Island life

Location: Loong Dum Hut - Ko Samet
A picture says a thousand words yeah? Well I accidentally deleted 90 pictures this evening. So I want to tell of a few in not so many words but those adequate to pull the picture from my memory. Sadly all can not be shared as they would have been available to tell a more detailed story.
1- This picture was taken in the back of a truck-taxi during the dark of the night traveling down a horrible road to a place unknown with 3 french-canadians and a korean aussie. It made for a very interesting trip.
2- oh, the picture which came before the previous is one taken on our boat out to the island. To avoid paying a 400 baht national park fee, 14 "foregns" (foreigners)- Deke and I the only Americans accompanied by 2 norwegian girls, 2 canadians who just graduated from aeronautical engineering together, one with his girlfriend, a young british couple, an older German couple, and others- were all herded onto a speedboat and "smuggled" to a beach half-way down the eastern coast of the island. The boat backed up to the beach and we all jumped out in the water and walked to shore with luggage in hand. The difficulty in finding a place to stay led us to the taxi ride further south of the island.
3- I can only summarize in one account what all the pictures of the beauty at sea could say. We, with our new aussie friend who we've been sharing a bungalow with, went scuba diving today. We took a boat out to 2 separate small islands which we circled underwater, exploring the sealife. Many pictures were of the coastline: blue water, white beaches with jungle to backdrop, all laid in front of the tall hills of the island. 2 Thais took us out, the main guy Pom was our divemaster. He is a great guy- very friendly and a lot of fun to talk with. I commented on his pants and told him I wanted a pair. I asked him how to say its name, known as fisherman pants. "Kang Keng Jen." At the conclusion of our trip he actually gave me his pair as a gift. The gesture alone speaks words. I have been thinking about it ever since. The shirt off your back would be one thing. To offer your pants... The gift was acepted very graciously, then Pom and I exchanged a hug (which I don't think is a common exchange among Thais). I struggle with the idea of giving away any of my stuff. The whole concept of "our stuff" is an issue. I notice that a decrease in stuff = an increase in freedom. I need to become detached from stuff! and willing to give any of it away when a need or want arises. Pom is a small man with ruffled curly hair, aviators, and a smile. Kon, our Korean Aussie friend let us borrow his waterproof camera case, which allowed me to take some really cool pictures. Pom held up a sea urchin, a very dark purple creature with silver eyes it seemed and a white-yellow mouth, long spikes. Kon said they are a favored dish among Koreans. They cut them in half and eat them raw. We also saw a 15" puffer fish. Beautiful. I had a little 1" puffer once, I bet they could have been friends. My favorite fish were rather curious schooling fish which showed orange and white horizontal strips and large dark spots around their eyes. I might also add that we spotted a barracuda nearby also. I had taken a few good pictures of us diving too, one I took of myself upclose with all my gear and bubbles floating up both sides of my face. We spent a total of 1:30 underwater between the two dives.
4- the last set of pictures and even video that I shall briefly depict in words were taken after scuba, when Pom offered to take us further north on the island and drop us off at the shore where it was more develope. After walking around town, shortly stopping by the local hospital/clinic (a double roomed clinic with basic first aid) to talk with the staff, Deke and I decided to head back via walking on the beaches. We didn't realize how far we were from our bungalow and walked straight for about 3 hours. Further- between every 75 or so meters of beach were rocks that we decided to take on. There is one point where Deke took to swimming the coastline were I was sitting on some large rocks up against the water. With my legs in the water I sat looking to my left at this small rock wall that was getting pounded by the water. Every wave would crash up against the rock, splashing up and out back into the ocean in both large and small beads of water. At times the water shot out moreso as fingers. It was a calming view- one I tried to capture in video also (but lost).
5- oh, I almost forgot. There was one more picture that I didn't want to forget- that of my new favorite animal of the day- the small Ko Samet beach crab. This particular type of crab is very small, the largest probably the size of a penny, and there were thousands on the beaches, their presence known by holes in the sand surrounded by little balls of sand. On some beaches these holes with sand balls could be seen 10 meters wide extending the length of the beach. I sat and watched them. To dig, or rather sculpt their holes, they would scrape the sand up with their feet and roll it into a ball, bringing it forward towards its claws. It looked like it was playing a 3-on-3 game of soccer with its legs. It would then push the ball off to the side and begin again. This happened so long as it didn't get spooked and run back in its hole. one even gathered a few sand balls and pulled them in over itself to hide. I saw one crab pull a McGuiver when it went out close to the water. A wave came up too far and washed up the crab. To keep from being swept to sea, it dug its right legs, those facing the beach, into the sand to anchor itself, thus allowing water to rush over him, leaving it unharmed.
That about sums up my pictures I deleted. We went over to the west coast (Ko Samet is a long, skinny, T-shaped island) to watch the sunset. It was quite beautiful. I'll let those pictures speak for themselves. They communicate more clearly on matters of natural beauty anyway. Plus, Deke and Kon are passed out, I need to cut the light and attempt some shuteye. The last thought for the day- I realize I'm made for water. I feel more alive when I'm around large bodies of it. Goodnight.