After my last stop at Ko Phi Phi it was on to Khao Lak via a ferry to Krabi, and then minibus. It should have been a smooth connection but the ferry was late arriving and the minibus left early, so I missed it by a few minutes and had to wait 2 hours for the next one.
Never mind, I got to my accommodation at Poseidon Bungalows just in time to see the fishing boats head out into yet another Andaman Sea sunset.
view from my bungalow, Khao Lak
I got lucky and was given the end bungalow which has probably the best seaviews from it’s balcony even though it is one of the older and cheaper wood and bamboo style huts. The newer, bigger, more expensive concrete bungalows do not have such good views. The same owners also run the live-aboard snorkelling tour, so it is a convenient place to stay before and after the boat trip.
Khao Lak beach
Poseidon bungalows are on their own quiet bit of beach about 1.5km walk along the beach from Khao Lak, which is n’t much more than a small cluster of resorts and a small street of tourist shops. The whole area seems to cater mainly for German and Scandinavian tourists, nothing much to do except relax without a jet-ski or banana boat in sight.
The boat trip started early a couple of days later, we were heading out of harbour by 8am with breakfast on board. We certainly did not go hungry on board, the cooks did miracles from the small galley.
Manta Ray, Ko Bon
On the way out to the islands we had a (very brief) sighting of a whale shark and then some dolphins, and at our first stop we hit the jackpot …. manta rays ! The first one came along just a few seconds after I had jumped in, and shortly after that another came swimming straight towards me. That set the tone for the next 3 days, we saw just about everything …turtles, sharks, barracuda, octopus and the usual multitude of multi-coloured tropical fish.
Crystal clear water with visibility up to 40m, with water temperature in the mid to high twenties, beautiful sunny days …what more could you ask for ?
Sunset over Donald Duck Bay, Similan Islands
Yet another tropical sunset perhaps ? Done !
One of the islands has a viewpoint looking out over the anchorage, a perfect spot to watch the sunset.
But all good things must come to an end, and eventually it was time to return to the mainland and another couple of days at Poseidon for me, before a few days in Phuket and then back to Bangkok later this week 
Changes in latitude, changes in attitude 