So here’s the problem we had with Koh Tao: there were no problems with Koh Tao. In fact if anything, we loved Koh Tao too much.

What should have been a flying visit to complete our PADI at Crystal became ten beach-loving, pizza-eating, scuba-diving, nature-exploring, beer-drinking, film-watching, karoake-singing, life-loving all-round-fantastic days. AND IT WAS GREAT. It did however, put a dent in our budget as well as our time schedule. But it doesn’t matter because we loved every second of it.

Loving the authentic pizzas at yummy Cafe Del Sol.

Day Trip to Nangyuan Island

As if Koh Tao wasn’t stunning enough, Koh Nangyuan sits just off the north west coast and is accessible by boat for a day trip. There’s a small entry fee of 100 baht and the island is only open from 9am to 5pm, but the place couldn’t be any more picturesque if it tried. Try to get there early / later on to avoid boatloads of stereotypical tourists.

Gorgeous Nangyuan

A lonely boat

We made the trek up to the Koh Nang Yuan viewpoint to take some pictures of the killer view onto the beach below. It can be relatively taxing in the heat mind you, be sure to take some water! At the top, there’s also a couple of small-ish rocks to climb so sensible shoes are advised (Simon managed to fall over his flip-flops on the way down, typical).

Forever Young indeed.

Up we go!

Looking down from the Viewpoint

Making the most of the cool crystal clear water

Picture perfect.

We also made sure we headed over to Sairee Beach, next door to Mae Haad, which harbours a bit more of a party scene in the evening. It’s also where some of the larger diving schools can be found. A 10 minute or so walk from Crystal via a backroad, there’s a larger array of food and drink options here, along with lots of bars showing the latest films earlier on in the evening. One of our favourite nightly spots had a prime position overlooking the Fire Poi artists lining the beach.

Tourists joining in the fire fun at Sairee…

Needless to say, we were so sad to leave Koh Tao for the mainland. I’d met so many people who came and simply never left and it’s easy to see why! Unfortunately however we didn’t have the funds to do our Advanced PADI qualification and so decided to move on. Melanie and Wouter ended up doing theirs and all I heard was great reviews however, so it’s definitely on our to-do list!

Over and out,

Liv x