Goodbye Ko Samui... Hello Ko Tao!

Friday morning we left Samui for the nearby island of Ko Tao or "Turtle Island". We caught the ferry from Na Thon pier on Samui to our first stop on Ko Phagnan, a nearby island most famous for its monthly Full Moon Party. This month's party is on Saturday (I.e. tomorrow) so the first ferry was jam packed with people! We managed to find a tight spot along one of the narrow side decks and sat with our feet dangling off the side and enjoyed the bright sun, clear sky, cool ocean breeze and islands popping up all along the horizon.


Our second ferry from Phagnan to Tao was not nearly as busy - I counted no more than a dozen peoplenon board - and we managed to get prime spots at the front so we could watch our approach to Ko Tao. Even from the ferry the island is beautiful, with beaches snug between cliffs and bungalows lining both. When we got off at the pier at Mae Haad Bay, we were pleasantly surprised with two men from the Crystal Dive Resort waiting for us - surprising because although they knew the date of our arrival we never told them what ferry we would be on. We checked into the resort, filled out endless forms for our diving courses which will commence on Monday, and settled into our bungalow.


A few notes about said bungalow: 1. The fan is pretty ineffectuve at combating the heat and humidity. There is an A/C option but we are trying to hold off until Monday when our courses start and we get reduced rates. 2. The bathroom is not a separate room. It is a partition wall with an opening at the top that leads not outside but into the bungalow itself. 3. The bathroom stinks. The toilets here are western style but have no flush handle. You have to fill a bucket with enough water and dump it into the toilet with enough force to initiate a flush. It works but it stinks, which means our bungalow smells a bit like an outhouse. We combatted this problem by buying odour eating scent fresheners from the convenience store. Now our bungalow smells like a lemony outhouse.

The other major observation we made on our first day was the Internet situation. The Internet cafes here are surprisingly pricey! That being said, our resort has free Wi-Fi and I have m handy iPod Touch! My plan of attack is to do all typing and web browsing at the resort, and any photo uploading/backup speedily at the cafe every couple of days. Which means photos will be added here post-blogging and with less frequency.


Despite the bathroom and Internet situations, I can't help already being in love with this island. It is a diving island so the vibe is very different from Samui. I look forward to exploring it more during our week's stay here.