The highlight of our third week in Krabi was snorkeling with sharks. Brendon Sing from Shark Guardian came to Forever Wild to give a presentation about sharks. We met Brendon and his family last October in Krabi when we were in a worldschooling program at Spirit Mountain. The mission of Shark Guardian is to “advance the conservation of sharks and the natural environment through conservation, education, research projects, and expeditions.” https://www.sharkguardian.org/
A group of us went on an expedition with Brendon to snorkel with blacktip Reef sharks in Phi Phi Island. Brendon taught us how to snorkel with the sharks so we did not scare them away. You have to be calm and quiet. Sharks have great hearing. He also told us how to protect the coral reef by not standing on it or kicking it.
Brendon took us to a shark nursery where we saw several baby sharks and a few mama sharks. We stayed calm and they were swimming all around us. We did not see any sharks at the second snorkel spot, but there were tons of colorful fish and coral reefs.
Many coral reefs around Krabi are experiencing bleaching because the water is too warm. Many dive sites are closed or are closing for the next several months because of the damage to the coral. It only takes two weeks for coral to bleach, but it can take up to a year to repair itself, and it will never be back to complete health.
We stopped for lunch on a beautiful white sand beach. After saying hello to a couple of goats, we did a bit of a beach clean-up. A lot of plastic floats onto the beaches in Thailand. On the way back to Krabi, our boat drove into a rainstorm. It is the rainy season here in Krabi, so now it rains most days.
The day after snorkeling we, went with several other families for a full-day adventure tour in Phang-Nga. The day started with an hour-and-a-half van ride to the adventure center. We did a short zip-line, which was not thrilling after ziplining through the jungles of Laos.
After the zipline, went rafting down a river. It was packed with rafts. It was more like bumper boats than rafting, but we all had fun despite Michael busting his lip. We also visited a small waterfall and a monkey temple (it should be called the monkey and pigeon temple). Lucas was not thrilled to be attacked by monkeys and pigeons. Henry enjoyed feeding the monkeys. One monkey got friendly with Michael. The tour was fun because we were with friends, but it was a bit of a tourist trap.
The moms got together on Sunday at a blessing way to celebrate Amanda, the Forever Wild hub leader. She is having her fifth child. A blessing way is a celebration of pregnancy and becoming a mother that focuses more on the mother than the baby. It was a beautiful ceremony hosted by Tiphini and Vicki. Vicki led a meditation, we all sat in a circle, lit candles, and shared some words of wisdom.
We also had apparent roundtable to talk about education and worldschooling. We had a great turnout and discussion. Our lifestyle is unique, and it is comforting to talk to other worldschooling parents about topics like education, finances, travel tips, etc. Lucas and Henry had a busy week with Forever Wild, D&D, and chess club. I went back to open mic night to support Jake and Gabe. Jake performed with a kazoo player, and he couldn’t stop laughing. It was a full and fulfilling week.
