Hi All,
Ko Tao
Day 0. Booked a bus-ferry trip to Ko Tao. Early start with a 4hr bus trip. Got to the pier at Chumphon and the Fast ferry was ready to go. Took about 2hrs to get to the island and even got to watch an astro boy DVD. We had booked ahead and had a room about 200m from the jetty. We dropped off our bags then decided to walk to Ao Tanut bay to look at the state of the roads and possible accommodation options. It was 9km return walk over some steep hills and we were drenched with sweat by the time we arrived. The road was dirt and in very poor condition and we had read that there were regularly accidents on the roads on Ko Tao and we even saw a few tourists struggling to control scooters so we decided that it just wasn´t worth hiring a bike as the roads were just too dangerous . The bungalows at the bay were nice but too isolated and too far to walk back into town if we happened to want something that wasn´t available at that end of the island so we decided not to move. Found a nice local restuarant well away from the tourist area which had nice cheap thai food and fruit shakes. We walked up to this restaurant many times during our stay and the fruit shop on the way back was also a regular stop for fresh pineapple which they would cut up for us for our dessert.
The room back at town was only a fan room in a concrete building so was like a sauna at night. The difference between outside and inside was significant. We didn't sleep well so decided to move.
Day 1. Hired a sea Kayak for 800 baht. Extortionate but no competition. Snorkelled around some spots. Visibility amazing but coral in most bays was dead or extensivelyy damaged. Found a spot with small black tip reef sharks. Next bay found a nice spot with live coral and excellent water clarity. Vanessa spotted a stingray and then I saw a larger black tip reef shark near the point of the bay. Circled Shark island a couple of times but couldn't find a spot to land and couldn't work out how to get in and out of the kayak from a mooring so was quite frustrated.
We had initially intention to kayak from one end of the 6km island to the other but we just ran out of energy and were glad to have the wind and tide assisting us on the way back.We returned the kayak and then decided that we would swim out to a shipwreck which sits about 100metres off the shore.We searched again for the elusive sea turtle which apparently resides in this area but without success.
I still have trouble with my right ear and did some test dives to about 5m but was unable to equalise properly. Vanessa has developed a cold as well so it seems the plan to get open water PADI diving certificates is out of the question at the moment which impacts on plans of diving in Borneo. Quite disappointing as Ko Tao is the cheapest location for dive training in Thailand.
Found a local 'mum and dad' run bungalo resort a couple of doors down. Easy to find as every one was painted purple. The mum controlled everything and it was a bit chaotic. Perfect. We had a 30m walk to a lovely section of beach with a eating area and a large tree to provide shade. Lovely. We booked for a couple of days and had a nice wooden bungalo with fan and self contained bathroom. It cost 300 baht a night or about AUD $10!
Day 2. Organised Snorkel trip around Island. Initially covered the same areas. We swam with some large black tip reef sharks in about 4m of water which was exciting rather than frightening. Next stop was disappointing as the coral was not good. We visited mango bay which had absolutely amazing water clarity and was a nice spot for lunch. Last stop was a bit of a scam as the guide told us to get off the boat at a lovely island would cost us 100 baht each. We declined to go and when the boat left the island jetty and headed to a nearby mooring we were told by the guide, as suspected, that the best snorkelling spot, Japanese garden, was about 20m away and it was ours to snorkel around for about 1.5hrs. He was instructed by the company to encourage people to visit the island but once the boat had left he then told us the truth. Great coral and some larger fish. Was fun watch the divers swimming below us. Later the area filled with about 10 dive boats which was ridiculously crowded. Managed to see a black and white striped sea snake before it disappeared beneath a rock.
Day 3. Snorkel around South end of island again. Probably some of the best sights on the island. Found a nice looking eel with a leopard pattern in a gap between some boulders. Went across to some rocks that were supposed to have a resident sea turtle but no sign of it. Found a swim through a couple of metres under the water surface and of course took a deep breath and swam through it. A little bit dangerous as only just had enough air.
Walk down along the beach in the evening and discovered another village. Picture perfect watching the sun set. Walked back for about 3km trying not to get run over by scooter riders.
Day 4. Boat-bus trip to Krabi town. People were coralled in a holding area and got different coloured stickers for various end destinations. We got some complex instructions in broken english before boarding about changing boats but no one really understood. We just said we understood so the person would let us board the boat. Slow boat to Ko Pha Ngan took 1.5hrs then everyone booted off. Mass confusion about boat changes. We just waited around on the jetty and a tuk tuk driver told me the boat would arrived in about 20 min and pointed to a boat on the horizon. Sure enough our boat arrived and we headed to Ko Samui which took 1hr then another 1.5hrs to Surat Thani. A beautiful area with Karst mountain ranges. We left the boat and were told to go inside but found that the bus was waiting and ready to leave in a few minutes then left for Krabi town. We were on it but others must have missed the bus. Phew. A couple of hours later and we arrived at the bus company bus station which was well out of town. They provided a transfer for 20 baht each which was a little annoying but they did take us to our accommodation choice which was full then found us another which was quite nice (A. Mansion).
Bye for Now,
David And Vanessa
