It was summer break in Thailand in 2008, so 2 friends and myself had decided to travel to the Surin Island Archipelago. This group of small islands is located about 70km off the coast of Thailand in the Andaman Sea, and is very close to being in Myanmar waters.
Surin Islands
The view from our tent
As an ocean lover, I had been recommended to come here for the snorkeling, as apparently it is the best in Thailand and some of the best in the World. The islands remote location make them relatively unspoilt. They are considered a marine national park and are maintained by a local ethnic group know as Mokken (Sea Gypsy). Ther is pretty much nothing on the island except for 2 camping grounds, a basic store/canteen, and a Ranger's Cottage. The Mokken live in traditional huts on a neighbouring island and manage everything, including the long-tail snorkelling trips.
The Mokken
The Mokken Huts
Snorkelling Trip with the Mokken
Snorkeling Surin Islands
The snorkeling was amazing. Twice a day small groups would travel with the Mokken to 3 or 4 selected sites around the islands, each one of them unique in their own way. Reef sharks, turtle, Whale sharks and Manta Rays are all common sightings, as is some magnificent hard and soft coral.
Snorkeling Trips
Amazing Sea Life
The Weather
After 3 days camping on the island, it was unfortunately time to begin the journey back home. It was a Friday, and we were all due back at work on the following Monday. Besides this I had a date with a lovely girl I had recently met. She had bought her first car and I was going to teach her how reverse park it in an empty mall lot on Sunday. I was greatly looking forward to it.
The weather had turned over night with a brief tropical storm, and was still rough when we awoke in the morning, but thinking nothing of it we made our way to breakfast. We were told over breakfast that due to rough seas, the boat wouldn't be going this morning and to check again in the afternoon. No problem, it was pretty normal to have boat cancellations from the outlying islands due to inclement weather. We settled in to a morning of sand-chess and relaxing.
Our Sand Chessboard
I'm not really sure how the next thing happened without us noticing but the waves were big and the tide was high and they came up fast! Before we knew it a large wave had lapped ours and all of the beachfront tents, and then before we had time to do anything the next wave swamped us. All of our belongings were bobbing around in seawater in the tent, including my camera (with all the photos). The Mokken raced over and told us to quickly evacuate or belongings to a higher spot inland because the sea was rough. We didn't need to be told twice and we grabbed all our things and relocated.
Stranded
The weather proceeded to get worse and we were informed that the afternoon boat would not be leaving. At this point we were still blissfully unaware that a cyclone that would in the end kill nearly 140,000 people was brewing near us (at some distance), and we were experiencing the initial effects.
As our tents had been swamped we had camped out in the canteen and were relatively content, we had a pack of cards (slightly water damaged) and the canteen had cold beer. There was a Japanese woman traveling with her daughter, and they were concerned, they wanted to go home, they had already missed their flight, and there was no phone reception on the island. We were told that the Ranger's Cottage on the other side of the island had a satellite phone and intermittent internet access.
The next morning we were roaring to jump on the boat and go, but the weather wasn't better, if anything, it was worse, the wind had got up now and was tearing through the island. To our disappointment we were told that the boat would not be leaving again today. The Japanese mother was sobbing and we did our best to console her and tell her not to worry. At this point I was annoyed yet not concerned. I had a date I had to get to, or at least let her know that I hadn't stood her up.
The dense jungle of the island
The rain had stopped and we had some time on our hands as we were going nowhere for another day, so a friend and myself set out to cross the island and try to get to the Ranger's Cottage. It was challenging as we followed a small track through the dense rainforest through the centre of the island. It wasn't far , maybe only 2km, but the ground was wet underfoot, it was windy, and made for hard going. When we arrived at the small hut, we found 1 small hut with 1 ranger in it. He told us we couldn't use the satellite phone unless it was an emergency, but we were welcome to try and get the internet working. It was painfully slow, to the point where you didn't actually know it was working, but I managed to get an email away before the computer froze and shut down. In the email i explained to my prospective date that I was in fact not ignoring her calls and ditching our date, but I was stranded on a tropical island with no phone reception. I hope the message got through.
We trudged back to the other side of the island to discover that things were getting a little weird. People were starting to panic. The news had come that the boat would not be leaving that afternoon and we would all be forced to spend another night on the island. Several groups were forming to confront the Mokkens about our plight. The poor Japanese woman and her daughter looked in total despair, they explained that they don't usually travel without her husband and he would be worried sick. It was obvious that the supplies were running out and several groups had begun to stockpile supplies. They were buying 12 bottles of water at a time and greedily hoarding them away. The food was down to eggs. I must admit this is the point that I began to worry....and the beer had run out.
After a fairly solemn night of cards and cheap Thai Whiskey and a meal of eggs we turned in early, a little tired, a little ragged and wanting to go home.
The Rescue
As I awoke the next morning I was greeted with weather even worse than the day before. It was raining heavily, the sea was a chopped up catastrophe, and the wind was howling. I knew before I even asked, that we weren't going anywhere...but then we received the news. A Thai Warship had been sent to evacuate everyone from the island pronto. This sounded promising yet forboding at the same time. We gathered up our belongings and made our way to the other side of the island. Here we were met by Navy Officers, who searched us and our bags before we were shuttled by the Mokkens in their longtails to about 200 metres offshore where the warship was waiting.
Below deck on the warship, it was obvious that the sea was raging, but we rose and dipped without concern all the way back to the mainland. As we emerged at Kuri Buri Port on the mainland we were greeted by lights, cameras and television crews. My buddy was interviewed for local tv. It was only at this point that we discovered what had been unfolding around us in Myanmar; Cyclone Nargis had been wreaking havoc. By the time it was finished it would have killed 138,000 people and be the 2nd worst Cyclone in the history of mankind. It had narrowly missed us.
Back on Dry Land
We jumped on a bus, and set out for the long and arduous trip back to Bangkok, safe but tired.
I made it back to Bangkok just in time to go to work and discover that my email had made it through. My date was happy that I was OK, and as she knew about the cyclone and where I was, she was relieved that I was ok. Little did I know it at this time, but 8 years later, she would become my wife. I'm glad I didn't blow it. I have since taken her back to the fateful islands where we shared an amazing holiday free from natural disasters.
And that's my tale...
This is how it was reported in the local press:
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Extra images sourced from:
http://static.asiawebdirect.com
http://www.myanmarexplorers.com
http://surinislands.com
http://www.surin-islands.com
http://il2.picdn.net
http://vivre-en-thailande.com
https://storage.googleapis.com
http://subicbaynews.net
http://www.similanislands.org