To Dive or Not To Dive?

Inside the ferry they pack em in and show movies.
see all photos »

So, it was straight from one island to the next. We hopped onto a ferry to a neighboring island called Ko Tao. Ko Tao is known for its clear waters and reefs for diving, and is pretty much THE place to go and get your diving license... unless you're like us who find out the diving schedule (four days of classes and tests) and throw that idea out the window! Not on our vacation. Ha ha. No, but really, Chris already has his license, so it would have been me and Kevin just slaving away at diving school while Chris did his own thing (probably incorporating a few Singhas and Red Snapper all day), which seemed not such a bad deal for him, but Kevin and I didn't have the drive to do the whole license thing at this point in time. Next time!

Making our way to Ko Tao.
see all photos »

We stayed on Sairee Beach at a place called AC Bungalows (yes, they had air conditioning, much to Kevin's pleasure) and a great pool where Kevin and Chris delved into Vince Flynn novels all day (oh, I wish this man never existed, it's all they can talk about - ha ha) and cleaned out the 7-11 filling up a makeshift cooler for the pool. These boys can make anything happen if they put their minds to it (or if there's cold beer involved).

Ko Tao is known for its clear waters and reefs for diving, and is pretty much THE place to go and get your diving license.

see all photos »

Sairee Beach is the most happening beach in Ko Tao, but it wasn't at all like the tourist hell that was where we stayed in Ko Samui. It was a really cool place filled with people drinking shakes all day as they studied for their diving licenses (not us, though!) amongst talking with friends about the amount of buckets (literally a bucket of mixed drinks with about 5 straws to share with friends) consumed the night before and then partying the night away at places like Lotus Bar, where they have some pretty amazing fire spinners. And the food... oh, the barbecues were to die for! Every night there was red snapper, barracuda (can't really explain that one because we thought it was inedible...) and other local fish grilling outside all of the restaurants. Good stuff.

Red snapper fresh off the barbie.
see all photos »

But eventually we had to pack up our things and head on to another island in Thailand, where we would be meeting up with one of Chris' best friends from Miami. The more the merrier! Ko Tao was great but I was excited to be heading to Ko Lanta, where I have heard nothing but great things about the Muslim culture that sets it apart from the other islands of Thailand.