Part 3 has been rather delayed in coming. I blame being sick and then being lazy...I'm still not 100% but 90-95% is when I should stop making excuses and finish my weekend story.
So, Saturday I was already feeling quite toasted from Friday. Still, I had no intention of not going on my trip, opting for the intense slather of sunscreen multiple times throughout the day, and wearing a shirt to protect my back as much as possible. It was Saturday, and I was going to Angthong Marine Park.
Angthong is actually closer to Koh Samui than Koh Tao is, but the journey was about just as long, mostly because the boat was slower. The vessel I traveled in was much bigger, and had two stories and an upper deck. I went with the far less entertaining, but far more anti-sun option of spending most of the boat ride in the benches on the middle deck. There were also a lot of German tourists on the trip, the tour guide spoke both English and German and gave his directions and instructions in both languages.
Our first stop of the day was in a little cove, surrounded by rocky, uninhabited islands. The German tourists went kayaking first, so there was some time to jump off the boat into the water, swim around, and go snorkeling. I only jumped from the middle of the boat, but you could jump from the top too. It was a lot of fun. The snorkeling was really pretty too. I didn't see as many colorful and pretty fish, but I saw some nice coral and sea urchins. Having gone snorkeling once, the experience went much smoother a second time, less sea water in my mouth.
The sea kayaking was two people to a boat, and in the morning I went with another woman who was part of a third, or whose family didn't want to go. I'm not sure which. It was both a fun and not so fun experience. We didn't kayak together well at all...or communicate barely. It made the kayaking journey itself a rough one. However, it was really cool to kayak under rock and into a little cave in the island, or simply just kayak under the outcroppings. It's obviously something that can't be done when the sea water level is higher.
After the kayaking was a short lunch trip down to the other end of the Marine Park, where we let the kayaks out and made our way to the only island with anything really human on it. Restrooms and a little shop. Those were only their to support the real attraction...the green saltwater lake. It really wasn't very far, but it was a long climb. Up and up cement stairs that were practically like ladder rungs at some points. Still, it was beautiful to look out and see the lake, and from the highest point, look out over Angthong Marine Park itself.
The worst part of the climb, was climbing down to the edge of the lake, knowing that you would have to climb back up in order to go back to the beach. It was fascinating to see all the sea urchins in the bottom of the lake, and to look out over emerald green water. The sea urchins really amazed me with their shiny red and blue disc looking things amid the black spikes. Somehow I made it back to the beach...stair by stair.
I got a little rest and then it was time to go kayak out to the point the boat had dropped the other kayaks off. I went with the guide that time...it makes an amazing amount of difference when you have an awesome kayaker in the back. Plus it meant I could take pictures pretty much whenever I wanted. We went under a crack of limestone that went all the way to the sky above, and the beaches and shore of the island we could see as we passed looked lovely.
Once we got back to the boat there was a little time for swimming, which I basked in...the water feels great after a hot day. Once all the kayaks were on board one of the Thai guides started doing fancy jumps off the boat- spins and turns and twists and flips. It made me wonder if he had grown up on the island, by a beach, playing on boats all the time, and what kind of life that would have been like. I envied it a little- I do love the ocean.
After that, it was just a boat ride back to Koh Samui and a bus ride back to the hotel. I rested for a bit, before getting dinner and stubbornly trying to see a sunset on the beach. It didn't work out too well, since the beach was facing the wrong way. So, exhausted, I went to bed early and on Sunday I flew from Koh Samui back to Bangkok and journeyed to my home in Ayutthaya. Where I proceeded to spend the rest of the week sunburned, exhausted, and sick. It was a great long weekend though. :)
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