Thursday started bright and early for us. This was our day for our island tour. We signed up for a full day of snorkeling, kayaking, and island hopping. We had our expectations set quite high, we had heard nothing but great things about the sights we would see on this boat trip, turns out we may have had those sights set too high.
We boarded the boat at 8:00am and were under the impression it was an hour and a half boat ride to the cluster of 40 islands for some snorkeling and kayaking. The boat took off around 8:30 with about 40 of us on board. It was moving quite slow and I thought it was going to be a long hour and a half. The views were gorgeous but I was just so anxious to get to the islands. Luckily, the 6 of us girls are quite outgoing and were quick to make friends with a wonderful French couple. They were there on holiday and they were a joy to talk to. And the husband made it his priority to get his picture with every one of us. Any other place I would have thought he was a creepy old guy but not in Thailand, and not on that boat.
And thankfully we had that couple to entertain us because our hour and a half boat ride was really about two and a half hours! As we got closer and closer to the islands, we got more and more excited. The views were already spectacular and I couldn't wait to get to shore and see it up close. The water was a gorgeous blue and the islands were absolutely beautiful.
We finally made it close to shore and they started unloading the kayaks for those who wanted to kayak. Diane and I were the only ones in our group of 6 who wanted to do this, so we got our life jackets and got ready to go. They threw the boat in the water for us and off we went. We didn't paddle that far but we went to this wonderful island where we got about 10 mins to look around and take pictures. It was beautiful and I felt like I was in a movie. After the 10 mins we got back in the boats and paddled to another beach. On the way, we paddled through a few "caves", which was really cool. We made it to another beach where those who had not kayaked were waiting. We were able to go swim and relax for about 20 mins before we got back on the big boat to eat lunch and go to the next beach to go snorkeling.
During lunch, we made our way over to the snorkeling beach. It was at this point that I was a bit disappointed. I had envisioned the snorkeling would be at a more remote island where there were little to no people. Boy was I wrong. We pulled up to the island and instead of it looking like an abandoned island of bliss, it was more populated than Mall of America at Christmas time. We got to shore and found some place in the shade to lay our stuff and relax. Before we even tried to go snorkeling, we talked to a few other foreigners on the beach and heard the snorkeling about as exciting as watching paint dry. So, instead of boring ourselves with looking at sand through goggles, we decided to venture off on our own. We heard there was a pretty cool cave to check out just up the beach so we decided to check it out. We headed up the beach and found the path to the caves. It wasn't an easy climb but it wasn't far and in about 20 mins we were in the cave. It was well worth the climb!! I'm not sure what kind of stone it was, but it looked a bit like huge icicles stacked on top of each other. I climbed a bit more into the caves and made it to a spot that looked up out the top and to the sky. I felt like I was in a National Geographic special. It was no doubt one of the highlights of the trip.
After the climb through the caves it was time to head home. We got our stuff together and loaded the boat one last time. It was again a long ride home but we filled the time by singing to Lindsey's iPod, which I'm sure all the other passengers loved.
We got back to Koh Samui around 5pm and we were taken back to our hotel. It was a long and tiring day but in the end, the sights and memories were well worth the trip.
The last two days on the island were pretty low key. We spent Friday lounging around on the beach and enjoying our last full day in paradise. We had a great last night in Thailand but we were all ready to go home.
Saturday brought clouds and a bit of rain. Even though rain on vacation is always a downer, we were very lucky with the weather during the week so we were okay with the gloominess. We spent the day relaxing and spending the Thai Bhat we had left as to not bring any home. We enjoyed one last meal of street food and packed our bags, ready to head to the airport. Our flight was at 10pm so we caught a cab around 8pm and said good-bye to the sun and surf we had enjoyed the past week.
Our flights home were long and tiring but we got back home safe and sound. Living on island time for a week made it a bit challenging to get back to real life. Work that Monday was a struggle. Getting back into the swing of things is always difficult, but even more so after escaping to a tropical island.
I am proud to say I now have two more country stamps on my passport. Slowly but surely it is getting filled. Traveling is addicting.
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