Snorkeling trip to the Surin Islands

Yesterday, on Sunday, it was so 😬hot that we spent the whole day on the beach and in the water 💦. I didn't spend much time on the 😁beach, but rather in the sea. It was unbearable for me otherwise.

In the evening, we had booked a snorkeling trip to the Surin Islands for today.

We were picked up from the hotel at 8:00 am. I just have to mention it briefly while I'm writing this, I feel 🤢like I'm seasick - it's so disgusting. Continuing with the text, we were driven to the dock by minivan. The ride went relatively 👍quickly, we arrived there in about 30 minutes. Unfortunately, because I find the areas here so diverse. Sometimes you could see pineapple plantations, then again large fields with coconut palms🌴🌴! There were also sections with nicer houses, but you can count them on both hands 😯. Mostly you see shacks here, where people sell their goods and also live 😕! The trash is just thrown in front of the huts 🙈! In some places it looked really bad! It's unimaginable for us to live like this 😕.

When we arrived at the pier, we were divided into groups according to language. So we had a German-speaking guide who took us to the islands. The ride to the islands was supposed to take 1 hour 20 minutes by speedboat 🚤. I have never been on a speedboat before and I don't think I will ever do it again. We were advised to sit in the back, which we did. But it's unimaginable how fast this boat speeds off. During the entire ride, I focused on a point in the sea 🤓 and that made it bearable for me. A little girl sitting across from us turned completely white 🤢 and also had to vomit. Hmm, but we also wondered how you can book such a tour with such small children.

Never mind, we arrived at the first 😁snorkel spot after the designated time. The island group is a paradise. Crystal clear water, you could see all the way to the 😊bottom. Unbelievable! We snorkeled along the reef with our snorkeling equipment and what can I say? It was 🤗awesome. So many amazing different fish 🐠🐡 and corals. Simply fantastic. Just before the end of the first spot, Daniela showed me an moray eel. Amazing, to see such a nasty creature live. We then went back to the boat and after a short ride we were sent back into the water. This time it wasn't quite as amazing, but the fish were still beautiful and colorful. Just not as big.

Afterwards, we were divided onto two small boats and taken to the shore. Here we had lunch and also such a beautiful beach. The water was turquoise blue 🌊 and the sand on the beach was as fine as bird sand. Our cheeky budgerigar (Kucki) used to have sand like that in his cage. 

I didn't want to leave this island, it was so fantastic 🤗 there. What followed now was a real catastrophe. We were taken to a village on the island. The residents live in wooden huts on the beach. These huts are on stilts and look totally neglected. We had to walk a short distance through the water from the boat to the beach, and when we arrived there, there was so much 🙈trash. Everyone in the group was shocked. Everyone was wondering why we were here. Daniela was of the opinion that the villagers don't actually live there, but are just brought there for tourists, and that was confirmed by our guide. We all just wanted to leave there as quickly as possible.

We were then taken to our last snorkeling spot 🚤. This time, the reef was a bit further away from the boat. When I jumped in, I couldn't see the bottom at all. Hmm, I found that eerie, especially since we were supposed to see reef sharks 🦈 here. Ugh. Well, I turned on the turbo in my fins and quickly swam towards the reef. My fear was gone in no time. These types of fish are simply amazing👍. They were also gigantic this time. Someone shouted from the boat "Sharks, Sharks", hmm, I wasn't sure if it was a 🙉joke or not. I turned away and saw a huge parrotfish. Despite its beauty, I was initially completely shocked because I naturally thought it was a shark. Out of fear, I accidentally drank 250 ml of saltwater 😕 and had to paddle vigorously with my arms. When I had regained my composure, the fish was of course 🙈gone. Daniela came over to me and also asked what was going on with the shark. NO IDEA! We didn't see any sharks, thankfully! So, now it was time to go back from the reef to the boat. That was so eerie, because with the goggles you really can't see anything anymore, and then there's the mental cinema.... gruesome. We all got back on the boat and from there we went back the whole way with the speedboat.

When we arrived at the dock, the whole group had a barbecue. We stuffed ourselves 😁and were then taken back to the hotel afterwards. We're recovering here now, because Daniela is going to see the REAL SHARKS tomorrow. She's going diving and I'm NOT! I'll probably spend the whole day soaking and getting washed by the sea 😂👍!

Best regards from Anke and Daniela