Bangkok-Day 1

Not much to say other then a bustling city full of hustlers trying to sell you every imgainebable thing possible. Checked into our hotel and walked doen Khoa San road to explore the vendors and stands. Took a Tuk Tuk around the downtown to a few temples and great food vendors. Later on we relaxed up at the pool top enjoying our rooftop pool. So hot!!!

Koh Tao-Day 1

Finally arrived after 11 hours of travel in Koh Tao. We took the overnight bus which left at 8 pm in Bangkok and arrived at the pier by 3 am, the ferry left at 4 and took 2.5 hours about to get to Koh Tao. Already I can tell this Island beholds wonderful things, crystal clear water, lush vegetation and and splendid bays/beaches!

Finally able to check into our hostel (Indie Hostel) and get summm breakyyyyy🥞🍳!

Met up with Mac’s high school friend Airies from Tofino! Super cool and nice girl, she let us borrow her scooter for the day to explore the island.Lets goooo!!!

Trouble shoot 1: scooter seems to have a very flat tire and is going to roll over as soon as we turn. Head to gas station and pump it up. Attendant says we need new tire as it’s so worn it won’t properly hold air.

Trouble shoot 2: 5 mins later back on the road, “should we check the gas just incase before we get to the other side of the island?”, says Mac...as the scooter sputters and dies out:0, so we push it back to the same attendant at the gas station and fill it up.

Finally we head out to Tanote bay and enjoy a bit of snorkeling and swimming!

On our way however...

Trouble shoot 3: tire is flat for real this time, luckily we stopped nearby a shop and we can get a new tube put in for 8$ in 10 minutes!!!

Koh Tao-Day 4

Just started our Padi Openwater Dive Course!!!! We have been sitting in the classroom all morning watching instructional videos after being shown our gear and how to use it!! Super interesting and exited for our first two dives tomorrow!!

Yesterday we rented our scooter for two weeks and booked accommodation for two weeks in Navy House. Super cheap (6$/night pp). We explored more of the island on the scooter, enjoying the lush landscapes littered with huge boulders.

Koh Tao-Day 7

Officially Open water certified divers!!! Such a great course with great instructors (James & Airies). Never thought I would enjoy diving this much, even with poor visibility I had the best time of my life! Very interesting learning about all the different skills and elements involved in diving!! Considering doing my Adavanced course !!!!;)

Heading out to shark bay to do some snorkeling, supposed to be some of the best on Koh Tao.

Last night we made our way up to Sun Suma 360° Lookout. What an amazing sunset 🌅!!!

Koh Tao-Day 10

Busy last few days, finally took part in the so “famous Pubcrawl”, apparently the biggest in all of Asia. Consisted of a lot of loud music going from bar to bar and even to a ladyboy cabaret. (Thailand is apparently know for a lot of “he-shes” as they are called here).

After a day of recovery we headed down to Hin Wong bay to do some snorkeling! Very cute little beach with cool coral structures. Then on our way back we ripped the moped up the hills to all the different lookouts! Steep hills but great views, definetly hard but well worth the hike if moped isn’t accessible.

Today I tried my luck at some thai bouldering. Rented a pad for the day and set out by myself in search of some nice boulders. All the boulders on Koh Tao are made up of a hard granite composition with tiny little crimps and nicks. Couldn’t really find any previous routes as my guide book was outdated, so made up my own climbs for about half of the day. Worth the experience. Hopefully can do some more climbing in railay.

Koh Tao-Day 14

Last few days have been thunderous and rainy, streets flooded, and paths have washed out, real tropical storm! However after becoming half stir crazy the skies opened up yesterday and allowed us to go back out. Airies took us up to a lookout called fraggle rock, with Camme and Hector. Fraggle Rock is this giant set of boulder admist the jungle right at peak of the mountain set behind Sairee Beach. It provides excellent views across the whole of Sairee Beacb and West side of the island/bay. Mac and I have also decided to sign up for our Adavanced Openwater Coursw.

Koh Tao-Day 17

Our stay in Koh Tao is sadly coming to an end:(( Time on this island has been great, even tho 2 weeks isn’t considered long term, everyday we feel a little bit more local. Thanks to Bingo and their great food for keeping us full and well nourished.

Yesterday we completed our Adavanced Openwater course! By far the best experience in my life. I could rant for hours on how grant it is to breathe underwater and just glide over the corals and rock structures, using only light fin kicks and your lungs to control your bouyancy. This course consisted of 5 dives over two days, the two mandatory dives you have to complete the deep dive and the navigation dive. In cordiance with that we also chose the night, search and recovery, and the peak performance buoyancy dives. By far the most recommend is the night dive because at night the underwater world changes completely. All the fish sleeping and the different nocturnal species that appear, plus the benefits of seeing the bioalluminance are so worth the plunge into darkness!!! The search and recovery dive and buoyancy dive consisted of multiple skills to benefit us in further dives, etc. For the deep dive we went to the wreck of an old US lander(got to see the wreck and do a deep dive two benefits), once reaching our max depth of 30m we did a narc test which consisted of playing 11’s, then drank some coke, cracked soem eggs and looked at some different items, and of course checked out the wreck. Following this we did our Navigation dive which consisted of a few little compass skills then we were partnered up with a dmt and told to lead the dive and go wherever we want!!!!Overall so happy I did this course well worth it. Of course some celebratory beers...🍺

Today we went to Koh Nang Yuan, three islands connected by pristine white beaches just west off the northern tip of Koh Tao. A lot of people and a lot of dead coral, however soem great views!!

Koh Phayam-Day 3

Woke up and sat down in the hammock to enjoy a nice morning coffee and the ocean breeze. Heading back to Aow Yai bay to enjoy the beautiful beach and mangrove trees littered along the shoreline.

It is our third day on the little island now. Two days ago we departed by the night ferry which was basically a flat bottomed ship with two rooms that are filled with rows of bunk beds (hostel on water). Took about 6 hours to go from Koh Tao to Chumphon, upon arrival a minibus picked us up which then took us all the way to Ranong, where we hopped aboard the oldest, unsafest, and slowest boat in all of Thailand to take us to Koh Phayam. All in the trip took about 12 hours :). Once in Koh Phayam we rented a scooter and explored the island trying to find cheap accommodation with our two huge backpacks and two day packs. All in all the going was shit and hot but we ended up staying in the hostel for 5$/night, super cheap and nice!!

Yesterday we explored and went to Aow Yai Bay. Beautiful long beach which mangroves along its perimeter, providing well sought after shade. Laid down in e half shade and read a book and just enjoyed my time. A couple stray pups joined me half way through the day as well!

Tonsai/Railay