Sun, Snorkle and Sea Turtles

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Atfer a late night for New Years we had to wake four hours later to catch an early morning VIP bus to Koh Tao (Turtle) island. We got a brief snooze on the bus before we were kept awake by Tom Cruise saving the world in Mission Impossible. The bus arrived at the boat dock at noon, we grabbed a bite to eat and then had a short hour and a half on a catamaran to the island of Koh Tao. Once we stepped onto land again we were accosted by taxi drivers wanting to take us here or there, but we had no idea which beach we wanted to stay at. Instead, Capri and Vic had a coffee while Jarrod and I ventured off on a scooter to find paradise. An hour later and we were all booked in at a guesthouse at the quieter Chalok Baan Kao beach, which wasn't the powder white sand we dreamt of, but still idelic. Follow us on the map of Koh Tao

Discovery on Foot

We choose Chalok Baan Kaw beach because it was away from the "city" life of Koh Tao and also in close proximity to other beaches. So, in an effort to explore the island we walked a mere four minutes to the next beach and found Ta Cha Bay, a quaint beach lined with palm trees (not guesthouses) and sand two shades lighter. At the far side of the beach we found a nice restaurant with a balcony over the water and had a long lunch while watching the crabs clinging to the rocks below us. A cheeky tabby cat befriended us, well mostly me, and curled up on my lap while we waited for our meal. Once the food came out, kitty had the nerve to try and get up on the table and have a bit to eat as well! I love cats, but no cats on the table! Kitty attempted a few times before he gave up on me and tried getting on the table from Vics lap, still with no success. In the end, Jarrod gave Kitty a few scraps on the floor and then Kitty sat on his lap over mine.

After digesting lunch, Jarrod and I took a quick swim, our first in the gulf of Thailand! We both dove into waist deep water only to find ourselves face to face with coral reefs. We swam a few meters further and found a sandy patch to stand up on, the water up to our hips. Once we stopped moving, out from the caves in the coral came dozens of fish - black and white striped ones, little neon blue ones, and yellow stripped butterfly fish. It was quite amazing to look down and swimming all around your legs are schools of tropical fish!

Discovery by Kayak

The following morning Capri and Vic upgraded hotels, for a treat, to a fancy dancy hotel a few doors down with a buffet breakfast, manicured gardens and a swimming pool. After their switcheroo, we all headed out on two person sea kayaks to explore the island from the water. The day prior, when we came up with the idea to go kayaking, it was gorgeous calm weather. However, today turned out to be a bit blustery and a bit challenging. Inside our bay, the wind was blowing towards us, which made for a nice warm up for the arm muscles. However, things got challenging once we were out of the bay and paddling around the point where the open ocean turned out some good sized rollers. The tip of the kayak would lift out of the water and smack down but I was too busy paddling to be scared about going overboard. Once past the point, and the open ocean, it was easier going and we paddled past the beach we had lunch at the previous day to the next sandy beach, Leuk Bay.

At Leuk Bay we beached the kayaks for a few hours. Jarrod and Vic brought out the snorkle gear and went exploring along the shoreline rocks in search of corals and fish while Capri and I went for a swim to cool down. Vic soon returned and headed to the shade with Capri to relax. An hour later and Jarrod still hadn't returned up and wasn't anywhere in sight. Capri and I decided "Operation Save Jarrod" was in order and headed to sea on a kayak in search of him. We were barely 200m from shore when we saw some flippers kicking up waves and Jarrod's head poped up. Phew! Operation Save Jarrod was successful! After wandering down the coastline, it took Jarrod half an hour to make it back to shore, so after that he was pretty hungry.

We settled in at the only restaurant on the beach for some lunch and watched the tide roll in with some fruit shakes for the ladies and cold beers for the men. After lunch Capri and Vic headed back for a tough paddle home while Jarrod and I continued further on to the next beach, Tanote Bay. Paddling into Tanote Bay we could see rock formations below us and a few fish swimming near the surface so we figured this would be a pretty prime area for some snorkeling. And we couldn't have been more right. Swimming around was like staring into Gord and Robs salt water tank at home, only bigger! The bay was filled with fabulous corals in red, orange, green and purple. There was brain corals, and spikey corals and cool Christmas Tree worms that hid when you swished water by them. We saw giant purple clams, sea cucumbers, spiky sea anemones, angel fish, orange butterfly fish (always in pairs), banner fish, parrot fish and numerous others. So many fish, but we failed to find Nemo 😞

After an hour or two of snorkeling, Jarrod and I called it a day (you get cold being in the water that long, and no, we're not wimps). Back in the kayaks we headed for home, by late afternoon the winds had died down and the water was like glass, perfectly smooth and you could see a good distance down. We were paddling along when 15 feet to our left a giant sea turtle popped up his head for a moment and then dove back down. You could see the shell and it was a good meter in diameter! TOO COOL! We stopped paddling and tried to turn around to catch another glimpse of the turtle but to no avail. We waited for a few minutes but he had gone way down under the sea not to be seen again. We didn't find Nemo, but we did find Crush the Sea Turtle! 😊

Discovery by Scooter

Warning: Rent at Own Risk
Jarrod and I had rented a scooter from day one and figured today was a good day to explore even further and head to the north of the island to some more remote areas. Vic too, was to join us and he rented a scooter of his own. From the rental shop, Vic made it about 20m to the corner of the road and bailed: His back tire skidded out on the sand and before he knew it he was down on the ground. Thankfully, just a few scrapes on the knee and no need for an emergency evacuation. Now, Capri was not about to get on the back of Vic's bike and Vic wasn't so sure he wanted to join us on the unpaved roads.

