soon enough. Sim was looking on at envy. Think he is keen to give it a go sometime.

Island number 4 (Poda) was also very pretty and also full of other people stopping for lunch. It would have been lovely to have snorkelled there also but due to complete incompetence we had no gear and had to be satisfied with strolling along the beach or just trying to see the fish from the surface.

I absolutely loved feeding the fish with some left over rice. It’s wonderful how close to the shore these guys come. Less than 2m into the water and you can be surrounded by them. They get a bit cheeky though and occassionaly nip your legs in the feeding frenzy. I know that the fish and snorkelling here are pretty boring compared to the rest of Thailand, but I had a ball nonetheless and so did Sim.

After that it was back to Railay. Before we left the island Gina presented us with a plastic packet with two little black fish in it for us to ‘release’ back into the sea, supposedly for good luck. It was a cheesy touch. Poor little buggers they got dumped into the sea and swam off in opposite directions. I think they were just severly disoriented after swimmin in circles in a bag all morning. Sims seemed to think he was a land animal as he headed straight for the beach:)

We can NEVER recommend Phranang Travel and Tours. They were completely incompetent and the ‘guide’ was beyond useless. Honestly she need not have bothered to come with us as she added nothing to the tour. No information, no organisation, and a halfhearted apology over the gear. We were supposed to have snorkelled at 4 islands and because of their mess up we were only able to snorkel at two places plus we lost a lot of time messing around with rubbish gear. Whilst 750 Baht per person may seem cheap to some people, we expected something a tiny bit more jacked up than what we got especially since the outfit puts on a western face (guide and office lady).

We probably should have complained bitterly to Gina or her boss and insisted on a discount, but we had ended the afternoon nicely and didn’t want to sour the experience further. Plus it didn’t rain. Instead we left without saying goodbye or getting one either, and headed off for a drink on the beach. A white Russian for Sim and a Pina Colada for me.

Next up. Climbing! Sim is already drooling over the route guide and gear we have rented for tomorrow adventures.

[Pictures: Chicken Island – no kidding… and no KFC! Us on Poda. Feeding frenzy]

V’s little yellow friends

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi