Ko Tao (Turtle Island)

Chevron Barracuda
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April 18, 2006

We caught the ferry up to Ko Tao to do some diving.  A rather Caribbean-looking, dreadlocked local was busy working the crowd, and he continued his skilled dance on the ferry, as it lurched its way through the enormous waves to the northern island.  He, along with a couple of other guys, were touting their dive centers even before anyone had set foot on the famous destination.  The boat was a closed cabin, which was apparently necessary, as the waves threw themselves at the windows with surprising force.  The pitching of the vessel became too much for some locals to handle, and they donned their overhead life preservers, as they clutched the back of the seat in front of them with whitening knuckles.  The luggage that had been stacked high to one side took up the call and swamped the deck a few times in place of the excluded waves.  The bartender sold no food or drinks but was kept busy the entire ride cleaning up repeatedly after his violent, oceanic customer.

Diving Factory of the World

Long Nosed Butterfly Fish (or Moorish Idol); not to be confused with the Very Long Nosed Butterfly Fish
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From our landing on Long Beach, we headed to Ao Chalok, the smaller beach to the south.  We joined up with the Big Bubble Dive Center, and through them booked a nice bungalow on a private beach.  We moved into our new digs perched on a steep hill overlooking the water and just before sleep met the giant gecko landlord of our bungalow, who controlled the insect trespassers.

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April 22, 2006

We took in four of Ko Tao's premier dive sites: Chumpon Pinnacles, the Twins, Southwest Pinnacles, and Ao Leuk South.  The diving was great and really relaxed, and we were able to split off from the masses just the two of us.  When we weren't diving, we were relaxing on our secluded beach with our new, more faithful dog companion.

Spotted Stingray Peeks Out
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This small island really is a diving factory, built around pumping out newly certified divers.  The underwater life is beautiful when you can get away from the other bubble machines that crowd the major sites.  One of the big draws is the potential to see underwater giants, most notably the whale shark; however, sightings are extremely rare (despite the diveshops' advertising).  Even some divemasters who have been working in the area for years are still looking.

Caroline on Our Secret Beach
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Please note that all underwater photos were taken by our divemate Stefan Seballade, who works as a divemaster on Ko Tao, and are posted here with his permission.  For higher resolution and more underwater pictures check out his site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefseballade.