Koh Tao... not so isolated

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We arrived in the most 'isolated' of the Gulf Islands, to find that it is in fact a very busy place, due solely to the extreme amount of diving carried out here. Anyone who's been to Cairns will understand the emphasis on a single activity, but concentrated into a few beaches on an island.

We took a taxi to Chalok Baan Kao, and were dropped off an an awful large diving company who saw people as sardines to be squashed into tins, at great expense to us of course. So on we went, until we found some cheaper accommodation. However it is still 2 ½ times the price of that on Koh Phangan, as is everything on this purely european tourist orientated island.

We had expected to spent days chilling out on this 'isolated' island, but it was too crowded to simply enjoy doing nothing. No hammocks and cheap shakes and coffee here!

However, the island cannot just be written off. It still has the white sand beaches and the warm sunshine, and the dive we did we really enjoyed. I did get bitten twice by a Moon Wrasse who thought I needed cleaning though! After our dive we spent the rest of the afternoon jumping off the dive boat and swimming with the fish, who seemed to follow Alex wherever he went!

This was the last of the beaches for us on this trip, and our last swim certainly was spectacular. We entered the water as the sun began to sink, dying the water beautiful shades of orange-red and purple. We left the water in the dark, to be greeted by the fairy lights of the restaurants along the beach, a sight seen so many times in the dark in asia. I don't think we'll forget this swim.

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