Koh Tapao Noi

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This is an island at the South end of Phuket and is also referred to as 'Hornbill Island' - there are usually Hornbills nesting on the Island.

We left with a local fisherman from outside Phuket Aquarium and the journey took us only 20 minutes and it was an easy journey.

The first thing that I noticed was the level of rubbish that we found on the beach - I contacted John Gray of the world renown 'John Gray Sea Canoe' and asked him whether a clean up would be possible...

The family began to play on the beach and catch the crabs and I set off to find the hornbills and deposit a geocache on the top of the Lighthouse. I kept hearing the hornbills as I walked steadily up the hill but could not get a good photograph - next time.

At the top of the hill was the Lighthouse and the view is really quite good - you need an App (or a fab camera) which is able to take multiple shots and gives you a wide shot - I like Panorama.

Then there is the Lighthouse to climb up and it is a long way and is a little claustrophobic - but it was closed this time (Nov 2012).

Following this we picked fresh Tamarind from the tree and slowly made our way back to the beach. Here Jemma made a friend of a very cute local dog and I decided to try for some hornbills - I found none but I did find something else.

I took a left instead of right towards the Lighthouse  and after battling through the trees I found that there was a canon on the top of a hill on the island and this canon was part of a fortified structure - but what? 

After finishing trying to understand this I returned to join the family - worth a trip out but I do not know how to ensure the hornbills are flying and the Lighthouse door is open.

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