Is this the rainy season.....

I guess I should have realised that the extreme heat yesterday, accompanied by some threatening clouds, was a warning that Phuket's rainy season was about to start. It did at around 4am today!

A few more days have passed with intermittent rain showers and as we arrive at the beginning of June it seems that the month of May has had a much lower rainfall than average. Phuket still has a water shortage problem despite the fact that the rainy season has officially begun.

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Rain, rain come again!

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The weather in Phuket seems to have cooled down a little bit today after a series of thunderstorms and heavy rain last night. This means that maybe there is some hope for the coral that has already suffered from bleaching due to high water temperatures.

Coral bleaching at Rawai Beach.

On a walk over the rocks to explore just how wide spread the coral bleaching has become, I found that pools of what was probably rain water (the sea wouldn't reach this point) had evaporated leaving a hard sediment of salt. Although this is normal, I have rarely seen such a thick layer of salt filling the indent in the rocks before, usually it's more like a thin coating. The immediate evaporation of fresh water just adds to the problems for animals and plants in their struggle to survive until the rainy season.

Heat Wave.

Thailand is facing the hottest weather in 20 years.

Health warnings have been issued by the Health Department. With several deaths from heatstroke being reported around Thailand.

Due to the increase in sea temperature, the are widespread occurrences of Coral Bleaching in the Andaman Sea, and if the temperature doesn't drop soon, the coral may die.

Water Shortage.

Due to the lack of rain over the last few months there is no fresh water available for the birds and reptiles here at Bon Island. Therefore we are starting to get a wide variety of visitors to our kitchen. Water monitors, hermit crabs and birds are struggling to find food and water to keep them alive. Having noticed that the birds like coconuts we are helping them by cutting the coconuts open so that they can feed on the coconut meat. Today one little bird came to ask 'Nang Gwak' if she would share her drink......................

A Touch of Gold

Sometimes the most beautiful weather in Phuket is at early evening when the sun sinks low and turns everything to warm gold, against a dark background of newly fromed storm clouds.