Koh Tao and Koh Naang Yuan

I work up refreshed after a good night sleep, had a great complementary breakfast, and then headed in to town with Trent, once again tossing the moped in to four wheel drive and braving the “road” from Jamahkiri. Its a shame, just like the US, driving and talking on your cell phone.


The only plans for the day were to be back in time for the rehearsal dinner, which had yet to have a location. Trent had to get back for some official photographer stuff while I headed north on the island. I had developed a taste for some of the more exotic fruit shakes and picked up two to try and keep cool in the scorching 8am heat. There were basically two roads, one that went north and south, and one that went east and west. The north and south one was washed out but passable.


I then found someone who after some negotiation agreed to take me out to the island for 200 Bhat. It then got exciting when a little over half way the propeller fell off and we were dead in the water. He turned to me and said something to the effect that my options were to swim it or wait and flag down another boat. It was probably out of my swimming range and I had my camera with me so I said let’s wait 10 minutes then swim. Fortunately about 2 minutes later another boat came along and helped us out and I got to the island.


This was one of two times on the trip that I saw something more beautiful than anything I could have imagined even in my dreams. The pictures can’t capture this but its three smaller islands connected by sand bars. When I first arrived you could easily walk across them.


But as the tide came in they began to disappear.


Until there were a few inches of water, sorry, I’m not in the US anymore, a few centimeters of water covering them.


There was a path that took you to the top of one of the islands that offered amazing views, just a few “mostly safe” steps followed by a few quick scrambles up some rocks to the top.


Absolutely beautiful, what am I doing living in the states? I began doing the math to see if I finished my scuba to become a dive master and setup shop down here could I still afford my flat screen TV, then I realized why the hell would I need a TV down here. I would later find that a nice one bedroom condo goes for about $30,000 USD, after you pay off the government $60,000 to allow you, a US citizen, to purchase land in Thailand. It’s a shame I forgot my check book.




After some time I headed back to Koh Tao to explore the eastern side of the island. There was not much there, a few places to stay, some more land for sale, and amazing views.






And a nice view of Shark Island.


Once I saw the island I headed back to the resort to cash in on my complementary hour massage. Oh let me tell you this was great, they did not just rub, but they get up on you and twist, turn and bend you. This was a spa resort so before hand you took one of the hottest showers I have ever had in my life and then afterwards sipped some kind of bean curd tea while overlooking the bay. That may not sound tasty but it was. A little snorkeling in the bay, not much to see, then some time in the pool, a few beers and it was time for diner. I believe it was Charles, Bethany’s father who arranged this in the morning, and it was awesome! You could have never pulled this off in the states, even with months of planning. Around 5, three longtail boats came and picked us up at the resort and took us to this restaurant that had setup a private table for us up on this rock plateau that offered amazing views of another bay and the sunset.






With all of us always ready with the camera I believe together we shot just over 15,000 pictures.


The sunset.










Along the way we passed the famous rock called... Well you can guess what it is called.


On the way over, one of our longtails headed to rescue another longtail that lost a propeller as well, so I guess it’s not that uncommon. Once we arrived we took a few pictures of the families.




The food, company, and conversation was all, the best ever. I also found myself enjoying fruit rather than some rich pastry, ice cream, or something chocolate, for dessert more and more on this trip.








You have not lived until you hire a drunk longtail sailor who has nothing more than a handheld flash light to take you home on a remote island that has little electric light to begin with. But it was an island and as long as you follow the shore line you are bound to find your way back to the resort, and we did. To top off the evening the guys headed up to the bar at Jamahkiri for some cigars and cognac to toast away Kyle’s last night as a single man.