A little piece of paradise

We didn’t linger in Koh Lipe as we had to get to Thailand to meet our daughter who was arriving from India on 3 June. So on 1 June we left early and headed for Koh Rok Nok, a little piece of paradise, about 40 nautical miles away. 

Koh Rok Nok is an uninhabited island and is situated right next to Koh Rok Nai which is also quite unspoilt with only a National Park headquarters and a campground but very little else.   

Between the two islands is a channel and we were able to anchor just inside it.

The water is beautifully clear and you can see metres down to the bottom. Swimming and snorkelling are wonderful and the beaches are clean and have the most stunning white sand – paradise! No wonder the producers of the French version of Survivor chose these islands as the location to film the series in. 

We saw a few remains of hammocks, sticks tied up with string etc on the beach which were probably a legacy from the filming but otherwise the beach was untouched – just the tracks of monitor lizards, lots of crabs and long stretches of sand without a footprint on them. 

We had read that there was an animist temple on the beach stacked with wooden phallic effigies created by local fishermen as offerings – presumably for abundance and safe return from the dangers of the sea. 

We have tried to find out more about these offerings as they can be found in a few places in Thailand but haven’t yet found out a lot of information. Regardless, we couldn’t find the temple but think that it was because the tide was in and we were unable to explore the whole beach. 

We had a wonderful swim in the crystal waters with Rita and Dave from Beach House but had to make a dash for our respective boats when suddenly black clouds gathered and thunder claps started to roll round the anchorage. 

We made it back just in time to shut all the hatches and put everything away before the heavens opened and an amazing storm raged round us for the next half hour. 

Then as the skies started to clear a stunning rainbow appeared to remind us that we were in paradise.