You cannot come to the island paradise of Koh Tao without a snorkel adventure. This place is renowned for its scuba diving- world class we are told. Since I'm not scuba certified and don't feel like paying 9000baht to do so we opted for a day of snorkeling around the island. Rather than taking a big boat filled with other people we decided to spend a little extra to hire a traditional Thai long tail boat from a gentleman at the beach. We did a little bartering, got fins and a mask, and we were off for our adventure.
The day started at shark bay which is a lovely oasis of turquoise and blue water. When we jumped in I immediately saw squid, parrotfish, and a whole slew of other Tropical fish I cannot name. We swam around the reef and even watched one giant (3ft) tropical fish pull a mollusk from a shell. It was like being in the most amazing natural aquarium. We then decided to swim out a bit to see if we could find the bay's namesake. Oh, did we ever.
The first shark appeared out of the shadows of the water, it's fin gliding through the darkness from which it entered. It just swam about ten feet away looking all shiny and sinister. It was about as tall as Brad and bigger around. That's right, a brad sized shark. My heart began to pound but I tried to keep cool- sharks have an extra sense that detects a heartbeat so I didn't want to draw any more attention than I already was floating around like a beluga whale. I was deeply regretting watching the show on discovery several days before that was trying to measure various shark's bites and danger. So fucking stupid- glutton for punishment. As I tried not to think about bull sharks and the movie "Open Water" I assessed the creature and decided it was a black tip shark. Brad began to motion to me and then another shark appeared, and another. I looked up, saw one swimming towards me, and began to thrash around violently. My flailing scared the shark, who probably wanted nothing to do with me anyways, and it was suddenly gone. I started trying to look in 360 degree circles like a torpedo in the water but quickly found I was making visibility worse. We started back towards the boat but were suddenly distracted by a gorgeous sea turtle floating along. I momentarily forgot I was in water with the very creatures that have an entire week dedicated to them on the discovery channel as that turtle and I floated along together. I loved that turtle and wanted to give him a name. Then brad pulled on my leg and gestured again- sharks were back. Three, then five of them moving sound in front of us varying in size from 3ft to Brad sized. Oh he'll no, I'm done. As we turned to swim back Brad saw two more right behind him and even he finally started to feel a bit of panic. I flippered my way in record speed back into the boat and we were off, leaving the sharks to glide in the shadows.
The next stop was another bay where we were welcomed by a giant school of zebra fish and huge angelfish. They swam alongside us happily (I think they thought I was a dolphin) and I felt peaceful once again. Then we started noticing these very long fish swimming in schools and I noticed they appeared to have teeth. I thought about the barracuda skewer I almost ate for dinner the night before and was convinced they wanted payback. I don't even know if they were actually barracudas of just another fish with teeth, but I didn't like it when they gave me the side eye as they swam around. New rule- fish with teeth are not my friends. I swam away and chilled with the parrotfish and zebra fish as we watched the sea anemones drift in the water.
The third bay was cool too but more of the same fish we had previously seen. I did, however, see a "pod" of little squid that I just wanted to squeeze they were so damn cute. I counted to twenty-four before I lost count of those little piles of jelly cuteness. I won't be eating calamari anytime soon, especially after our boat driver caught an adult squid for his dinner. As it was dying I reached out to touch it and it's little tentacle stuck to my finger, pleading for help. Brad made me touch it and its little suction cup fingers will stick in my memory for years to come. I've got to give it up to the boatman though because he was fishing using a lure, fishing string, and a pop can (as his reel). Cheap and creative. He was pumped for dinner time.
The fourth stop was Nong Yuan, a cool little island off the coast of Koh Tao. The coral there was gorgeous and we loved to wave our fingers in front of it, watching the organisms shrink back into the rocks. We swam there for awhile and finally decided to head back to Sairee beach. Upon our return we figured out that in the course of six hours brad and I had both morphed into cooked lobsters. Even after reapplying during the day we were like a pair of fried tomatoes. I love it how sunburns don't come out until you get home. Brad made an emergency aloe run and currently my entire backside feels like its on fire. As a wise woman named Silvia once told me "it's the price of your happiness mamacita." Touché Silvia, sometimes there is a price to being happy and today I pay with a sunburn.
For those of you interested I just did a little research and those were indeed black tip reef sharks. According to the internets.com they are great hunters and prey on small fish in the reef. Supposedly they have never attacked anyone on Koh Tao but there is always room for a first and I wasn't about to mess around with those jerks.
Now, I'm going to put on some more aloe and grab a bite to eat. Call me sick and wrong, but I'm kind of in the mood for some grilled fish :-).
I love you Koh Tao!
Update: Ignorance can be bliss, and sometimes I'm an idiot. That 3ft fish that I hovered above and chased around is called the Titan Triggerfish (google a picture of that buddy) and is known to be an aggressive fish. It also happens to be nesting season here in Thailand and that fish attacks and bites, leaving a poison behind! Awesome. Also, the fish with teeth is called a Crocodile Needlefish and has the ability to also cause harm with its javelin-like mouth. Happens when they get scared, like when someone starts shooing them away or frantically swimming (yes, me today). I knew it couldn't be trusted! If either one of those angry fishes drew blood there would be big trouble.
Also- our dinner of tuna sashimi bruschetta, grilled tuna steak, and grilled barricuda wrapped in Parma ham was DELICIOUS! Thanks for asking.
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