Koh Tao (THA)

12/19/2019 - 12/24/2019

Koh Tao is one of the cheapest places in the world to learn scuba diving. That's why I decided to go there and learn how to dive.

I flew from Chiang Mai to Koh Samui and then took a ferry to Koh Tao.

I stayed at the largest dive school in the world (Ban's Diving Resort) and took an introductory diving course in German. I highly recommend it because I don't know many English diving terms.

The group size was small with only four students, which was nice. The course started with theory lessons, followed by an afternoon in the pool. After four dives in the ocean, a theory test, and a total of three days in the dive school, I now have a diving license.

The highlight of the diving course was, of course, the dives in the ocean. There is so much to see underwater - many different colorful fish and coral. My personal highlight was seeing a turtle during one of the dives :).

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the underwater world because I don't have a suitable camera.

I didn't have much free time because of the diving course on Koh Tao. However, I managed to visit a few nice places.

On my first day, I went to the Nang Yuan Terrace in the morning, which offers a good view of Koh Nang Yuan island. Since the weather was better than expected (rain was forecasted), I spontaneously decided to take a boat to the island.

Koh Nang Yuan is actually made up of three islands connected by a sandy bridge. The best view of this is from the viewpoint on top of one of the islands.

After climbing the viewpoint, I went to the beach. Unfortunately, the beach is not very nice because there are many dead corals on the shore. However, the underwater world off the coast is very beautiful. I went diving there twice during the course :)

On my last day in Koh Tao, I had an afternoon to explore the island. Together with Luisa, a German girl I met at the hostel, we rented a scooter and went to the southern part of the island. That's where the most famous viewpoint on the island is - the John-Suwan viewpoint. The path to the viewpoint is steep, challenging, and sweaty. But the magnificent view makes up for it.

The entrance to the viewpoint also includes two beaches, Taa Toh and Freedom Beach. We made a stop at Freedom Beach for a swim.

On the way back, we stopped at Chalok Baan Kao Beach and shared a coconut at a beach bar.

We ended the evening with a delicious dinner of Pad Thai, Mango Sticky Rice, and a Chang beer :)