And so our adventure into the Emerald Cave continues:)
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| March 2011 at the Fyord in Malaysia-really beautiful! |
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| The Similan Island number4. |
Brent had fallen off our paddleski as he was guffawing at his mother's hysteria:)) He had lost his sunglasses but did not know they were gone. I was nervously giggling and ducking Charl's frantic paddles! People who had come on other boats to visit the cave- were now taking photos of us- a much more interesting tourist attraction than the Emerald Cave!! My style was to arrive discreetly, assess the reality of me going through this tunnel and then if it was not for me, I would leave gracefully and silently...But Charlotte changed all of that:) "Sharyn PADDLE! Get us out of here! We are going to die! We are going to get smashed onto the rocks!!" It all got too much for Brent! Cally-with the ignorance and courage of a teenager:)- had already paddled on the longboard straight through the hole in the cliff !
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| At the Fyord in Malaysia March 2011 |
In the mean time, Charl was beside herself. She did not even allow me to feel scared about this cave. She had developed cramp in her leg from sitting so still on the paddleski when Brent and I had paddled it from the boat. She had looked like a permanent fixture on the front of the paddleski:) Charl decided then and there that she had to get off the paddleski and onto a larger more secure craft! The closest boat to us was a local tourist boat with only the local Thai skipper on board. He was staring at us with a wide toothless crinkly smile as he watched Charl and I hitting each other with our paddles and going in circles-one of us trying to get closer to the cave entrance and the other trying to head out to sea:) Charl being the more violent of the two:))- won the battle and we headed over to the unsuspecting local boat so that we could hold onto it and work out our plan of action. Caden and Cody were now regretting not having gone into the cave with Brent and crew.
No sooner were we alongside his boat and Charlotte grabbed his rails and proceeded to precariously wobble our paddleski as she hauled herself out and onto his boat all the while yelling about her cramp- I think the poor man was terrified-he thought we were taking control of his boat:). Well- he was in shock not understanding a word of our complaints. So with Charl now in his boat and me trying to hold onto his boat and a Fenn paddleski and the big yellow ski that I was in, plus 3 sets of paddles... we tried to explain our story to this poor local man who was planning to have his midday siesta while his tourists were exploring. Anyway being polite he communicated to us with caveman style gestures, that we were now going to be entering the cave when the ocean level was at its highest at midday. From what I could understand by his big hand motions and his pointing at the sun and his attempt at showing a drowned face (very convincing!)...was that we only had a few minutes before we would have to go through a black- as- night cave- tunnel with our faces floating a cm from the bat-infested ceiling... and perhaps we might even run out of air!!If we did not die going through, then we would be stuck inside The Hong on the other side with no way out except for the way we came in... for 6 hours until low tide again? On the positive side- we could have spent that time digging for buried treasure as this cave was used by pirates in the days of long gone:)
Well- that description of our possible demise- was the end for Charl and I . We were now ready to paddle back to the boat dragging all of Brent's abandoned craft... and letting them swim back to the yacht!
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| Other Treasures to be found in Patong! |
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Mermaids and Pirates:) |
Suddenly Darren and Cally popped out of the cave and said right they had come to take us all through. By now my mind was at breaking point. Where was Brent? No- Darren said, Brent had already found himself a little spot on the white sands inside the cave and he was relaxing!! So, Cody and Caden followed Darren and Cal into the entrance and Charl and I were left alone! Caden apologised profusely for abandoning me but said comfortingly that he thought he would be safer facing his fears of a long black watery tunnel, than stay behind with Charl and I!
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| Caden loving being in charge:) |
Darren eventually kindly and in one last attempt, came back for us:) We had to take the large clumsy paddle ski in with us, and so...with all 3 of us now in the water, we hung onto the ski and entered the cave.
Although the cave entrance was low, the other side of the entrance was refreshingly light and beautiful:) It opened up into a cavern that glowed with an eerie luminescent green light.Deeper though into the cavern-it got all dark and eerie, daunting...
Darren was pulling the ski and as we got to the back of the cave, I took one look at the teeny black hole that we were expected to enter- and felt hysteria start to slide up my throat...I was swimming and holding the torch. Charl was pushing the ski from behind and Darren was trying to find which tunnel we should be taking! As we entered the darkness , my mind caved in, my throat constricted- i was out of there!! Poor Darren- he tried! But you can't fight a woman in total panic and he gently nudged me out of the cave and back into the ocean:)Poor Charl- she had just committed to going through the tunnel. As I propelled us back into the eery green light of the cavern, it sounded like the midday high tides had created giant waves outside that were going to smash into us as we left the cave and turn us into documentary footage of amazing rescues out of dangerous caves! With a unified scream- we left the cave, emerging into the still calmest Thai waters, not a ripple on the ocean surface...
Our nerves were shattered! We needed a cup of tea...we needed land...tranquillisers:)
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| Cliff climbing at the Fjord-our friends Austin and Rob:) |
Darren had disappeared-nearly having his own breakdown when I screamed to get me out of there!
Charl was beside herself and singlehandedly paddled us( like a true Chalupsky )right over to some innocent multi-millionaires boat. The chap had arrived to impress his young girlfriend with how brave he was going through this scary tunnel with his motorised submersible seasled that was going to pull them both through the tunnel in the blink of an eye:). As he spanked his girlfriends bottom and gently pushed her overboard, he was greeted by the white faced apparition of Charl- wild-eyed (from my recent hysteria) and at a glance:)- a little looney!:)
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| March 2011 The Fertility Lake in Malaysia! |
"CRAMP!" Charl yelled," I have to get on your boat- NOW!" Realising that she was not asking but rather announcing her intentions, the gentleman welcomed her aboard lowering his steps before Charl could swing her cramping legs over the side of his boat and flop in. Hey , there is no-where to hide in the Thai waters , so I just slotted my paddleski in next to his boat and whistled a tune. Wet and bedraggled, charl ranted on to him about our whole drama. I could see the fellow was gobsmacked. This was not part of his plan. He had launched his superspeedboat out of his SuperYacht which looked like a small ocean-liner; and brought his girlfriend and guests for an experience of a lifetime and now he had Charl:)
Did we laugh? Eventually:) Once we were dry and with a cup of soothing tea in our hands safely on Micah far away from the Emerald Cave.
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| A cup of tea later the rest of the family came back:) |
So everyone got to see the inside of the Emerald Cave...except for Charl and I:(
I believe it was truly amazing and sensational and picturesesque:) - A once in a lifetime opportunity. Sooooo... I am waiting for Charlotte to come back to visit us and then WE are going back to the Emerald Cave for round 2:)))
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| "Yea Yea..." |
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