I know I said I went for an early night last night; well in reality is was more like severe tiredness as I was intending to do the next update of my blog, and instead woke at around half 4 with my notebook and phone next to me. I went to set an alarm and put my phone on charge, but in my tiredness I turned the lights back out by taking out the the card which powered the room. All my rooms in Thailand give you electricity through inserting a card into a slot after you have checked in. This meant I woke up to no alarm, and no charge on my phone, and I didn't know what time of day it was. Luckily it was only 8ish, so I wasn't late for the snorkeling at 9. Breakfast this morning consisted of everything! Well that means more Thai noodles, rice, pancakes, and then the home luxuries of fried eggs, scrambled eggs and bacon to name a few things! My plate was piled high of bacon as I made the most of the buffet. This trip has been really good in respect of breakfasts as every breakfast has been included except the ones after the sleeper train where we didn't stay in a hotel.
It was then off for a full days of snorkeling, and after a short transfer by truck to the pier we arrived on, we were briefed by the local guide on the safety, and it was also made clear that no snorkel at the end meant 1000 baht fine! That is about 20 pound remember. We then had to board a boat, and after climbing over 5 boats which were all rafted together in the harbour, it was time to go out to sea, first stop Shark Bay. It was here we were told that we had the chance of seeing sharks! Don't worry though because apparently there has never been a shark attack on the island, and these sharks were meant to be small anyway. I didn't see one anyway, but some of the others said they saw some! By this time however I hadn't quite got the hang of using a snorkel and kept breathing in water inside of air so couldn't go under the water for very long at a time.
Next stop was called Shark Island, where now being a more experienced snorkeler was able to see all the corals and fish. Much of the fish and corals here were mainly greys and browns and not the colours I had pictured prior to the trip! We were given about half an hour per stop, and next stop was Auw Leuk where I got to see more fish and corals, although I think I cut my foot here as it was quite a rocky area and the rocks are sharp. I forgot to say that accessing the water at each stop, we were able to jump of the top deck of the boat which was quite a way down, but we had to hold our snorkel in our hand whilst doing this. One person dropped their snorkel when doing this which meant a 1000 baht fine!
The next stop along was Hin Wong Bay, and after a another session in this rocky area with yet more fish and corals we had lunch. Many of the fish here had black and white stripes and we could see then from the deck of the boat. Lunch was rice with this meaty topping stuff and a fried egg. I somehow gained lots of extra stuff as people didn't want all of theirs! Our last stop of the day for snorkeling was Mango Bay which was by far the best area. Situated the opposite side of the island for us, this area had more colorful corals and fish, although I didn't see a nemo fish!
To finish off the day, we were dropped off at Koh Nongyuan, the 3 islands connected by the sandy beach I was talking about yesterday. We were able to relax on the beach here and swim in the crisp blue waters. Some of us also went up to the top of the one the islands which involved us walking along these wooden walkways and eventually clambering up these rocks at the top to get an amazing view of Koh Tao and Koh Nongyuan directly below us. It was really humid compared to the bottom however! By about 4 we left the island ready for transfer back to Koh Tao, and upon arrival back to the pier we were able to relax until half 6 ready for our evening meal.
Prior to dinner I went down the seashore to watch the sunset which was simply stunning. We faced the west this time which is why we could see an amazing sunset. Dinner this evening was again at the Seashell Resort Restaurant, and I plumped for the BBQ this time where I had a chicken kebab, beef kebab, sweetcorn, chips and garlic bread. This was in effect the last dinner as a group of 16 as tomorrow we were leaving the island in the afternoon where people were all doing various things. To finish of the evening some of us went to Moon Bar and drank Mojitos and the seashore to see out what has been an amazing trip. By 12 I went back to the hotel, although some of them went into the main area for a night out, again!
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