Day 18 of The Big Adventure, according to Lauren.
  
I awoke at around 3.30am on this day to the sounds of the people in the room next to us having a little post-outing party. Who knows where they had been until 3.30am (Lanta isn’t exactly buzzing with bars) but they decided they’d continue their merriment next door. I finally managed to get back to sleep when they simmered down only to be awoken again at around 6.30am to the tones of the call to prayer from the neighbouring mosque. So when our 7.30am alarm went off I was still super sleepy but also super excited for the day we had planned. Another snorkelling adventure, yay!
We got ready and headed over to our friend at the travel agent and played with his gorgeous kittens until our transport arrived.

  
   

The back was already jam packed with other tourists coming on the same trip so Sarah and I squeezed into the front one and a half seats together. I had a seatbelt buckle up my bum and the driver could easily have mistaken my knee for the gear stick but we were loving the luxury front seat riding with air con. The day was off to a good start. 

After around 20 minutes of twists and turns down the island we arrived in Lanta old town where we were taken down the pier and met the rest of our group by our long tail boat (essentially a wooden row boat with a car engine and rudder on the back). We watched the guides load it up with snorkels, drinks, fresh pineapple and watermelon, and then it was our turn to get on. We all climbed aboard (about 20 in total) and sat on the life jacket-lined wooden benches on either side of the boat. After some more faffing, and some pill sharing between passengers for fear of sea sickness, we set off on the 45 minute journey to Ko Chuek. Along the way we were complemented on our eyelashes by a lovely middle aged English woman who turned out to be full of banter, and had to keep apologising for either almost sitting in my lap or swiping me with her backpack. It was hilarious and awkward but so refreshingly British.

Upon arrival at our first snorkelling stop, Ko Cheuk, we caught wind of some jellyfish talk, so peered over the edge to see for ourselves. To our horror there were hundreds of tiny jellyfish floating in the water we were about to jump into. The guides put the ladder down on the other side and everyone else seemed to be getting in with no worries, so we thought we’d best be brave and follow suit. We prepared our snorkels (our very own ones, no more sharing saliva, hoorah) and headed over to the ladder where we could see that the side we were going to be swimming on was, for the most part, jellyfish free. Phew! We made our way down into the water and saw some cool fish, but when Sarah spotted a jellyfish lurking under my body, we swiftly headed back to the safety of the boat. A disappointing start to the trip, but we had high hopes that the next stops would yield more impressive fish and less jellyfish. From our previous tour experience the stops get better throughout the day so we weren’t too worried.
  
On we sailed to our next destination; Koh Mook. We had read about this place and it’s famous Emerald Cave that you can swim through, so were excited to see what was in store. On the approach we could see loads of other tour boats there so we knew it was going to be busy, but we what we saw was quite a spectacle. A train of Muslims all holding on to the back of the life jacket in front of them swimming in formation into the cave and chanting, the ladies in full waterproof headscarves complete with elastic bands to hold them in place. 

The guides explained the protocol here – life jackets were mandatory, no snorkels or fins allowed, and the park rangers (cave police) kept a close watch. We climbed down into the water and were instructed to follow our guide who wore a small headlamp. It was all a bit chaotic but we followed our group and were soon in the beautiful turquoise waters of the emerald cave. The further we swam, the darker it got until soon we were in pitch black, swimming blind, with only the occasional blink of light from the guide who was quite a way up in front. A couple of limb collisions and apologies later, we emerged into a tropical oasis.

  
A round little beach surrounded by rock and trees, scattered of course with loads of Asian tourists and their selfie sticks. As we came out of the water, a couple of them decided Sarah was a necessary attraction to have a selfie with too. She posed for some photos and then we explored our surroundings. Apparently this was where pirates used to hide away their treasure as when the tide is high it’s mostly covered in water. Pretty cool! We took all the necessary touristy shots and then donned our attractive luminous life jackets once again to make the swim back.

 
Another pitch black swim was rewarded with the emerald coloured waters back at the entrance and this time we spotted shoals of thousands of tiny black fish beneath our feet. A little bit terrifying imagining what could be lurking in the water where we couldn’t see!

 

 
Back in the safety of the boat, we headed to our next destination and nommed down some more delicious pineapple. We then stopped at another site, Ko Ma, for more snorkelling. It was enjoyably jellyfish-free and we spotted some more interesting fish, but before we knew it they were calling us back to the boat once again. Our final stop was Ko Ngai, a much bigger island with incredible white sand and aquamarine water which suddenly changed to deep blue further out.

  
The guides set up a table for lunch; rice (obviously) with a vegetable curry and a cabbage dish, all warm, and ice cold cokes and waters (how did they manage that?! We were impressed). We dished up, plonked ourselves on a tree root and looked out at paradise once again while munching down our food. After lunch, we went on a mission for some half decent toilets, ending up unexpectedly at the nicest toilets ever with the shiniest mirror. Bravo Ko Ngai.

We then decided it was time for some frolicking in the water, so laid down our things and headed for the sea. The water was just incredible – almost surreal how it changed so suddenly from the bright turquoise to deep blue (even the photos don’t really do it justice).

  
About 20 minutes later we were being called back to the boat again. It was home time.

  
We arrived back at Ko Lanta and got into our taxi (front seat luxury again, obviously) which dropped us right back at our doorstep.

We had to move rooms from the big family suite down to our very own bungalow by the pool but luckily they had already taken our bags for us. We were shown to our room and sorted out a dodgy ant situation and then headed out for some dinner. We had seen the place across the road advertising their 60 baht pad Thai so thought we may as well try a cheap meal. There was a chicken massaman but we weren’t feeling brave so asked if they could do us a vegetable one instead. They seemed to agree to this and soon the boy who had taken our order was off on his scooter. We assumed he was just going home or something but he returned not long after with some potatoes in a bag. Our curry turned up; chicken, potatoes and onion in a massaman sauce. The boy had gone out especially to source the ingredients to fill our request. Classic Thailand. The chicken looked safe enough so we gave it a go. Delicious. Bellies full, we headed to our bungalow looking forward to a good night’s sleep.