So the party on shore went on till about three or four AM apparently. I listened to two or three Asian bands belting out such hits as "Rhinestone Cowboy", "Tears in heaven" and "The Answer is Browing in the Wind" (Browing?) often simultaneously before popping my headphones in and crashing. I actually fell asleep early, which meant that I was back wide awake by 7am. I crawled as gently as I could past Crys and wondered outside in time to witness the sunrise over the island. It was a stunning start to the day.
Crys, however, wasn't so lucky. Her sunburn felt worse when she awoke, and she could hardly bring herself to move. She troopered on, popping a Tylenol and putting on some green stuff before we lowered the zodiac into the water and headed back to Koh Lipe for some breakfast. The trip up turned out to be a bit more tricksy than expected, as we were hitting right at low tide. The hard coral we had zoomed over yesterday was now at surface level, and we soon had to swap to oars to navigate through, since it was too shallow for the Yamaha engine that normally powers us.
Once on shore we headed to one of the many restaurants for a traditional breakfast of Thai Pancakes which turn out to be essentially two flat crepes with something tasty between them. I had a standard one, which has nothing between but is covered in condensed milk and tastes surprisingly similar to a tex mex sopapia. I also had one with baked bananas between them covered in a lemon sauce. TASTY! Crys had a Nutella Banana one that she claimed to be excellent as well. We chatted with some Europeans at the next table, first a couple of women from Denmark, then a bald Italian named Marco. Good conversation.
Crys's sunburn was still annoying her, and mine, which covered my right foot and part of my left leg (don't ask me how, I don't know) wasn't making me happy either, so we sat about after breakfast to find something with Lanocain or Novocain in it to dull the pain. Surprisingly we found none, only things with aloe vera or coconut milk. We did see many aloe vera massages, but Crys was hesitant to have anyone touch her, especially given now much her burn hurt. We continued wondering about the isle. If anyone wants a beautiful tropical location (and you're okay with the occasional topless beach dweller) I highly recommend Koh Lipe. As I said in the last post, it's pretty much everything you would expect from such a locale. Despite the cool stores and beautiful sites, however, Crys was miserable and it showed. Finally she gave in to Dad's offer to pay for us a massage while he and Barb went to get the one they were planning to get anyway, $20 paid for Crys and I to both get a one hour full body sunburn massage. Like all the buildings, this one was open to the main walking path that works for the island's street. The masseuses instructed to get up on these raised mats at the back of the twenty by twenty room, then instructed us to strip down while they held a small curtain closed for us. Afterwards they went to work on both of us. It was slightly painful at times and the iced aloe caused me to suck in some wind when it hit my back, but overall it was extremely relaxing, and Crys most certainly felt like new person when it was all over. The pain was still there but far less so. The day suddenly began looking up and she enjoyed her time much more.
Lunch for me was some tasty shrimp pad Thai. Crys grabbed some curry fried rice, and Dad insisted we try a dessert of Mango sticky rice. As best I can tell it is rice cooked with coconut milk, mixed with condensed milk and then covered in fresh mango. It is ridiculously tasty.
With that we decided to end our time on Koh Lipe for a bit, returning to the Silke to set sail for our new destination, a mooring just off the coast of the large island behind Koh Lipe. We picked up our mooring just about a hundred yards off shore. Apparently the water here is about 60ft deep, though it was obvious that it tapered off quickly as it closed in open shore. I grabbed my mask and new webbed gloves (a Xmas gift from Crys) and barreled off into the water. I decided against fins since my feet still felt a bit sunburned. Crys grabbed a mask and joined me, and together we made our way towards the shore. It wasn't a bad swim, and soon we could see the bottom and a variety of sea urchins, massive sponges, and fish of all shapes and colors. Crys got a little freaked at the spiny sea urchins, but I assured her they were deeper than she was going to go and wouldn't be close to shore where e would eventually put our feet down. Sure enough, when we touched our feet down it was on white sand littered with shells and racing sand crabs. Crys was amused and slightly disappointed to realize that all of the many awesome looking shells were occupied by cute little hermit crabs. There were hundreds of them scattered on the stretch of beach we walked.
Finally we decided to return to the boat. Crys hadn't done the swim in as easily as I would have hoped so I offered her my gloves. She accepted and we dove off into the water once more. I pointed out a variety of fish, as well as some beautiful giant clams scattered about the sea floor before it began fading too far down for us to view. That's when our bit of drama hit. The current was sweeping to the right, and Crys began to struggle to swim against it. Then something brushed against her and she had a small freak out, which caused her to suck in some water and have another minor freak out, Too her credit though she didn't panic, but she did start becoming concerned, as did I. With some encouragement, a small bit of help, and a final burst of adrenaline, she finally made it back to the Silkie. We were both extremely relieved when she was back on board. Since we're surrounded by islands I don't think we were ever in actual danger, the current would have intersected us with another point in the island further down, but it was still easy to see how people could suddenly find themselves in dangerous situations. Next time we'll take fins and snorkels, which would have made the whole trip much easier. Her style of swimming means with a snorkel she’d have no issues.
After Crys's adrenaline settled and she was comfortable that she was out of any danger, her thoughts turned quickly to the fish we had seen. She admitted that she finally saw the allure that being underwater held for me, something that having only been exposed to lakes and the Gulf of Mexico, she had never seen. She loved the realization that all of those beautiful fish she had seen in pet stores existed in the wild, and she could view them in their natural habitat.
We laughed and discussed the sights as we sipped some more wine and watched the sun set over the water. One by one the sky again lit up with a vast array of stars and planets, a beautiful site far beyond what we get back home.
We then got to witness something amazing that Dad had told us a story of days earlier. When squid jet across the water at night around here, the bioluminescence in the water causes the burst to leave a glowing trail. A massive school of squid passed by the boat, leaving snaking glowing lines in the water all around and under the catamaran. It was a phenomenally cool site.
Later as we listened to some of our favorite tunes and watched the beautiful night sky, we saw a shooting star. Of course that requires making a wish. Crys turned to me and asked what I wished for.
"That the rest of our trip be amazing. What about you?"
She smiled and stated "That all of our nights be as beautiful as this."
Here's to Jiminy Cricket being correct.
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