The boat was a speed boat which was an hour and a half. I read as Lee nodded off behind his shades. When we finally came close to the islands the views were breathtaking. The water was crystal clear and the islands looked untouched. Everything was so natural. The speed boat pulled up at an island were a pier had been made out of plastic cartons tied together. We left the speed boat and got in a long boat. The long boat took us around the island to a beach that at first appeared to be beautiful but when we were asked to walk through the path to the other side of the island that's when we saw the islands true beauty. It is the most beautiful beach we have ever seen. It starts with crystal clear aquamarine waters then as the water becomes more shallow the colour changes. It showed different shades of my favourite colour! The rockeries bring in all kind of colorful fish too - even baby sharks. (luckily I didn't see them - even if they don't attack humans I'm too scared of their whole family) Lee's not! From the water there is the whitest sand this leads to a fringe of majestic leaning trees. (ok Lee ripped me for writing that but seriously they looked like they were ballerinas playing musical statues) (shut up Lee he's mocking my descriptions but he'd just use words like 'it was great' or I've heard on this trip 'boss'...) anyway they froze in the best hammock hanging position. From the initial trees is a row of tents followed by a shower and toilet cubicle. At one end of the beach there is a sitting area with free hot water, free cold water, a mini tuck shop and a simple cheap food menu. After this it's a jungle with a path leading to effectively the islands pier were one boat comes everyday to drop off and take people to and from the island and another long boat comes twice a day for snorkel trips.
There is a desk where you pay a national park admission of 400bht pp for a week (£8pp) and 300bht for a tent per night. We put our things in the tent then hung our hammocks. Lee carefully got in his hammock whilst I went for a dip in the sea. 2 seconds later there was a thud and Lee was sat on the floor wearing his hammock like a giant nappy! Ha I stayed in the sea acting like I didn't know him until the (10 max) other people had stopped looking and chuckling. I got in my hammock to dry off and have a little read whilst lee foraged the beach looking for rope to tie his hammock. He managed to find some and cut it to size (curtesy of his penknife given to him by Graeme). Once he was in - again by unflattering means that you can't help but laugh at - we relaxed together swopping the kindle and iPod when we got bored. When we decided we were hungry we went to the canteen like area and leant one of their bowls for our noodles and their free hot water. Then headed back to the beach for some snorkeling.
We decided to get washed up (in the communal, cold water, showers) then check out the food menu. Even though the food was really cheap we were not prepared. We werent expecting the park fee and didnt imagine the island would have no bank facility so had t work out how much cash we had on us minus a snorkel trip and three nights accomodation and that's how much we had for food and drink - if we wanted anything other than water. It was not a lot so we shared a chicken dish and got a portion of boiled rice. I found a nifty way of putting some flavor into the boiled rice. A couple of tea spoons of the free sweet chili sauce! After that there was not a lot else to do but use the torch to find our way back to our tent and go asleep.