Ko Tao

On Sunday March 2, Victoria and I boarded a boat north to check out the small island of Ko Tao, world renowned for its coral reefs and scuba diving. After having been on Ko Phangan for the most part of two months, I was itching to get moving and visit some new places. Victoria had recently arrived 2 wks ago for yoga at Agama but had Sunday and Monday off from class and wanted to explore with me. We got ourselves a ticket for that morning and arrived on Ko Tao around 10 am, after a boat ride of a little more than 1 hr. Upon arriving at the main dock of the island and working ourselves through the usual melange of in your face and annoying taxi drivers and other associated solicitors, we made ourselves to a little restaurant to get something to eat and rent a motorbike. After inquiring with several scuba outlets about good coral reef and snorkeling spots on the island, they recommended heading to the southern portion of the island to several of the main bays, Chalok Baan Kao Bay and Thiang Og Bay, also referred to as Shark Bay.

Arriving at the beach, we walked around a bit, talking with some of the scuba diving schools and found ourselves a nice place to stay for the night. After settling in to our accomodation, we went out to the beach and had ourselves a nice swim and returned back to land where an awesome thai cuisine and seafood barbeque was starting up. We feasted for a bit and chatted with some others enjoying the BBQ. We decided not to drink too much that evening as we wanted to get up at a quality time the next morning and do some kayaking.

After breakfast the next morning we acquired ourselves a kayak and took off into the ocean on the way to Shark Bay. Within 10 minutes of paddling we managed to capsized the kayak and my snorkel set sank, along with Victoría's sunglasses. I was pretty annoyed as I had spent good money on the set and was planning on using them for a bit more. It was impossible to find the items as it had rained a bit lately and the water visibility was not great, in about 6 ft high water. Making it over to Shark bay around a bit of a peninsula called Ar Mae Rock took about 30 minutes. Shark Bay was beautiful and is known for having black tipped reef sharks swimming along the coasts not too far from the shore. There is also a chance for a rare sighting of sea turtles. As I didn't have my snorkel set I was unable to swim around snorkeling and observe the beautiful marine life under the surface of the ocean. However, shark bay made for good swimming and laying in the tropical sunshine. Having the kayak for about 4 hrs, eventually we had to make our ways back to the pier to catch our boat back to Ko Phangan in the mid afternoon. A very beautiful island with definitely a different feel and scene than Ko Phangan. Not as much of party or yoga scene like Ko Phangan, but essentially all about scuba diving, with dozens of companies promoting different levels of certification. The most basic certification offered is the 4 day Open Water Scuba Certification, going for about 9000 baht, or $300 US dollars. In addition, many of the schools throw in free basic lodging if you sign on with them. After graduating and receiving the certification, one is certified for life and can scuba anywhere in the world. The prices are then quite reasonable on Ko Tao for additional dives, with dives at the various sites around the island and region generally starting around $20-25 per 45 min-1 hr dive. After one completes the Open Water Scuba Certification they are also eligible to go on for more advanced scuba programs, including deeper sea diving, adventure diving, rescue diving, etc on way up to becoming scuba master and scuba instructor.