Surin Islands, Day 2, Thursday, November 19, 2009

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Being exhausted, Sofie and I both retired early last night, before 9. I fell asleep quickly, even on the thin pad and packed sand.

I woke up with the sun, about 6:30. Got up about 7, stretched, put on my trunks and T shirt, and walked 200 feet for breakfast. We had a fried egg, sunny side up with a soft yolk, on a lettuce leaf, with onion slices, 4 slices of white bread, 2 hot dogs, and slices of cucumber or something else, but I forgot what it was. There was salt and pepper on the table, which I used on the egg. I ate everything because I was hungry, and I liked the egg.

This morning Sofie decided she wanted to go back on the afternoon speed boat and would not risk infection by going snorkeling. So, Mikey and I went out in the long-tailed boat, with the captain and a crewman to 4 snorkel spots, leaving about 9. At each spot, the crewman, Mikey and I fell into the water, with both Mikey and the crewman looking and finding things for me to see and video. Mikey was able to take the camcorder underwater and point it to grouper under a ledge. I had accidentally left the camcorder zoomed out and got nothing that can be watched.

We came in at 11:30 and had lunch at noon. Sofie was still certain she needed to go for treatment, partly because she flys out on Sunday and wants to be healed as much as possible before the long flight. We had a good Thai lunch, with more than we could eat. A weight wrapped in paper was given to Mikey at lunch. It was addressed to Mr. Gary and had other Thai words on it. There were no zip ties and Mikey asked around and found none on the island, so I fastened the weight to the bottom weight with one end of the neck cord.
After lunch, about 1, Trish called and we had a good talk.

We both said our sad goodbyes to Sofie, then went snorkeling. The crewman found a nylon cord from which I cut 2 lengths and tied the weight on a little more securely. The 2nd weight made the case nearly neutral, but there was still a slight positive buoyancy, so that was almost perfect. I shot a lot of video, and hope some of it is watchable. We stopped at 4 sites, all quite clear, with fairly calm water.

We were back about 4 and I put on my socks and shoes to walk the nature trail. The trail is closed because of damage from the Tsunami of 2005?. The other improvement on Surin Islands, including the tents and most of the equipment were washed away. The people had enough warning to go to higher ground. I carefully walked about a half mile of the trail, which goes through the woods a short distance above the beach and rocky shore. A large fallen tree blocks the beginning, and one section is covered with a debris flow. I stopped where a board walk had fallen away, requiring a rock scramble to continue. I wasn't about to risk falling on the rough granite, although if I had been more rested, I probably would have continued. I saw no animals, but clearly heard the Cicadas, which create a chorus of chirping which continues most of the day and evening.

I returned in time to watch the sunset and join Mikey and the new young couple for dinner at 6:30, Jamie and Eric. They are from Houston and are starting a 2 week trip. Eric works as an assets management consultant and Jamie is finishing her internship in Dermatology. They had a good time snorkeling today and are staying in one of the tents. The Thai dinner was great with 2 bowls and plates of everything.

After dinner, we 3 were tired and went to bed early, although I stayed up til 10 waiting for a camcorder battery to finish charging. The electricity doesn't start til 6 and I forgot to plug it in early.

So my outlay for today is nothing extra.