It didn’t take much for all of us to agree to head out to Koh Ta Kiev island. We tagged along on a boat tour, very much like the one we did a few days ago but this time stayed out of the way. Once we finally reached the island we turned left with a small bag each and headed for Nak’s (owner) huts.

We were given a shady hut enwreathed by the canopies of the jungle. The view was blocked by trees but the huts next to us, we noticed, had a full view of the sea. That day fortunately the people staying in the last hut left and we took their place. This hut was much better, having a full view of the beautiful, blue, translucent sea with islands for as far as the eye would let you see. The sun beaming proudly and fully above us gave us the only light and heat we needed. Fluffy cotton ball clouds glided in the sky, with butterflies skimmimg the surface of the water.

The hut was a simple one, plenty big enough for just our short 3 day stay here. A bed lay outside on the veranda along with a hammock and chairs. Inside another bed along with a bathroom with a tub of fresh water from the well outside.

Cut off from all communications, electricity, roads, building work and music it was a brilliant getaway for us all. Our short span of time here was mainly spent lounging on the beach and in the sea

or in the hammock. We walked around the island through thick jungle

coming across the Otherside beach (a.k.a naked beach) which was a huge deserted beach with beauty and a rough sea

and also the fisherman’s village (that took us hours of trekking in tne wrong direction to get there). They seemed fairly surprised to see tourists walking through their village. We were glad to settle down and use sign language for a bottle of cold water. The air was thick with the smell of the sea -to be expected- and the sight of smiles and questioning looks thrown towards us.

After a drink we heard that we could head home by boat, so thinking it best not to get lost again we started bartering with the elderly boatman. He started off at a total of 15$. We tried to get him to 10$ but it wasn’t happening in the end he put 10 fingers out and another 2 (the 2 fingers used as a rude gesture he did not understand😂) indicating 12$. TUT (a.k.a Ian or the Ultimate Traveller) agreed and did the same gesture back whilst laughing. The man not knowing what about ushered us to his boat and we were soon flying the seas along with the schools of flying fish.

Now we could see the village looked like the floating villages and was all higgledy-piggledy which gave it charm. Looking over to the main land we saw what looked like a Naval base and we enjoyed every moment to the point where we pulled up on the soft white sandy beach near our hut.

Every evening after sun set and delicious food from the restaurant (especially the coconut veg curry, my favourite) me and Jed would snuggle close on the outside bed and fall asleep with no worries to the rhythmic sound of sea crashing on the beach.

Other photo’s of around the island;

On the last night after yet an undeniably ravishing sun set,

the stars were up high and the sea was on fire with bioluminescent phytoplankton. It is a plankton that has bioluminescence to make it glow. It is used to avoid predators and acts as a defence mechanism. It produces light when disturbed and will give a small flash lasting only a fraction of a second. The flash is meant to attract a predator to the creature disturbing or trying to devour the dinoflagellate(a small living organism). The flash also surprises the predator making it worry about other predators attacking it, so also making the predator less likely to prey on the organism.

I’ve never witnessed this incredible sight before (of what I remember anyway) and it really is something to behold. The gleaming mass of water was lit up by yellows, greens and mainly blues. If you paddled in the warm water and turn off your flashlight you are able to see them floating around your feet making you feel phenomenal.

I’ve been too caught up in describing as best I can these organisms I almost forgot to mention how extraordinary the stars were this same night. Every constellation was visible, twinkling for the world to see. It continued to shine all down to the horizon which you’d never reach. With natural gorgeous lights under, above and around you..it’s hard to describe how one felt. This fabulous night unfortunately was impossible to photograph with the lack of light and will only remain in my mind and mine only.