Snorkeling and Emerald Cave

Our 3rd morning on Ko Libong, we took the snorkeling and Emerald Cave tour. Just the two of us with the boat and crew of two. As is customary, the mornings are low tide, so we needed to wade our way out into the water to get on the boat. The tour included the visit of two islands, one each for snorkeling and the Emerald Cave.

The first stop was on Ko Kradan island, a white sand beauty with a great reef perfect for snorkeling. We were so excited that we did not give time to take pictures. The abundance of fish was amazing. I haven't seen anything like it since the 1980s back in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. I also never experienced such curious fish.  Large schools of multiple types in beautiful colors surrounding us, swimming around and eye to eye with us.  You could see their playful curiosity as they would dart close before turning away. It felt like we could reach out and touch them. We tried but never made contact. Then there was the huge Jellyfish that we managed to avoid and the Morey Eel that I swear was the model used for the evil witch in the Little Mermaid - its head was the size of a coconut and it kept moving in and out of its cave.  Upon seeing it I almost screamed, but instead wet myself a bit, quickly swam away to find  Prov who saw it and said " Holy &*%! I am out of here!  After that no matter where we snorkeled it felt like we looked up and saw the same cave and eel. Reminded us of the clown that comes closer and closer every time you turned your back. Saw many Nemo's in their anemones.

The colors of the fish were striking. Those popular yellow and black striped fish have a brighter purple hue around the edges than is evident in the Caribbean version.

Heading towards Ko Kradan

Snorkeling was fun and rewarding.

From Ko Kradan, we headed over to Ko Muk for some lunch on the beach and a swim in the shallow sandy waters. Then we took off for some more snorkeling around the cliffs just before the entrance to the Emerald Cave.  Our Guides were friendly and attentive- always watched out for us, spotting jellyfish jumping in when needed -pointing things out.  Another experience where we did not share a verbal language but we were able to communicate.

The entrance to the cave is in deep water, and the length of the cave is about 88 meters (288.8 feet) so life jacket and flashlight are encouraged. Luckily, our boat had both, but as you know, no life jacket for Sherry. She is as comfortable in the water as...a fish.  We arrived and there were already many boats tied up with groups going in and out of the entrance.  Having no idea what to expect or where we were going we jumped in and followed our guide into the dark cave.  After swimming for a bit he turns his headlamp on and shows us the cave sides and bats in the ceiling.  Eventually, we swim out into a beautiful circle of nature. We swam around for a bit and then back out to meet the boat for our 1hour ride home.  We tuckered our new friend out!

 Here is a link to a YouTube video to give you a good perspective of the cave from both ends...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6PiepxvRfc.

Back to Ko Libong...