What was going to be a peaceful evening drive along a deserted beach to explore a possible new location to visit the following day and watch the sunset turned into a drive of horror, at least for my mum and sister!
We were heading south towards Phuket but decided to make an overnight stop near Laem Son National Park, about 300km north of Phuket. The national park is relatively unknown and always quiet, in fact there isn't even a ticket desk of sign upon entrance at this specific point.
A single lane road led us to the main beach. Upon arrival there was nothing apart from a small 5 to 8 space car park, a few concrete benches and tables and some old BBQ stands. We decided to look for another spot to stop at since the so called picnic spot was full of rubbish. Google Maps showed a dirt track leading off over a forest ridge and onto the next beach. It was a lot bigger, a lot longer and covered in dense forest leading us to believe it would be totally remote and completely natural.
An early arrival meant we could enjoy the water and have a picnic. The sun was strong and the lack useable shade gave us the perfect excuse to set up a sun shelter with my rarely used tarp.
We spent the best part of the day relaxing, swimming and exploring the rocks to the north/right side of the beach just a couple hundred meters along. After exploring most of the top end of the beach and as the sun started to drop, we had our eyes on the far end of the bay. The tide was out and the sand was hard enough to drive on without any dramas, so we decided to head south.
Knowing that we had 3 to 4 kilometers to explore we set off down the beach. We drove mid beach where the sand was packed the hardest but still far enough from the waters edge.
It is the dry soft sand at the top of the beach that usually gives an indication of drivability. If you wheels spin in 4LOW, dig down in the sand and don't leave tread marks, then you stand a chance of getting stuck. Luckily for us, even in 2WD we were leaving the perfect tread marks behind.
Image Source: Google Maps
As we reached the end of the beach, a narrow outlet and headland cut us off from going any further. We stopped and had a walk around. Multiple rock pools and clear water made a picturesque setting as the sunset out at sea but as the wind changed direction from time to time we started to feel, maybe it wasn't as perfect as it looked!
A horrid stench of something rotting wafted along the beach from time to time. As we wandered around, we soon noticed a large carcass that had been washed up on the sand.
I circled around to stay upwind so that I didn't have to smell the stench. It turned out to be a large dolphin. I have no idea when it had died or how long it had been washed up for but certainly long enough for an army of crabs to turn it into their new home. I suspect it would and has been feeding them for quite some time.
There was no visible evidence of injury or attack to cause death and the gruesome opening in its lower gut did not show signs of plastic or netting.
The skin was totally sunburnt but why wouldn't it be if its out all day under the hot sun.
While I held my breath I rushed to take photos and satisfy my curiosity. The teeth were probably the most gruesome, life like part of the dolphin as it was the most recognisable to a living creature.
The evening continued to cool and in the distance we began to hear the sound of motorbikes. Two local fishermen were heading straight towards us to head up over the rocks with buckets. I can only assume they were off to check their days catch of some kind. They showed no interest in the dolphin as they glanced over - I guess they had seen it before.
Walking a little further down towards the beach, we watched the sun set before heading back. The late evening started to come alive with sounds and movement in the forest. Birds were coming down to the waters edge and picking through the sand while the tree tops started to sway! Monkeys perhaps, although we couldn't spot any.
We headed back down the beach wondering if the dolphin would be washed back out to sea at the next high tide or if we returned one day that there might be a half buried skeleton in the same spot.
Since it was rather a large find, we decided to report it to the local authorities via their Facebook page. What was to us, just a one-off find might be something much larger in the local area and perhaps one of many that could help piece together a puzzle of some sort.
I guess we have all read stories from somewhere around the world of dozens of whales, dolphins, sea creatures or even animals all being found dead due to poisoning, hunting/fishing, pollution or disease and that changes are usually put into effect shortly after - or so we hope.
We wrote a short message describing out findings, GPS tag and the photos. It took a few days before we got a reply saying something along the lines of "Thank you, we will take a look with our staff".
The 3-4km drive back up the beach was nice but as we turned into the forest to cover the short 1km stretch of off road back onto the hard top, it quickly turned dark and just like the tarp - any excuse to use the spotlights!
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All content is original: the photos (unless stated), the writing and the adventure!