Koh Tao is the one of the most undeveloped of Thailands islands and learning to ride a scooter here is only for the brave. In my opinion, Koh Tao has the most number of bandaged tourists from bike accidents and I saw more than one pretty girl with severe road rash down the sides of her face. There are two paved roads, and there is intermitant patches of loose sand on the pavement making it extremely slippery. The unpaved roads are worn from water in the monsoon and some are very steep and uneven. The utmost caution is necessary. That, or rent a 4-wheeler, or better yet, take a 4WD taxi. PS. Don't worry mom and dad, we came out unscathed!

So while Vic kept a slow and cautious pace on the pavement, Capri settled in on the beach with a good book. Jarrod and I ventured off to make our way to Hin Wong Bay which was described as "abundant coral reefs in a natural pool" who wouldn't want to check it out? We made it ok on the scooter except for the last downhill to the beach which was plently steep enough to walk down, let alone ride a scooter. The beach was full of big boulders and we climbed around and found an opening where we stripped down and went for a dip. We had to be careful because if there wasn't a boulder there was coral down below. We glided into aqua green water over the rocks and coral careful not to touch anything. It was a shame we didn't have snorkle gear with us because it would have been pretty fabulous!

In the bay there was a sail boat docked. While we sat on the rocks waiting for the sun to dry us off, a youngish couple came down and hoped into a small motor boat. We had a quick chat and it turns out they own the sail boat and had left from Switzerland to sail around the world ten years ago. Guess they are enjoying it! Even though I'm out travelling for a year and my life is near perfect I couldn't help but to feel slightly envious.

Discovery by Boat

For our last full day of fun Capri, Jarrod and I signed up for a snorkle/boat tour around the entire island with a stop at nearby NangYuan island. We were picked up in the morning from our hotel and outfitted with fins and a mask. Capri picked out some snorkle gear too, even though she wasn't convinced she felt like entering the water with a mask on. First stop was at Shark Island, where friendly whale sharks and reef sharks can be found in the early morning. But, being almost 10am, all we found were some big rocks and a few striped fish. Not that exciting. Next stop, Mao Bay, proved to be not that exciting either simply because the boat had to park so far out you didn't have time to swim and explore the coral near the shore. The following stop we had lunch on the boat and then others went in for a snorkle. Jarrod and I choose to stay on board with Capri this time and a few other stragglers, one a skinny Sweede. Long story short, we tried unsuccessfuly to educate the Sweede and our tour guides that feeding the fish leftovers from lunch everyday may not be such a good idea. Contrary to popular belief, and also the thinking of our boat drivers/tour guides and the Sweede, feeding may seem ok, but it can be detrimental to the fish long term. Learn about the effects of feeding fish from here or near the bottom of this page as well.

After making new friends, we docked at our last stop, NangYuan Island, which is really three islands connected by sandbars full of bleached coral. We climbed to the top of the hill on one of the islands and the view was quite stunning with the white sand and blue waters. From there we wandered around the rickety wooden boardwalk enjoying the sunshine. All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed the scenic boat ride, however, I think snorkeling is best done on your own, adventure style!

No Discovery Home

The morning we had to leave we were woken at 6am by heavy rain pounding down on our roof. It just kept collecting and collecting, by breakfast at 7am we had to jump through pools of water ankle deep and there was a good 15cm in the street by the time we were ready to leave. The rain threw Capri and Vic for a loop and they were at a bit of a loss at what to wear in this weather to keep dry. Keeping dry, however, is not an option. It's just a matter of how wet you get. Shoes and socks are useless. It's much better to wear sandles and whatever gets wet will dry much faster. The ferry back to the mainland was packed full and we ended up sitting on plastic chairs in the aisle. They seemed to oversell the tickets and there's nothing wrong with trying to make as much money as you can...but I couldn't help but to wonder if there was enough life jackets for everyone. Scenes from Titanic were hard to banish from my mind. Nothing Titanic like materialized and I was first off the boat to hurry and get tickets for everyone for the bus back to Bangkok.

The bus ride was pleasant for Vic, Capri and Jarrod. I, on the other hand, found it to be much more challenging. Firstly, there was a distinct odour of sh*t the entire 8 hours. Secondly, there was a bell dinging, like the warning signal dinging in a car when you haven't done up your seatbeat. The same dinging bell my dad disconnects in every one of his trucks. For me, it was like a form of torture that lasted for 8 long hours. Other than that it was great!

We arrived back in Bangkok, Kho San Rd, for Capri and Vic's last night in Thailand. That night we stretched our legs and wandered the shops and finally tried mango sticky rice for dessert. Early the next morning we saw Capri and Vic off and said our goodbyes. I was really quite suprised at the lack of tears in Capri's eyes, but maybe she was too tired to realize she wouldn't be seeing her son (or daughter in-law) for another 7 months. That, or she cried in the taxi on the way to the airport. Or, maybe, they're planning on coming back to see us again! Stay tuned for ''Capri, Vic, Jarrod and Carol travel Veitnam?''

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Photos

Rusty Love
Long Tailed boat propeller

On the Water at Dusk
Chalok Baan Kao Beach

Sunset
Chalok Baan Kao Beach

We Made It!
Secluded Hin Wong Bay

Rustic Buddha
Near Hin Wong Bay

Huts Along the Shore
Koh Tao

Three Connecting Islands
Proof we made it to the top!
NangYuan Island

Boardwalk
Jarrod and Capri wander along down the boardwalk over the ocean and between the rocks. NangYuan Island

Capri and Carol
In my new (and first) string bikini! Racey!
Nangyuan Island