Some useless information first - Koh Tao means Turtle Island and forms part of the Chumphon Archipelago on the western shore of the Gulf of Thailand. It covers an area of about 21 km² and its official population is 1,382 but doesn't take into account the 1000s of backpackers and tourists that flock here in it's main summer season.
The economy of the island is almost exclusively centred on tourism, especially scuba diving.
Ko Tao was named by its first settlers after the island's turtle-like shape. but the island is an important breeding ground for hawksbill and green turtles too.
So here we are on Turtle Island and we had just spent 4 nights at the beautiful Hin Wong apartments on the north eastern side of the island. But it's remoteness from restaurants, the 200 steps to climb in the dark every time we came back in the evening was just too gruelling in the heat and a killer on the legs.
If you don't believe just how many steps there were and you think we are exaggerating then take a look at this - it's only 11 seconds long - and you will understand why we left there.
Add to the cost of the room, the cost of a taxi getting back and forth meant that we were not getting good value for money. We stayed just long enough to breath in the fresh air and congratulate ourselves on finding such a fantastic spot!
We moved over to Sairee beach on the west side of the island and found a beautiful cabin at the Blue Wind resort. The cabin and location was great during the day and it was on the edge of the town but still near to places to eat and things to do. We also had some fabulous sunsets on this beach. But the constant attacks by mozzis and the noise from the beach bars on the second night, drove us on again.
Sairee beach
We settled at our final spot on this island in the main town of Ban Mae Haad, at the not very attractive apartment building of Jam Thong Guesthouse. It is run but such a lovely lady who we warmed to straight away, and it is so so clean and airy that for £12 a night we are close to nice restaurants, markets and shops, and its very near the ferry when we are ready to leave. And we have hot water!! bonus!!
The island isn't very big only 5km top to bottom so on the day we hired mopeds it didn't take us very long to get from our new hotel (Jam Thong Guest House) it only took about 15 minutes to navigate the steep hills and bad roads to get to the beautiful Shark Bay.
shark bay from above
When we got there we had a fabulous coconut shake to start with in the OK II Bungalow perched right on top of the cliffs - it was a very hot day!! Then we hired a snorkel from them, climbed down the 100 steps to the sea below. It really was the most beautiful spot. This island is supposed to be one of the best snorkelling sites in the world and it didn't disappoint.
It started off slowly but then we spotted more and more with the highlight being a large batfish. You can see our little video here at a later date if you want to!
The main reason for coming to Koh Tao was because of it's reputation as one of the world's best diving sites. Bryan is a really keen diver and he was anxious to get under the water. The weather had been a bit stormy when we arrived at the island so it was a bit cloudy down there to start with. But as the week went on the visibility got better and better. In all he did 6 dives and loved it - even the days when visibility wasn't so good. Coral Grande Diving School seemed to be exactly what he was looking for and he has decided this is where he wants to study for his Dive Master qualification next year.
shark bay
We had been on the look out for somewhere for him to do this, so we have now started looking for an apartment here we can rent for 3 months when we come back. We used the mopeds to get around to see some of the areas and you will have to check back in with us at a later date to find out if we found anywhere!
We have really enjoyed being on Koh Tao. Despite the horrible tragedy which happened 2 months ago here, it is one of the safest and less touristy tourist islands in Thailand. There is Sairee beach where the youngsters can party all night if they want to (and some nights they do) but most of them are here diving so don't stay up late as they are either studying or have to be diving in the morning.
Then there are the luxury resorts where most people just stay put and just wander out occasionally. There there is the town where it seems to be older travellers and locals who eat and stay here.
And the sunsets, well on the west coast we were just mesmerised each evening. If you want to see our pictures - just check out our next entry as we thought it best to just put all the sunsets in one album!
All in all, Koh Tao is an island for everyone (just don't tell everyone or they will want to come too!)
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Koh Tao, Surat Thani, Thailand
Thursday, November 20, 2014
