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Published: April 20th 2009
Friday, April 17th
Early in the morning we packed our things, bid Haad Yao beach a fond farewell, then scooted south to Thong Sala pier. After breakfast Ferdi dropped Talita by the ferry ticket office with our little bags. While she bought our tickets he scooted to go get our big bags from storage. After dropping off the big bags Ferdi had to go back and drop off the scooter. The lady thought we'd changed a panel on the scooter (meaning we'd had an accident), but Ferdi assured her we didn't. Reluctantly she gave back his passport (which she had kept as collateral), then Ferdi ran down the beach to the pier, fearing that the ferry might leave without him. He arrived on time but the ferry was late. Rather safe than sorry.
We sat outside on the top deck, away from the nasty A/C and enjoyed the hour and a half to Koh Tao (or Turtle Island), a small island to the north renowned for it's diving.
As we walked of the gangway a local guy asked if we'd be interested in a diving package and handed us a brochure. Intrigued, we followed him to a dive shop.
Easy Divers have been operating for twenty years, is PADI 5 Star rated, and offers dives including accommodation at really good prices. (It seems that we over-reacted when we saw the prices on Koh Samui. This place could well be divers heaven!) We booked a four day/six dive package. We're also thinking about doing a night dive. After the formalities we were transported to our room. It was big and clean and we were very happy.
We settled in then went in search of a lunch spot with wi-fi so that we could do some blogging and catch up on email. We were totally spoiled in Vietnam. Almost every hotel there had free wi-fi. It's much harder to get that here in Thailand. Pouring with sweat we finally found a place where we had fantastic sandwiches, then caught up on our email and blog.
Back in our room we had a lovely cold shower then read a bit to avoid the heat before going out to explore some more.
After walking around town a bit we found a great restaurant on the beach. From here we enjoyed the most fabulous sunset we've ever seen (see panorama). On
the way back to our room Talita spotted what must certainly be the Godzilla of all geckos. It was MASSIVE! This raises the question; did the French also do atomic bomb testing on Koh Tao?
Today's highlights:
1. Arriving in Koh Tao.
2. Booking the dive package.
3. Enjoying the most beautiful sunset ever.
4. Spotting the worlds biggest gecko.
Saturday, April 18th
On the way to the dive shop this morning, we spotted two frogs in the throws of passion (well, to be honest, there wasn't much passion. The one was just sitting on top of the other).
Anyway...
Our dive sites for the day was Hin Pee Vee and White Rock, located on the upper west part of Koh Tao. The wind was up and the visibility was a little low on our first dive, but good on the second. We saw a total of three Blue-spotted Stingray and two Titan Trigger-fish. We also saw a juvenile Harlequin Sweetlips (they're so cute), a Porcupine-fish, some Parrot-fish, Angelfish and a whole bunch more. It's a little like bird-watching, but you can get much closer to the creatures and therefor much more fun. We're sure mom
Mariana will have a ball identifying all the species once she gets her scuba certification (nudge nudge, wink wink).
After lunch we rented a scooter and went north. Initially we just wanted to find a super-market but we ended up all the way north. In order to get to the viewpoint and the beach we had to go through a private resort. Luckily they didn't mind.
The beach is not really a beach at all. It's a bunch of boulders in the ocean with coral growing all around. A friendly couple from Israel offered us their snorkel gear. The reef was amazing. We saw another juvenile Harlequin Sweetlips, Parrot-fish, and a whole bunch of others. It was great! We decided there and then to investigate getting our own masks and snorkels. After we finished we sat chatting with the couple for a bit. They're at the end of a nine month trip and eager to return home.
On the drive back we found the super-market and got some supplies. Then we went to investigate masks and snorkels. It's a bit confusing cause there's a lot to consider when buying a mask, so we'll have to think about
it. The snorkeling here is very nearly as good as the diving so it would be a waste to miss it.
Just as we were leaving for dinner the power in our area went out. We took the scooter and went in search of a place for a night-cap. At one point we tried to get up a hill that was just too steep for our little scooter. Talita had to bail of the scooter cause the breaks wouldn't hold it on the hill and it started sliding downhill. We ended up enjoying a beer shandy while watching the sunset and reminiscing about our wedding weekend.
At dinner Talita got fiery hot rice even though she asked for mild. She sent it back and they returned with just hot rice. Needless to say she couldn't eat much.
When we got back to the room the power was still out, so no fan. That's bad! Real bad!
Today's highlights:
1. Seeing the Blue-spotted Stingray.
2. An unexpected adventure ending in a bit of snorkeling.
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Melinda
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Paddas...
Paddas abba mekaar gereeld, dit hou hulle fiks en gesond - julle 2 vuil uile kyk obviously nie baie National Geographic nie! lol...