Day 64: Snorkelling on Koh Tao

Tried to book a snorkelling trip last night and were told at reception since it was no problem to book around 8:30am (the tour we were interested in left the nearby pier at 9:30). Apparently if you book in advance and it's called off due to poor weather, there's no refunds! The land of smiles, ladies and gentlemen.

Thankfully it was pretty clear weather so we had a 7-11 breakfast in our room (yoghurt tubs and packaged croissants) before booking and awaiting the pickup. The "taxi" was probably the most ridiculous ride we've had so far - 9 of us stuffed in the back of a ute tray with nothing to hang on to! We were the last ones in and there were a couple of points I was fairly sure I was going to fall out, but luckily we survived.

The tour we booked was for five snorkelling sites around the island, including a 2 hour stop at Koh Nang Yuan just off the coast. The boats, tours and prices are all pretty much the same, so we'd essentially picked one at random while ignoring the one advertising a slide off the back deck (assuming it would attract families with young kids). But we seemed to have made a fairly decent choice; the boat wasn't overloaded or cramped like on Gili T, and the operator was an American who seemed to at least take seriously things like counting the number of people on board after each stop!

Stop number one for the day was Shark Bay, where they advertise you can see black-tip sharks. But we couldn't snorkel here due to weather conditions (very choppy and a strong current), and apparently it's pretty rare to see sharks there these days anyway. Too many tourists! So on we went to spot number two, which was basically just a small area (maybe a couple of acres) of reef clustered around the large granite boulders that form the island itself.

Shandos and I were first ones off the boat (we just jumped off the side), though I was a bit disconcerted by the sudden depth - probably 40 metres or so! And I couldn't quite get my mask right, the strap was much tighter on one side than the other which stops it from sealing properly. This would be an ongoing issue for the rest of the day, despite my best efforts. The snorkelling spot itself was quite good, though the water was still a little rough which hampered visibility. Plenty of coral on display and lots of tropical reef fish too, though it's hard to not notice the dead coral too.

After about 45 minutes we got back in the boat and puttered off to our next snorkelling spot (we were slowly circumnavigating the island, counter-clockwise). Next stop was in a very sheltered bay and had great protection from the outside currents. The reef here was larger and in better condition, and the visibility was much better too. Beautiful coral and loads of tropical fish swimming around. Even saw one huge grouper looking fish that was close to two feet long!

Back to the boat again, and off north we went into another sheltered cove called Mango Bay. Again great snorkelling here; a bit shallower but still well protected and with great views. Once we got back on board we had lunch, some rice and egg dish a minced chicken and basil mixture. Surprisingly decent for pre-packaged food!

After lunch we hit up the fourth spot on the northern coastline. Not much to distinguish this place other than we both enjoyed it albeit similar to the others. My arms were getting a little tired at this point since I didn't have flippers to wear, so I went back to the boat a bit earlier and contented myself with jumping off the side into the water - even once from the roof of the upper deck! That was a long way down.

Last stop was at Nang Yuan island, a sort of curvy three-pointed star shape island of granite boulders at each point, sandy isthmuses in between each and a fancy resort on one edge. Plus with three different bays for snorkelling. Shandos went for a hike up to the highest peak, while I sat on the beach and had another snorkel. Though the bay I chose wasn't that great - there was an enormous boatload of Chinese tourists who'd arrived on a day-trip from Koh Samui, and watching people stomp around knee-deep coral waters in reef shoes and a life jacket is simultaneously amusing and depressing.

I retreated to the beach and relaxed for a bit on a deckchair, before being informed that "these aren't free, must pay 150 baht for two". Thai hospitality strikes again. 150 baht is about $6 AUD, which isn't that much but just seems like a hilarious ripoff when you're only there for an hour. And you've already paid 100 baht per person "marine conservation fee".

Shandos returned and went for a snorkel in a different bay, and eventually I went and joined her. We went to different sides and when we eventually met up again it was only 25 minutes before we had to back for the boat. But she'd found a turtle, and I had the GoPro! So back into the water we went, and surprisingly managed to find the turtle fairly easily. Got some good footage before hurrying back to the pier, where we were the last ones on the boat. Whoops! Only a few minutes late though!

When we arrived back on the main island Shandos decided to walk back to our hotel because it was only a few hundred metres away. I opted for the ute ride, and after three conflicting sets of instructions from the same person, ended up getting driven to the wrong resort. And of course I had to wait for them to drop off the furthest people away before they could go to my resort on the way back. So it was probably 25 minutes to travel a few hundred metres. And I banged my head getting out of the ute, so a crappy-ish end to the day.

As we were both tired and sunburnt, we didn't manage to go any further than our hotel's restaurant for dinner, though we sat on a balcony watching the sun set, and the food was very good! On balance, a very good day, and we were really happy with the trip. Last day here and on the Thai islands tomorrow - the day after that will be spent in transit with a ferry to the mainland and then an 8 hour bus ride up the peninsula to Bangkok. Can't wait for that!Read more