We didn't notice at first the dark black lines at the water's edge. Fish! Tiny transparent fish in their billions, so many that they formed a black line about a foot wide, stretched the half mile or so length of the white sand spit. The long sand spit stretches out to the West of North Button Island. The most Northern of three button shaped islands in the Northern part of the Andamans. The island is uninhabited, but teems with bird life, and fish in the surrounding sea. Snorkelling in the clear water we saw lots of different fish, the most remarkable being school of metre long hump headed wrasse. Harmless but a bit scary nevertheless. They were quite happy to have us stare at them and follow them around.

The crystal clear seas hide one tragic fact though. Everywhere we have snorkeled there has been almost no live coral. The bay floors are just bleached dead coral. Apparently the coral died following a hot summer in 2008 or 2010. We were told that there is still coral below the 10 mtre mark but it is only visible to divers. The destruction of the coral must also have led to a loss of fish life as well. Despite that the islands are a beautiful site with their glorious vegetation contrasting with the marine colours.

Our friends on Storyteller departed this morning to head back to Phuket and Langkawi where they have more guests to pick up. We said our goodbyes over an excellent meal on board their boat last night. We plan to stay another week before returning.