Our family spent our last week in SE Asia on the island of Koh Samui. Mark’s sister Linda met up with us, and we rented a lovely oceanview villa in a quiet part of the island. We were surprised to find that the island was more developed than expected with shops and businesses along the roads like we’d seen in other parts of Thailand, and resorts along the beaches. While there wasn’t much undeveloped beachfront, it didn’t feel overly crowded. We took two day trips from our base of Koh Samui, one to explore the 42 islands of Ang Thong National Marine Park and one to snorkel off of Koh Tao and Koh Nuan Yuan islands. The marine park excursion included kayaking through rock arches and turquoise coves and hiking to an island viewpoint and to see the clear, vibrant green Emerald Lagoon.
We took a speedboat to the other two islands for snorkeling, which was an adventure in itself because we boated through a storm front. Pelted by rain, we laughed when we saw the boat captain had donned a crash helmet with a plastic visor. Fortunately, the storm was brief and we enjoyed sunshine for the rest of the trip. Upon arrival we found crystal clear waters, multicolored corals, and tropical fish count and variety that rivaled the Carribean and Hawaii. We snorkeled off a beach at Nuan Yuan and in a protected cove off Koh Tao. The snorkeling was spectacular in both spots, and we had a great time exploring and showing each other the fish and urchins we spotted.
The six of us passed most of the rest of the week exploring the island, swimming and sunning at different beaches, and enjoying the cool pool at our villa that looked out over Choeng Mon Beach.
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