Paradise on earth!
Trip Start
Nov 25, 2004
1
46
169
Trip End
Jan 26, 2005
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Ko Surin National Park,
Thailand
Thursday, February 24, 2005
The Surin Islands are located on the east coast of Thailand and was the first place that we went to to have been hit by the Tsunami therefore visitor numbers were at an all time low and businesses were struggling massively in the surrounding areas (the mainland coast was hit really badly too)! We saw one dive boat while we were there and literally dozens moored up at the jetty! Very sad! So we didn't really know what to expect when we got there and had no real pre-conceptions about the islands as we hadn't originally planned to got there! So off we went equipped with our 2 man tent, our mask and snorkels and 14 pot noodles!!!
This place is like paradise on earth! Neither of us have ever seen water so turquoise and beaches as white! My brother described the sand at Whitehaven beach in the Whitsundays as being like flour...well this just about sums up Surin as well! Due to the tsunami, they are currently operating one campsite only on the whole island and there were about 25 people in total there for the whole time! MAD! We pitched our tent right next to the beach and spent the afternoon snorkelling in the bay just off from our beach! It was great and you could see so much just offshore...including a sea snake (one of the deadliest snakes in the world although I didn't know this at the time which is probably a good thing!) We happened to meet a marine biologist on the way over who had been to Surin the previous March and on arriving he couldn't believe how much of the coral had been damaged by the tsunami (just from looking in the water) and this became really apparent as soon as you looked under the surface!
We decided to go on one of the daily snorkelling trips to the sites further offshore and this was the most unbelievable underwater viewing ever - remembering that this is just with a mask & snorkel! The visibility was so clear and the amount of fish life was overwhelming - you could be swimming along with literally hundreds of fishes! The coral was beautiful here as well and luckily escaped the damage done on the beach where we were staying.
Mad skies!
Paul's highlight was 'Finding Nemo' and mine was finding 'Squirt' (the turtle!!). On top of this place being an underwater paradise, the sunsets were out of this world with a million colours lighting up the sky - we even got sent to sleep (NOT!) by a saxophone player! Now who would really cart their saxophone half way around the world!
No manta rays or reef sharks unfortunately but that's all the more reason to go back and find them!
