Snorkelling, Sharks & Sea

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KOH TAO

Koh Tao has a special place in the hearts of scuba divers worldwide and was once a favoured hideout for pirates who stashed their gems deep within the jungle. This magical island however now has more of a reputation for its treasures under the sea.

Diving drives the islands economy as Koh Tao issues more diving certifications than any other place in the world (yes, even more than the great barrier reef in Australia!). It is no surprise really as there are dozens of spectacular shallow reefs just off the shore. These colourful realms teem with marine life , from triangle angelfish to the inconceivably large whale sharks, and everything in between - rays, sharks, barracuda etc. Koh Tao literary means ’Turtle Island’.

Well in a panic last night we found a cheap hotel on Koh Tao, it was in a nice looking bay on the east side of the island ‘Black Tip dive resort’, but getting there reminded us of Frazer Island. As the local’s called the road there ‘Jumpy Jump road’. When exiting the ferry we called to confirm the reservation and then jumped into a taxi truck. We rode in the inner cab in the cool air con, whilst our bag’s bounced around in the back and yes the cab driver did have to drop down to low gear 4 wheel drive a couple of times. Having some reservations about staying there because of both the price of the cab and the charges for reserving the room before hand on the internet at an inflated price we are quite glad to receive a warm welcome from the staff and to look out to the amazing coral bay.

We got show to our fan room, which is high up the hill in a densely vegetated area. We dropped our stuff and Charlotte went for a quick swim in the sea, which was like bath water, before deciding it was probably better to hire a snorkel and look at the reef properly. But we will save that for tomorrow. She then went for a lengthy dip in the huge dive pool, that was really deep. In the meantime Liam was catching up with what was going on in the world on the free WIFI.

We had dinner at the resort restaurant which made a mean green curry, whilst enjoying the cool breeze blowing off of the sea. On retiring to bed we spent an uncomfortable and very sweaty night with not much sleep. The fan was just blowing around hot air!

We spent the next two days snorkelling the bay which was amazing, so much coral and so many colourful fish. We even spotted a baby black tip shark. The bigger ones were out and around the corner and caused much of a furore our first afternoon as the staff at the restaurant had spotted one coming around the corner, which was not usual.

There was a big boulder in the middle of the bay, that must have rolled down the hill many many years ago into the bay that we enjoyed snorkelling around, although Liam did manage to swallow half the ocean around the rough side. We did later see people climbing up the rock with a rope that had been secured there. They must have had a wonderful view of the whole bay.

After three uncomfortable nights our time there came to an end and we got a taxi back to the main beach, Hat Sai Ri. We walked down to the beach and after seeing a very expensive air con room with no facilities Charlotte again left Liam with the bags whilst hunting out the best bargain on the strip. It was hot and thirsty work, but we found the best deal to be ‘Bans Diving Resort’ a double air con room with balcony and TV for 1100 baht per night, but it was only available for three nights. Charlotte bit off the arm of the Ladyboy who offered the room and ran up the road to collect Liam and help him down to the other end of the beach with the bags.

We were very happy at getting back into a air con room and finally getting a decent nights sleep. We spent two days wondering around the town and dipping in the pool before booking our homeward bound flight for May the first and arranging transport to Bangkok.

On the last day we checked out of the hotel, enjoyed a hearty breakfast and some last minute shopping before hopping on the taxi with three other people and their baggage. Charlotte took the inititive and jumped into the passengers seat in the cab, whilst Liam rode shot gun in the back with the bags. We arrived at the ferry in plenty of time and checked in before receiving out obligatory joint ticket sticker, colour specifying your final destination.

We were told to leave our baggage in a pile and proceed to the cafe where we were all asked to raise our hands in the groups of the various colours before being given instructions, in bad Thai/English, as to what our transport would entail. It turned out the green stickers (us) were to board the ferry ten minutes after it had docked, just enough time for the other passengers who were returning from the full moon party in Koh Phan ang to get off. We would be sailed to Chumphon and from there we would be bused into the main town to catch our sleeper train to Bangkok.

We watched the passengers arrive in various states of undress and covered in florescent paint get off of the boat and were soon wheeling our bag’s along the wobbly pier and jumping onto the boat. We were a bit worried that we would all fit on the boat, but almost all of the passengers got off at Koh Tao, so there was plenty of room to spread out.

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Comments

[Chris and Lisa]

Nice
Great Blog. Did you do a diving course? We loved Ko Tao going to head back later in the year but any tips on accom would be great :-)))))

[The ones that got away]

koh tao
both dive resorts are on line: http://www.bansdivingresortkohtao.com/ http://www.blacktipdiving.com/