Photography Thailand Forum

[Marc Schultz]

When I was in Hua Hin on an assignment last month I came upon an area towards the end of the beach where there were some monkeys playing in the ocean. I was so surprised to see them diving in off the rocks, swimming and playing in the sea.

I did not have a long lens with me that day or I would probably have gotten some better shots of the monkeys diving off the rocks. I was only really close enough to get a few shots as they were coming out of the water.

A subject worth shooting though if you are in the area and be sure to bring a long lens to get some good shots of them diving and swimming a bit offshore. A polarizing filter would be good too to cut down glare and reflections from the water.

Has anyone ever heard of monkeys though playing in the ocean before? Was just a big surprise to me. Never knew they were able to adapt to the salt water of the ocean and swim in the tides.

As I shot the attached photo the monkey was running out of the ocean. Becuase the monkey was moving quickly, I panned the camera a bit to catch the monkey as he was entering the frame, which then created that bit of motion blur you see on the background. Just lucky though that the focal point ended up in the right place as I was moving the camera so fast. Also fortunate that I had a shutter speed fast enough to more or less stop the action.

[ThailandJohn]

Where is the area from the Hua Hilton?.
I will be going there in July or August.

[Marc Schultz]

I was not driving, a friend of mine was, but from what I recall, it is about a 15 minute drive from the main area of Hua Hin where the Hilton is, so it is not walking distance I believe. There was also a restaurant there we ate at called "Supatra By The Sea", which is also at the end of the beach and where the monkeys are. Hope this helps.

[ThailandJohn]

I will check it out on my next trip.

[David Salmanowitz]

Marc--
Monkeys in Thailand and other locales not only frolic in the water but will use rocks as a tool to crack open oyster shells. Yet it even gets better.  There is a military island (no one but the military is allowed ashore) less than two hours from Pattaya where the monkeys play in the water and swim out to your boat. Sometimes they will have babies on their backs, and will swim u/w to get at any bananas that are given to them. A friend said when he was there about two years ago some monkeys were fighting u/w for the banana, with babies on their back. When they surfaced the babies were gasping for air (but were fine) as their lung capacity is much smaller. I really thought he was pulling my leg at first, till he showed me some crappy photos of some monkeys on shore eating bananas like they were ears of corn. I was raving about this "one of a kind spot" to a dive buddy in Phuket and he burst my bubble saying he knew of a similar spot which I believe was near Koh Samui. I have not gotten to the spot near Pattaya but plan to, with topside and underwater gear as well--I think a shot of monkeys fighting u/w would be really neat.
David

[Marc Schultz]

Thank you for the feedback David. Now that you mention it I remember I visited a small island myself off the coast of Pattaya that is uninhabited and there are monkeys living there as well. It was about a 30 minute boat ride from the coast if I remember. But we left from an area about 10 kilometers past Pattaya, so it was possibly a closer starting point. But it was the same thing, the monkeys wanted bananas from us when we arrived. They can be quite aggressive though and I don't recall these ones swimming in the ocean, despite the fact that they live on a very small island. Seems though people stop there quite often to feed them. Might be a tourist destination if you charter a boat for a day trip to go island hopping in the area.

[silverliner]

I did see a large group of similar monkey species marching towards the beach every morning at Khao Chong Krachok in Amphur Muang, Prachuabkirikhan.  That was almost 25 years ago.  They took a bath in the sea!  And later they retreated to their territory.   I never had any idea before that these monkey clean themself with salty water.  The Samae monkeys in Don Hoy Lord at Samut Sakorn also share similar habit and they are capable of catching small Samae crabs and eat them!!!   If someone has a chance to visit those places it might be fun taking photos of these ape behaviours.

[Josh White]

Another must see on my list, thanks for bringing it to my attention. :)