Snorkeling on Ko Mah

One of my best snorkeling experiences so far has been on the tiny little island of Ko Mah, right off the northwest coast of KoPhangan. It is easily accessible by walking on a sandbar from the mainland. While the snorkeling outside the resort I have been staying at is very cool with beautiful coral reef formations, there is not many fish to be seen. This is the result of large fishing boats cruising up and down the coastline with huge nets pretty much scooping up everything in its reach. Not many fish and other marine life survive. I did see 2 octupuses on separate occasions scurrying along the sea floor, along with a sea snake or eel backing down into a hole in the sea floor. Otherwise u are left with the coral to admire and lots of single fish and few schools of fish to observe.



Ko Mah on the other hang is another story. The location is typically loaded with fish and one can see legions of fish in the 1000's and 10,000's and up completely enveloping you. All kinds of fish with different exotic and fluorescent colors and shapes. One school of fish I observed was made up of tens of thousands of black and white zebra striped fish cruising their way around, completely obscuring anything else that may have been in the area. At times it is like being in a virtual video game with all the vivid fluorescent colors and visuals omnipresent. A complete different world than anything I had ever seen before.



As the coral reefs are instantly right off the island of Ko Mah, surrounding it and extending back to the mainland, one doesn't have to swim far at all to reach the reefs. Often on other nearby beaches you have to swim several hundred ft into the ocean before you reach the coral reefs. Apparently large fishing boats have to keep a certain distance between themselves and main land. Or at least this is done as the waters are so shallow that they need to be out a distance to be at a safe enough depth. The condition of the coral reefs and all the fish present at Ko Mah being so close to coastline prevents over fishing and allows huge numbers of fish to thrive at the location, making for incredible snorkeling.



On the main problems with the Ko Mah and it's incredible snorkeling and presence of fish is that many other snorkelers and swimmers are present, making it a necessary for one to be mindful to not bump and swim into other swimmers.