Continuing my adventures in Thailand, we left Bangkok in much anticipation of the endless blue-green waters. If you have not read my adventures in
We arrived at Chumphon, the point from where we were to take the ferry to Koh Tao (Our first stop in the series) to pouring rain. No, this was not the kind of rain that stopped after a mild drizzle, this was the kind that outpours and floods cities like Mumbai. Needless to say, our hearts jumped to our throats. We were in for a week of sun, sand and the beach not to cower under shacks from heavy downpours. We researched all we could at that point and realized much to our dismay that November is the time for rains in the southern part of Thailand and we realized gravely that this oversight could cost us our vacation.
Trying very hard to stay upbeat we trudged along, on board the ferry when it was time, dreading the weather as we reached the islands. Thankfully, the weather had cleared up by then and we could stand atop the top most tier of the speed boat to enjoy the mesmerising blues and landscape as our boat made its way to Koh Tao.
Koh Tao – The Turtle Island
A journey of around two hours went past in a haze with the beautiful sun rising atop glistening the blue waters with a shimmer like no other. Soon we spotted Koh Tao, rightfully named Tao which means “Turtle” in Thai as the tiny 21 km2 island actually looked like a giant turtle. As we spotted the turtle island and praying to the rain gods for some kindness we rushed to our resort.
Commuting within Koh Tao
We reached the resort dropped our bags and headed to Sairee Beach right opposite our resort. It was a beautiful coast truly. We had a sumptuous breakfast (read bread for vegetarians) and headed out to find a taxi to take us to the next beach spot. For commute in Koh Tao, you can either rent bikes as cheap as 150-200 Baht per bike for a day or you can hire a cab at 1000-1500 Baht depending on the places you want to cover. Since we were a large group, we preferred going together in a jeep and took a taxi to Tanote Bay.
Tanote Bay
Tanote Bay is definitely one of the best beaches I have ever been to. With the backdrop of other islands by its North and beautiful resorts by the bay. There were small houses at the end of the coastline that made you think that you could just leave everything in your life, buy the house there and wake up every day to this beautiful view with a smile extending from ear-to-ear. I wish I was exaggerating but the calm beach and the idyllic house just made me want to settle in there. We had the most engrossing of conversations by the beach and as the sun was starting to go down we headed up to the Two View point with the lovely aerial view of the beach on one side and the tall palm trees and the other islands on the other.
Island Hopping in Koh Tao
Our second day in Koh Tao, we planned a day long island hopping snorkeling trip starting with the lovely Koh Nang Yuan island where a beautiful strip of sand connects two tiny islands and the endless blues of waters on either side. It was gorgeous, to say the least. While I learned later that this is a natural occurrence in several beach countries, this was my first time and it was one of the marvelous things I have the chance to experience. On either side, you could face and tiny waves come in crashing at your feet. There was not much else I could ask for.
Tumultous Ride to Mango Bay
However, the weather came in every now and then to play a spoilsport and by the time we were to leave the island for our next island Mango Bay, the ocean had swelled up to twice its size. Since our boatman seemed quite confident we stepped into our boat. As soon as we got in he started pulling out life jackets and asked us to put them on and we were all left speechless. Biting all our words and fears we quietly put them on and as we left the bay and the boat rocked away making its way to the endless ocean
The boat took it one wave at a time and every single landing crashed a little more ferociously than the previous one. The first few crashes were fun as water sprayed from all sides but as it went on and on, our hearts lurched up and down along with it as well. As we moved further and further away from the land and all we could see was the blues of the water, an uneasy silence spread across the boat like we all had started uttering our prayers at the same time. Luckily, we were moving away from the storm and the waves settled in after a good one hour by which time we were drenched in water but also washed away with relief with the gentle rocking of the boat. They should use the word “Gentle” in bold and italics when the phrase is used for without the gentleness
Snorkeling in the middle of nowhere
As we moved away from the storm, we realised that the bay was completely inaccessible due to the storm. We swiftly moved to our next stop. But since we really wanted to snorkel, the boatman suggested anchoring the boat further away from the bay and asked us to jump into the ocean with our life jackets and gear and asked to snorkel away to our hearts content. He insisted that there was nothing to fear and to be very honest after that rocky boat journey all we wanted to do was reach land and kiss the sand but we figured we might as well do it all the way. The bravest of us all jumped first assured us she was not dying and one by one we got into the waters and it was enchanting. The waters were crystal clear and as the boatman poured in more and more fish food from above, we managed to catch a varied school of fishes and I also captured my first underwater video, thank you Go Pro for that.
Freedom Bay
Once we were content, we made our way back onto our boats and slowly made our way past Shark Island, Tanote Bay and finally stopped at our last stop Freedom Bay and while it was the smallest coastline I have ever seen, it was beautiful. There were several small trees by the tiny coast that made it seem like nature compartmentalized the beach into tiny coaches and each group picked their coach and we sat by the sand and watched the sunset gradually. We had a jolly good time by the coast and as the evening set in, we made our way back to the Sairee beach.
It was truly a day well spent. As we made our way back to our resort we realized we needed a good dose of pampering after the exhausting day and we made our way to our hotel massage and spa and got lovely Thai massages.
If Koh Tao hadn’t won our hearts already, the small island’s
To read about the other islands we visited in Thailand click on the related links below