Koh Tao, Thailand

After a while away, we were ready for Island life once again. We caught our bus from underneath Hua Hin clocktower at 8:00am and after another maniac bus ride, arrived at Chumphon 4hours later. Chumphon is were Southern Thailand begins and were we caught our Catamaran to Koh Tao. We didn't expect the boat ride to be so bad but when the employees started giving out sick bags & tissue before we even set sail, we started to get worried. And right we were to worry. As you all know for the last 2years we have caught the Brittany Ferries crossing from Plymouth to Santander and every time we have both complained about how bad the journey was. Well we both felt even worse on this boat. For over 2 hours we had to put up with a very choppy ride with more then half of the boat vomiting, unfortunately we came under the sick category! poor us!
But as soon as we started to approach Turtle Island (Koh Tao) the sea calmed and the sun was shining again. And the boat ride was totally worth it. We found a room just before Hat Sai Ri Beach. Koh Tao is very big on caring for the environment, not every place has 24hour electricity and like everywhere else in Thailand, toilet roll down the loo is a big no no! Our first few days where cloudy in the mornings. We even had a 10minute downfall a few times. But the sun always found us by mid afternoon and by the end of our time on the island we found it extremely hot. On our second day, we decided to walk the South West coast of the island and had a amazing day. By following our Koh Tao map, we came across secluded beaches and paradise. We also found some great snorkelling spots. Koh Tao is one of the worlds most popular places to get your open water diving certificate, its also pretty cheap to do so. The waters are crystal clear, shallow and filled with coral reefs and tropical fish. Some of the marine life around the island include The Whale Shark, Black Tip Reef sharks, Blue Spotted Stingray and much more. We were lucky enough to see a puffer fish.
We went on a snorkelling boat trip that took you around the whole island. It was a great day and a funny one too. We started of by climbing down onto our boat "Thai style" which is by stepping of the pier, down onto the bars on the side of the boat and swinging onto it. Then you have to climb over 2/3 boats to get to yours! After this we realized our boat was stuck in between 5 other boats and the end boat was sinking. It was filled with Thai men trying to put pressure on one side of it and a machine pumping out the water. Everyone was screaming instructions to each other and after 20minutes we were on our way! We stopped at shark bay.......and saw no sharks! gutted! And also snorkelled in some amazing reef sights with Beaked Coral Fish, Harlequin Sweetlips, Parrot Fish, Long Fin Banner,Titan Trigger, Butterfly, Double Barred Rabbit Fish and sooooo much more species that only Leanne and Dave would know. We ended our boat trip on Nang Yuan Island, we came here 3 years ago and was again blown away by the beauty of it. Nang Yuan is 3 islands all joined together by a huge sandbank and surrounded by massive boulder rocks and live coral....so no fins allowed! After plenty of Musaman Currys, fried chicken in ginger and spring onions and banana & coconut shakes, our week on Koh Tao had come to a end. This is a very beautiful, peaceful and amazing island and we will miss it.
Our time in Thailand is nearly over and we will finish our last 4days back on Koh Pangan. We cant believe it has gone so fast.