Malaysia and Thailand Winter 2008-9

Feb 8 2009

Five or ten years ago Ko Tao was a sleepy backwater island. It has been discovered and there are new resorts, guesthouses, dive shops and restaurants springing up everywhere. We were rather disappointed when we first arrived but the island grew on us and we are still here, extending our stay one day at a time.

We took a ferry from Chumphon to the island and found the accommodation we booked not up to snuff. View Cliff was cheap but dingy and as the name suggested, up the hill from the main tourist beach, Sairee. After one night of hearing the faint but recognizable booming base from a bar on Sairee Beach, we were glad we had not booked a room closer to the "scene". We did spend an enjoyable day walking the 1 km of sandy beach at Sairee, swimming in the warm waters and having lunch at a beachside restaurant. The next day we visited another bungalow complex on nearby Mae Hat beach recommended by fellow French tourists and booked a room there.

In the meantime we had a great boat tour around the island stopping at five spots to snorkel. I bought an underwater camera, a very simple one that takes film and can be reloaded. That way I could use it for snorkel photos as well as a few shots during our future travels.

We swam over cruising Black Tip Reef sharks in Shark Bay. That sounds dangerous but it isn't. The sharks have to keep moving even at rest. They like the area above the shallow reefs to stay during the day and only go looking for dinner during the night. As long as you don't threaten them, they leave you alone and continue their cruising.

Other stops had schools of colourful fish and some good anemones with their resident Nemo cousins. In between our guide Phil, a Brit who has lived on Ko Tao for 11 years, gave us talks about the fish and the corals. He explained that much of the damage to the corals that we could see was a result of climate change in addition to pollution brought by people. The warmer temperatures cause algae to grow which suffocates the corals. We were all careful to just admire the corals, not to touch them.

Nemo's cousin

Ko Nang Yuan

Our last stop of the day was at the three extinct volcano islands of Nang Yuan (Vietnamese woman). The Thai government has given permission to a private company to establish a resort on the islands, which are joined by permanent sand bars, and charge 100 TB entrance for day visitors. All the tour boats stop on the islands making the narrow beaches very crowded. If I were a guest of the upscale resort, I would not be very pleased. As it was, we spent some time sitting under an umbrella on the beach and exploring the shallow waters searching for more underwater beauty. The other snorkel spots were superior.

Just as we disembarked at Nang Yuan Ray discovered that he had shooting pains from his back to his hip. He had been complaining of a sore back for a week or so but this was the first time he had this type of discomfort. He tried a massage treatment but that has had limited success. He is taking an anti-inflammatory with codeine. We keep extending our stay by one more day to give Ray a bit more time to recover. We just hope it improves soon enough for us to travel to our next destination.

In the meantime Ray is resting and reading while I explore some of the snorkeling spots within walking distance of our room. There is interesting snorkeling just off the beach of Mae Hat. It is not very deep and the corals, while not the most colourful I have seen, harbour some interesting fish. A short distance from shore is an accumulation of large boulders to swim around and a sunken boat.

Yesterday I decided to walk to the next bay. The closest bay has an upscale resort that does not welcome casual visitors. They wanted 200 TB to swim there so I bypassed that bay and continued on. From the condition of the path I followed this was not a very common route. It was past some local’s houses, over a hill and through a forest to Sai Nuan Bay where there is one secluded resort. I was ready for a swim. It was very rewarding. The water was quite clear and lots of fish. I swam around one large rock with one side covered in purple pillows with waving anemone caps closely guarded by Nemos. On my return to the bay I scared a large turtle from his feeding place beneath the surface. I was thrilled. It seemed only appropriate as Ko Tao is Thai for Turtle Island.

The next day I left Ray to rest and took another snorkel tour guided by Phil. I joined a large group of Thais on a long weekend with their work group and families. They were very friendly and I enjoyed chatting with several of them. I saw the reef sharks again and lots of corals and anemones but a bonus for me was swimming above the corals off Nang Yuan island instead of going ashore. This is where the beginning divers train as it isn't too deep. It was just right for snorkeling and it was interesting following the bubbles from the oxygen tanks of the divers right underneath me.