Not keen on diving? Beautiful choral, housing diverse marine life, is so close to shore you won’t need to squeeze into a wetsuit to explore the best that Koh Tao island in Thailand has to offer.

I’m dozing in a hammock under the shade of a tree, watching dragonflies dance above me. There are dark, bruised thunderclouds hanging over the sea.

Snorkelling here is amazing. I felt like an explorer of another world. Choral stretches out into the distance like an underwater forest. I watched gold and purple fish nibble on choral. Schools of small silver fish dart in one, fluid motion.

I wriggled my finger at colourful sea anemonae and they shot under the surface. Clams look like purple mouths opening and snapping shut.

Wildlife in Koh Tao

There’s not just abundant life in the sea, but on land as well. At nights bats shriek and dip and wheel through the sky. I didn’t sleep well as I was paranoid about the scurrying in the roof. Is it a snake? Bat? Spiders?

W got up early to do two boat dives to Shark island. There aren’t any sharks despite the name. Apparently there’s 75 percent less sharks here. Koh Tao was once used as political prison. People were unlikely to try to escape because of all the sharks circling its waters.

The water here is gloriously warm. What a contrast from swimming in the Antarctic where I could only stand to dip in my big toe! I love the taxi boats with the coloural ribbons tied to the stern, and offerings of fruit and water to ensure a safe passage.

It’s interesting to see the influence or confluence of Hinduism, Buddhism and other religions. I love the spirit houses built for ancestors, complete with mini furniture and mini cars!

At night I watched people kayak to their boats to sleep aboard for the night, light streaming like moon glow from the boats. The sky was so full of stars we didn’t need a torch to find our bungalow.

Filed under: Travel