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islands. An hour's passage, smooth or sporty as the weather dictates, is enlivened by sight of flying fish, huge bulbous jellies, or a playful porpoise. Now off the shore of Goh Lahn or Goh Sak ("Goh" means island, and these two are the nearest), we decide which of the several coves offers the best prospect for a day. We do not always decide correctly, and once the engine has coughed its last it is hard to change our minds, but more often that not we fetch up on a shore with something, at least, for everyone. The beach-lollers troop with their picnic baskets to broil on the sand; the gogglers leap happily into the waters in search of coral and clams. SCUBA men and photographers laboriously entangle themselves in their cumbersome gear: is my knife on? Is my camera loaded and sealed? Why is my weightbelt caught in my tankstraps? - and in a quarter hour, more or less, the empty boat is gently rocking quietly in a sea of spouting snorkels.

    By midafternoon we have our trophies, our fish and our pictures. We are tanned, wisely or not but well. With a long drive into the sunset before us, we know it's time to call it a day. When all are gathered back aboard - we seldom take a head count but never, we think, have lost a member - we cast off and make for the mainland. Here and there an over-enthusiastic aficionado nurses a reminder of a brush with sharp coral or a spiny urchin; a swarm of jellyfish may have left a measly memento. Despite these minor accidents, it's been a worthwhile day.

[Dr. Henn led our airborne excursion to the Indian Ocean.

Part of the group at dinner on Puket island. The menu consisted entirely of fish speared by the party.]