Snorkelling in the Andaman Sea we saw the usual coral and bright tropical fish, plus giant big-lipped clams, mermaids and even other more unusual forms of sea life!

This was a snorkelling day trip taken from Koh Lanta, a small island in the Andaman Sea of Southern Thailand. When we arrived at Koh Rok, the sea was deep green and clear with excellent snorkelling.

Snorkelling at Koh Rok with a traditional Thai long-tail boat in the background.
Of course we saw the usual and fascinating corals. I ended up videotaping the fish — even though my camera has an underwater ‘portrait’ mode I couldn’t get the fish to stand still, and besides, I was kind of bobbing about myself.
Evil personified at Koh Rok: Crown of Thorns Sea Star — these beautiful things like to munch on coral and destroy reefs
I think my favourite undersea creatures were these giant clams with big purple, green or electric blue lips. An experienced free diver from Australia told me that their existence denotes a healthy ecosystem. A picnic in the national marine park consisting of Thai curry chicken, curried vegetables, jasmine rice and spicy bbq wings, accompanied by Singha beer and giant monitor lizards. The lizards came crawling out of the surrounding forest as soon as lunch was served; not sure if they were after the food or the Singha!  The place is very popular — I counted seven boats with 20 plus customers each and that makes for a lot of people. Even more if you include a few mermaids stranded by the tide. Like I said, some of the more unusual sea creatures that I have seen!