Day 148 - 18th November
Another early start left me wondering why I even bother booking hostels. I might as well just stay awake all night instead of getting a few hours kip.
Anyhow, Matt saw us off at 6am and we jumped in another mini van and headed for the pier. The ferry ride was less than a couple of hours, bypassing Koh Phangan where we would be going for the Half Moon Party - in one day!
We were transported away from the hustle and bustle on the dock just five minutes down to a resort I'd looked up on HostelBookers. The Sairee Hut Resort was perfect. Sitting right on the beach and another nice sized room for three of us.
We booked up snorkelling and within half an hour, we were out on our own private Long Boat with our skipper and cruising across the waters to our snorkelling sites. I couldn't resist a rendition of 'Robin Hood' as Del-Boy did in To Hull and Back.
We kitted up and dived in at the first spot. The fish were great but sparse. I enjoyed watching the coral more, moving slowly underwater. I floated there for a good twenty minutes, popping up now and again to readjust my snorkel. Kel and Dave seemed to enjoy their first experience too.
We moved around the bay a little more to our second destination and armed with bread, dived in again. This time I took off my life jacket and found it easier to move around. I even swam further out and saw some species of fish I'd never seen before on previous snorkels.
For lunch we paid 100 Baht to go to Koh Nangyuan Island to see the narrow strip of beach that is famous for being a mini paradise on Koh Tao. Lunch was nice, with a pork noodle soup filling me half way up and my old pal, the banana pancake finishing the job.
By early afternoon, we were back on the beach and settling in to our place for a swim in the sea. We invested in a volleyball and Dave and I had a round of head tennis before the sunset. We were aiming for a record of 50 and after countless attempts, we finally reached 57, with sore heads I might add.
We sat around the beach side bar of our hostel and had discussions about family and life in general - only the sort of chat you can have over a Chang in a tropical climate. It when you have time on your hands that you really do get to know people - even people you've know all your life and are your family. The details of course stay between us - sorry!
We had dinner at the bar before readying and going just next door to The Sunset Bar. There, we enjoyed beers, were entertained with a fire show and relaxed as the waves crashed against the shore and the stars were out overhead in abundance - quite the mental image, huh?
All in all, it had been a brief but fantastic stop over in Koh Tao. It was a real shame we were running out of time. Only two days left until Kel and Dave were leaving :-(
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