The End of a Perfect Day in Paradise

The perfect end to a perfect day!

The last few tourists at Bon Island catch the last few rays of sun before it sinks into the sea behind Koh Gaew (Buddha Island) marking the end of just another perfect day in paradise.

Then as our boat pulls out of Bon Island, the sun slowly starts to sink out of sight, lighting up the clouds over Lone Island and painting the sea, before it disappears altogether.

On arrival back at Rawai beach the long-tail boats are silhouetted against the last rays of light. Tranquillity finally returns, all is silent until the new day breaks, the tourists return and the sound of the engines drown out the calls of the boat drivers.

The weather has been a bit strange over the last few days, brilliant sunshine with spots of rain falling at the same time, but Phuket's like that! Monday saw a brief return to the rainy season with SW winds, large monsoon season style waves and thick cloud in the morning that eventually retreated to allow the sun to break through. Today, Tuesday was thankfully a lot better, no waves and plenty of sun that helped make a wonderful day on the beach for all our visitors.

However by around 16.30 things began to change and a quick exodus had to be made by all!

The only thought was whether we would make it before the rain caught up with us, and as we pulled the boat in to Rawai Beach, spots of rain began to fall. Some streets were partially flooded including Nanai Road in Patong which was renamed as Nanai River!

Casualties on the Beach

Strong winds yesterday washed sand from the east of Bon Island's beach to the west (as mentioned in a previous post) leaving several beach chairs buried in sand. But this was not the only change to be seen. The sea had left the beach looking more beautiful than ever with a fresh layer of sand looking pristine like newly fallen snow, not a footprint in sight! It reminded me of just how the beach looked three days after Tsunami 2004, perfectly clean and edged with crystal clear water, almost as if no disaster had ever occurred.

Typhoon Gay Remembered

Today is the 20th anniversary of Typhoon Gay, the typhoon that devastated Chumporn, Thailand. The storm struck early in the morning of November 4th 1989, with a wind speed of 190km per hour, leaving over 400 dead, damaging 40,000 homes and effecting around 150,000 people. The strong waves did a similar amount of damage to the coral reef as the Tsunami of 2004 did to Phuket ( see photograph). Broken coral was washed ashore leaving a bank of coral almost a metre deep on one of the beaches in Chumporn.