Day 263 - Lots of people and not many fish

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Most people choose Ko Tao over its more popular neighbours, Ko Samui and Ko Phagnan, for 2 reasons - less people and better diving. At least that’s the broad, generalised impression we’ve got from the people we’ve spoken to. This afternoon we went out diving, but at risk of relapsing into negativity (again) we didn’t really think much of it. The best way to sum up our experience would be ‘lots of people and not many fish’, which is precisely what you don’t want! Yesterday’s storm had reduced visibility so we didn’t come across many interesting fish, and when you think you have found something in the distance it turns out to be another diver. The dive site had quite a current so our safety stop was holding onto the boat’s anchor chain and it was like being on the tube in rush hour - people everywhere. The one fellow diver we saw that did prove to be an interesting sighting was the boat’s Thai captain disappearing into the ocean’s depths - and we were at 30m - with a spear for a spot of fishing. He returned empty handed though.

For a number of reasons we ended up not even going on the second dive we had planned. The boat we were on had roughly 50 divers on board, including a load of newly qualified divemasters all in togas, and when we got to the next dive site there were already half a dozen other similar boats there. We saved our money and just went for a swim instead and it is amazing how many bubbles 200 scuba divers make!

In the evening we went to a restaurant called the ‘White Elephant’. This was recommended to us and it was very good by most standards, but the Ban’s Dive Resort restaurant beats it hands down. We continue to be very big fans of that place.

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