Oh if only is were possible to write about everything: the treasure hunt, the rasta bar, the high bar, the terrifying roads, the balloons… Better to save the good stories for in person I guess.

I know what you’re thinking, Oh great, another snorkeling story.

Yesterday we snorkeled all the way from Koh Tao to Koh Nang Yuan. Yes, that is the next island over, No, it is not just a deserted sand barge. Koh Nang Yuan is actually three tiny little islands connected by strips of beach. There’s a dive resort and restaurants and everything there. Google image search it. It’s one of those places you see on those cheesy island paradise calendars.

This is the Thai version of Bob Marley? Or I don’t know who exactly he was trying to impersonate, but this awesome dude sings flawlessly in English and Spanish and doesn’t speak a word of either. He was playing at the restaurant right before we went for a snorkel.

I don’t think we actually intended to swim all the way to Koh Nang Yuan, just snorkel around the shore, but we jumped in and there wasn’t really a whole lot to see so we just kind of went for it. Actually, we were aiming for one of the dive boats, thinking we could use their descent line to practice some freediving, and freak out the divers. Scuba divers are funny like that, they see a snorkeler or a freediver too far from shore or too far underwater with no air and they tend to panic, like they’re the only ones who know how to swim or something, and everyone else must need rescuing. So much fun to mess with them. We made it to the dive boat that and it just seemed to be moored there with no one around so we ditched the idea and just swam for the shore.

Stepping ashore I felt like those guys in The Beach, when they swim from the one island over to the secret paradise island. It was just such a delicious accomplishment, and felt so forbidden. No crops of weed or island cult though, all we found were tourists and restaurants and resorts. We thought it would be fun to stay on the island for lunch but unfortunately we’d left our belongings, including all of our money back on Koh Tao. We walked over to the little water taxi stand and asked how much it would be to taxi over to Koh Tao and turn around and come right back, but they wanted 400 baht, which may not sound like much by American standards, but here it’s a pretty outrageous price to ask. We said it was ok, we’d just swim, and they all gave us that concerned diver look that we were going to drown and told us it was a really really long ways away. No problem, that’s exactly how we got here! So I demonstrated a giant stride entry off the edge of the dock and we made our way back to Koh Tao.

Right before we made it back to the restaurant we found the spot where we should have been snorkeling. It had some really sweet swim throughs that I captured video of, but of course I can’t post said video with the internet the way it is here. So out of all the exciting pictures I took, I give you the sea cucumber. Thrilling, I know, but just look at his little footsies!

Edit: I’ve noticed that this post still gets a few hits every now and again, so I just wanted to add a disclaimer. Koh Tao has become a much busier place than it was at the time of this visit, and the channel between Koh Tao and Koh Nang Yuan is hustling with boat traffic these days. For your own safety, please do not attempt this swim.