Several years ago I was approached by an Icelandic production house called Profilm. They were in Thailand exploring the possibilities of creating a documentary about the Moken people and would I be interested in helping them capture underwater footage for the film.
What followed was one of the most rewarding experiences of my underwater filming career. Under the careful and measured direction of Profilm's director Johann Sigfusson we spent eight weeks filming above and below water in several different locations on the south west coast of Thailand.
We met and interviewed the Moken elderly, the new generation, their enemies and their friends. The officials who want them out of the national marine reserves and those that want to see them resettled on dry land and absorbed in to mainstream Thai culture.
The Moken have lived on the Andaman Sea between Myanmar and Thailand for generations stretching back far beyond the time when westerners first started trading with the Kingdom of Siam. They are descendants of the more well-known sea gypsies - the Bajau of Indonesia.
Our story centered on the Moken people of the Surin Islands. These people captured the world's attention and indeed their imagination in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami. Not one Moken was lost to the tsunami and they were known to be directly responsible for saving the lives of those that heeded their advice to run to high ground. We asked many Moken about how they knew the wave was coming. No one could give us a definitive answer as to how they knew - they just smiled and said - of course we know.
I have since worked on other documentaries about these gentle sea farers and each time I see more of their culture eroded by the Thai government's relentless pursuit of this sad idea to assimilate them into Thai society. Their language is only spoken by the elders, their right to hunt and fish in their waters is restricted more and more, the island where they used to temporarily shelter are now overrun with tourists as "National Parks" and the imaginary line that separates Thailand from Myanmar is heavily patrolled, making it nearly impossible to move around freely as they did for the last millennium.