Emerald Sea Cave (Morakot Cave)

The Emerald Sea Cave or Tham Morakot, in Trang Province, Thailand (11 May, 2014)


Emerald Sea Cave is a natural subterranean passageway on the island of Ko Muk in Trang Province, Thailand. It is also known in Thai as Tham Morakot (ถ้ำมรกต ) or simply Morakot Cave. The sea cave has a length of about 80 meters. It extends from the coast of Ko Muk, forming the shape of the lettert "J" to curve its way to open towards a secluded cove surrounded on all sides by towering cliffs. Within this sheltered area is a crystal-clear pool.

Access to Tham Morakot is governed by the tides. It can only be entered during low tide, when the water level is low enough for safe swimming through the subterranean passage. When the tide is high, access to the mouth of the Emerald Sea Cave is covered by water, and the passage can only be accessed with scuba gear. Those who remain in the sheltered cove will have to wait for the tide to ebb once more.

The Emerald Sea Cave has become one of the major tourist draws for Trang Province. Now boatloads of tourist cram into the cave, particularly during holiday season, that there is hardly any standing room.

My Visit to the Emerald Sea Cave

I visited the Emerald Sea Cave on 11 May, 2014 with team members and guests of Beautiful Planet Holiday. We took the boat from the pier at Pak Meng Beach. Our boat left the pier at 10:00 am in the morning, Thai time. Everybody have to wear life jackets and I am pleased that our boat has brand-new life jackets. En route, those of us who want to take photos inside the Emerald Sea Cave have to hand over our cameras to the guide, who place them in a waterproof sack. We arrived at Ko Muk at 10:55.

We were given instructions to form a line in the water, each person holding to the life jacket of the person in front of him, and the person at the top of the line is led by the guide. With that, we were "towed" into the Emerald Sea Cave. It was very exciting entering the Emerald Sea Cave. We don't really have to do much except to paddle in the water once in a while. Due to there being many, many tour groups visiting the cave, there were several lines of people heading in and out at the same time.

We formed queues in the sea to enter the Emerald Sea Cave. (11 May, 2014)


Crowds of tourists lined up to enter Emerald Sea Cave. (11 May, 2014)


View of the queue from the tourist boat. (11 May, 2014)


Sign at the mouth of Emerald Sea Cave (11 May, 2014)


I was among the visitors entering Emerald Sea Cave (11 May, 2014)


In places the cave was absolutely pitch black, and without the light from our guide's torch, I would not be able to see anything. Looking up, I can see the stalactites on the ceiling of the cave, some of which taking on the appearance of monstrous shadows. There is a heavy smell of guano, indicating the presence of bats that dwell within the crevices.

It look just about 15-20 minutes to pass through the cave, and we emerged once again into sunshine, in the sheltered cove, with the blue sky right above us. Oh my, there are so many people here, that in places there was only standing room.

There are so many visitors to the Emerald Sea Cave we looked like orange penguins (11 May, 2014)


Towering cliffs form natural walls within the sheltered cove of the Emerald Sea Cave (11 May, 2014)


I retrieved my camera from the guide and started taking some photos and videos of the cove. Then I joined my team members and we took some group shots. I don't know how long we remained there, perhaps only twenty minutes, but that was enough time for us to see the whole place. And then it was again time to swim back to our boat.

Once again, we formed a queue, each holding to the other person, and out we went. We arrived back at our boat around 12:00 noon. We enjoyed ourselves very much, and I am glad that I have finally visited the Emerald Sea Cave.

Visitors lining up to leave the Emerald Sea Cave (11 May, 2014)


Coming out of Emerald Sea Cave (11 May, 2014)

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