(Note: we watched the film a couple of days before and it looks nothing like it did in the film - in fact it was a bit crap as there was lots of rubbish on the beach and far too many people crammed in to see it...ahhhhh the joys of tourism...)
The tour was the whole day and took us round most of both Islands and included snokelling out so sea where there was some very good stag coral. The highlight of the day was on the return when we spent about 1/2 an hour hanging around a spot where there were a school of Dolphins... very graceful creatures.
King Cuiser Wreck - this sank on May 4th 1997 and is now in quite a bad state although the general structure of the boat is still there - we dived to about 25m where the car deck was and swam through and then out to the passenger deck - here we could see into the seating area which was sporadically lit from gaps in the roof. This was an interesting dive but there was a wicked current on site which threatened to carry you away if you gave it a chance - the visibility was also quite low which didn't help - not much marine life - lionfish and pufferfish were the main two we saw.
King Cruiser Link
Anenome Reef - Probably the best dive site we've done while away so far - consisting of two pinnacles starting at a depth of about 18m rising to within 3 m or so of the surface - plenty of cool coral here as well as loads and loads of fish - to name but a few - lionfish, scorpionfish, angel, fusilier - different types of coral as well - cabbage, table, lettuce, fan, sponge and in lots of different colours as well.
Anenome Link
There was a third dive that we didn't do that day (mainly due to money or lack of..) but I managed to see a Leopard Shark from the surface using a snorkell and mask - which was pretty cool....tomorrow we leave for the mainland and to spend some time in Krabi.....
We spent some time in the neighbouring Ao Nung which is in the process of being built - a cross between a nice beach resort and a building site - still nice all the same and the view off the beach is pretty special with Limestone islands pearched in the middle of the ocean - tomorrow is a trip to Langkawi and back to Malaysia.
Shame for Thailand to end on a bit of a downnote - however I have to say that on the whole the Thai's are a very happy and helpful bunch, and we have had a good time here. However am definately looking forward to heading back into the rest of Malaysia that we didn't see including the Cameron Highlands.
Only 2.5 weeks till we have to think about doing some work again.
Bugger.