Ao Thalane

We decided that instead of taking a tour to Ao Thalane, we would get ourselves there and just pay to rent kayaks. Our ride there was long! The ride was supposed to take us forty-five minutes but wound up taking us an hour and a bit.
Our guide got us prepped and we took off. In order to get to the mangrove forest you have to cross the open water. We crossed the ocean and made it into the forest. The beginning of the tour starts with these lagoons that are surrounded by gigantic mountains. The rock face is so intricate and you can see exactly where the water gets up to at high tide. We saw a few monkeys jumping down the cliffs and drinking from the water.
After about fifteen minutes we hit the mangrove forest. The trees were literally growing from the water. The roots were taller than us and all woven together. It felt like a picture of Jurassic Park.
On our way out it started drizzling but it seemed like we would be fine and our guide didn't seem to be worried so we all continued on our merry way. The second we hit the open water it started pouring! We were literally stuck in a rainstorm in the middle of the ocean. Talk about my worst nightmare. We started laughing hysterically and continued paddling until we got ourselves safely across to the other side. It was one of the wildest experiences I've ever had. The rain didn't stop for about an hour and being that we drove our bike, we were stuck. After multiple attempts, we decided the rain had stopped enough to start our journey home.