Koh Tao

Night bus to Koh Tao was pretty good, slept most of the way, only bad part was arriving at Chumporn ferry terminal at 5am in the rain with a 2 hour wait for the first ferry to Koh Tao. Ferry to the island was pretty smooth so didn't get sick along the way, but still could not enjoy the trip as guys from the different dive resorts on the island were trying to sell their packages to me the entire trip. Got off the ferry and decided to do my dive certification with Easy Divers as it was only 9000B ands included my accommodation and 6 meals. My Bungalow was nice and clean with my own shower and toilet and close to the classroom where we did our theory part of the course. The diving course was amazing, I really enjoyed being under the water with all the fish and coral, some of the dive sites were incredible. The most interesting site was Chumporn Pinnacle where we dove to 18M, we saw Spotted Stingrays, Moray eels, Sea Cucumbers and massive schools of fish, supposedly there was a shark about 5M below us but we didn't see it. I was lucky to end up on the island on the same weekend as Nyree, Snoop and Tahi so got to spend lots of time with those guys too which was really nice. We ate some delicious food together especially one night at Whitening restaurant where I had a seafood BBQ. On my final day on the island I hired a motor bike and went exploring, I found some beautiful bays with hardly any other people on them, had some nice swims and stopped off for a delicious Tom Yam and iced coffee in a sweet little cafe in Sairee Village. While driving around the island I discovered the Koh Tao animal clinic and got chatting to the vet, she was amazing, had been working on the island for 5 years in the clinic. We spoke about peoples attitudes to dogs on the island and the importance of De-sexing to reduce the population of stray dogs. She said she sometimes has volunteers stay for a few months with free accommodation, getting involved in all aspects of the clinic, the last girl stayed for 5 months and by the end was even De-sexing dogs herself. I was ready to discontinue the rest of my trip and stay but as my visa is only valid till 21st Jan I have decided to apply for a volunteer visa, which can be issued for several months, and finish my travels returning on my way back to Australia. I really enjoyed my time on the island and would have loved to stay longer but had to get bus back to Bangkok to extend my visa and will catch a train from there on to Chang Mai.

Sunrise at Chumporn Pier, Main Beach Koh Tao with one of many stray dogs, Little hut where I had massage, Sunset while eating dinner at Whitening Restaurant, My tiny little Bungalow, Freedom Beach, My Beast Motorbike.