After a weekend on Koh Lipe (pictures), I've decided that my favorite marine critter of the moment is the giant clam. Some interesting giant clam factoids and nice pictures can be found here, and the Wikipedia article had this fascinating historical overview:

As is often the case with uncharacteristically large species, the giant clam has been historically misunderstood. Known in times past as the killer clam or man-eating clam, reputable scientific and technical manuals once claimed that the great mollusc had caused deaths; versions of the U.S. Navy Diving Manual even gave detailed instructions for releasing oneself from its grasp by severing the adductor muscles used to close its shell.

Today, it is generally acknowledged that the giant clam is neither aggressive nor particularly dangerous; while it is certainly capable of holding one fast in its grip, the shell's closing action is actually a defensive response, and far too slow to pose any reasonable threat. No account of a human becoming trapped in this manner has ever been substantiated. (full Wikipedia entry here)

I never felt threatened, but Trevor did tease me that they would take a finger if I got too close. Everywhere we snorkeled off Koh Lipe, we saw lots of giant clams. Some were so embedded in the reef their mantles looked like crazy colored sea slugs on the coral - bursts of vivid purple, blue, orange, red and turquoise. Others were more exposed, showing their enormous shells. There was something medieval about the giant hinge creaking shut with a dull thunk when a snorkeler ventured too close. After some internet searching, I now know that they actually sense light, and were responding to our shadows rather than any motion or sound in the water. And those brilliant colors are the result of symbiotic algae that provide most of the clam's food via photosynthesis. We didn't see any of the 1.5-meter monsters that are the maximum size for the largest species, but we did see one very impressive ~3-foot specimen.

Leaving for the islands on mid-day Thursday, we had actually planned to go to Koh Tarutao, the biggest island in Tarutao National Marine Park. We accidentally bought tickets to Lipe - the most developed of the park's islands - and decided not to bother changing them. Our boat pulled up to the island in the late afternoon, and not really having a preference on where to stay, we took the advice of the boat driver and headed for the Porn Resort (get your minds out of the gutter, you nasty folks - Porn is a very common nickname in Thailand, and has nothing to do with anyone's entertainment preference). They were out of bungalows, but offered us a tent on the beach for 150 baht a night, which we happily accepted. We even had time for a snorkel, which was actually quite nice right off our beach. Aside from the giant clams, and a lot of wicked-looking long-spined sea urchins, there were an incredible number of nondescript, 6-12" long sea cucumbers littering the sandy bottom around the coral. We spent the next three days watching the local people harvest them off the beach by the barrel-full, but repeated snorkel trips showed no sign of decreased numbers.

We managed to tear ourselves away from the lazy read-snorkel-nap-repeat cycle on our beach long enough to explore the island a bit. There are no roads, but a trail system connects the different beaches and resorts. Most of the lodging is still pretty basic, and fairly inexpensive, though some up-scale operations are starting to pop up. We had some sticker shock paying resort-island food prices for terrible Thai food again, but we were happy to find Jack's Jungle Bar dishing up some tasty local fare, along with some interesting live Mexican music. The singer was, we're guessing, temporary, as he kept forgetting which island he was on and yelling out "Happy Birthday!" between songs. We liked him a lot.

On Saturday we hopped on a snorkeling tour that proved way more fantastic than not. The first stop was unfortunate. Out in the middle of nowhere, there was an (admittedly) gorgeous coral mount, with (unfortunately) wicked currents. It was carnage. There were permanent but easy-to-miss buoy lines intended to keep the tourists from being swept away, while happily oblivious Thais in life jackets were towed around by their already-tired tour guides and baffled foreigners were left to figure things out for themselves. Amidst all of the face-kicking and confusion I dropped my snorkel, and we resigned ourselves to trading off and on for the day. The next site boasted some really fantastic coral, and redeemed the trip completely all by itself, at least in part due to the kind boat driver who tossed us an extra snorkel. The next two sites were both beach snorkels, so we were able to lounge on the sand and eat lunch between bouts of similarly amazing underwater viewing. On the last beach we found ourselves surrounded by massive schools of 2-inch long fish, all zigging and zagging in unison. Gorgeous coral, amazing numbers and variety of fish, exotic starfish, tons of giant clams, and even some pipefish (think sea horses only laid out straight) made it a memorable day out.

Sunday morning - and our ferry off the island - came way too soon. We definitely kept our eyes peeled on the boat-ride home, checking out the many islands we passed, and plotting our next Marine Park adventure!

Labels: Koh Lipe, snorkeling, Thailand