Koh Samui - 25.04.19

Before my departure, I had decided that I wanted to do something on my trip that I had never done before and would cost me some effort. Well, okay, basically I've been doing something I've never done before for three weeks now... Since I'm not really a beach person and I really don't want to know what's swimming around in the water, I decided to go snorkeling on Koh Samui. Today, I put this plan into action and took a boat trip to the Angthong National Marine Park. It consists of numerous small islands with small beaches and is located off the island of Koh Samui. I took the trip together with Germans (a mother and her 26-year-old daughter) that I met at my hotel. We were picked up at the hotel at 8 o'clock this morning. Since our excursion boat left from Nathon, we didn't have a long transfer time, luckily. If you don't spend hundreds of euros on such a trip, but in my case 'only' 40€, you end up on a big ship with many tourists. And there they were again, lots of Asians in one place. As always, they were loud, pushy, and buzzing around the ship, carrying countless plastic bags filled with food, and on the outbound journey, depriving the boat trip, which usually has a calming effect, of any peace and quiet. It was interesting to see how many layers or what kind of full-body suits the Asians, I think most of them were Chinese, were wearing out of fear of getting sunburned. After about 1.5 hours of travel, we reached our first stop. From a distance, we could see a beautiful little beach where we were supposed to be taken by small boats since the ship couldn't dock directly at the beach. The crossing with these small wooden boats was very adventurous, and for the first time on my trip, I was afraid. The small boats were so packed that I felt like I was on a refugee boat. After leaving the small wooden boat, our sense of balance was required because the jetty to the beach was not a solid one but consisted of plastic canisters that were fastened together to form a jetty and naturally floated in the water. Crazy! But I made it to land dry ;-). On this island, there was either the possibility to climb a viewpoint, which I declined at 35 degrees Celsius, the view was still too hazy anyway, or it was time for swimming and snorkeling. Since I had read on the internet beforehand that snorkeling equipment would be provided on such tours, I didn't bring my own and didn't ask when booking the tour. Since we were not given any snorkeling equipment on the ship, I assumed that we would get it at the beach. Unfortunately, that was not the case. It turned out that we should have brought our own snorkeling equipment. My mood was already somewhat clouded. The area where swimming and snorkeling was allowed was limited because there were supposed to be many poisonous jellyfish in this area. My German fellow travelers were better equipped for snorkeling and had brought their snorkel masks. So while I could only take a normal sunbath in the sea, the other two inspected the underwater world. Yes, there were a few corals to see and a few small colorful fish swimming by, but it was probably disappointing. Especially since we were near the beach, the water was quite cloudy. Since I was then loaned a snorkel mask, I snorkeled for the first time in my life. Yes, I saw a little bit and it was also interesting, but since the water was really very cloudy, I decided not to take underwater photos. Still, thanks to Jule who loaned me her underwater camera. After the time on this island had expired, we were taken back to the ship with the small boats, and during the journey to our next stop, there was lunch, which was consumed by the Chinese with their accompanying noises. The journey in bright sunshine between the individual untouched islands was already great. Our next stop was at the island of Koh Mae Koh, where we had time again for swimming and snorkeling (haha), and where there was the emerald green lagoon 'Talay Nai'. Since I wouldn't go snorkeling here again, the limited area was even smaller than at the first stop and again near the beach, despite the heat, I dared to climb the viewpoint over the lagoon. Since my feet were sandy and sweaty and stuck in flip-flops, the ascent and descent were already a challenge. But the efforts were rewarded with a great view of the lagoon and also of the island of the national park, so it wasn't so bad that I had declined the ascent to the first viewpoint. My fellow travelers had taken a closer look at the underwater world again. The bottom line was even less than at the first stop and even more turbid water. After this stop, we headed straight for the port of Nathon. The return journey was simply beautiful because the Asians were sleeping, there was a gentle breeze, and the evening sun no longer had such extreme power, so I sat at the railing with my feet dangling down and enjoyed the passing sea. We arrived back at the hotel around 5:30 pm and completely exhausted.

Unfortunately, the snorkeling trip was a flop. I will simply try it again on my next vacation under hopefully better conditions and definitely with my own equipment. But the landscape and the weather made up for the disappointment that snorkeling didn't work out so well.