Thursday, January 6, 2017
Update from yesterday’s memories:
When we arrived at the airport we hired a cab to take us to the hotel… I thought we’d be squeezing our luggage into a small car… but we were happily surprised to see a van pick us up. It felt like a pimp-mobile or vegas special:
Our first impression when we arrived at our hotel was disappointment. We looked at so many pictures of places and thought we got one with cabins on the water. This place didn’t have that. The view from our room does include the water… but in the foreground you see electrical wires (typically out of control here), a dumpy pond, a taxi stand, a block of cement … and then you a bit of the water. Walking outside for about 5 minutes you make it to the beach…. it’s active and pretty with a variety of people selling foods and renting beach umbrellas, mats, and souvenirs. Okay, this is nice. After a walk along the beach we met with a travel person to set up a day’s snorkeling trip for Thursday (the focus of why we came here). The van would pick us up at 8am and get us back by 5pm. We agreed and signed up. After we paid we were told to be ready to leave by 7am. Okay… we can do that. We checked with the hotel – breakfast begins at 7:30am and there’s no coffee available before that. We stopped at one of the many 7-11’s and picked up some cans of ice coffee.
The van picked us up by 7:15am and took us to the peer… stopping by several hotels along the way to pick up more people (Chinese, Russian, German, and a couple other nationalities). We arrived at the peer by about 8:30 and had to wait until about 9:30 before all the other people arrived. They separated everyone into groups… depending on which islands we were going to. We had to walk into the water (not quite up to our knees) to get onto the speed boats. 20 of us crowded into ours. I don’t think I’ve ever been on a speed boat. Bouncing up and down for about 40 minutes as we raced to our island… the front of the boat continually raising out of the water and smashing down.. water spraying us. It was like a carnival ride.
The sand at the beach was perfect. The water temperature was warm and inviting. After about an hour of enjoying the beach we set out a few minutes to snorkeling. Schools of small yellow striped fish kept just out of hands reach. It was peaceful.
After about 45 minutes we returned to shore for a tasty buffet lunch and were told they’d be back to collect us in 3 hrs. That 45-minutes was the entire snorkeling experience for the day… I wondered if this was a scam or just a misunderstanding? Live & learn.
After eating we saw a big lizard drawing along the sand. We pointed it to some others around us and we all took out of cameras… then someone pointed out a couple larger lizards… maybe 4-5 foot long (Komodo dragons).
On the drive back to our hotel we passed many resorts – they looked expensive and filled with luxury our hotel doesn’t have, but we’re a 5-minute walk to the beach and they’re either in busy, loud areas or much further from the water. Our place is looking better to us.
Returning to the hotel I got on line and began reviewing my research and looked up the best places to snorkel in Thailand. One of the top ones is Ko Surin. Reading that the other day led me to book this hotel on Surin Beach. Checking this more closely now I then realized Ko Surin is an Island… Surin Beach is a little beach cove in Phuket (an expensive and popular tourist destination Annie and I had decided we didn’t want to go to).
Back to the drawing board!
Priority: we want to be snorkeling… not spending a day to do a 45-minute snorkel! So on line I found a 5-day snorkel trip, living on a small boat (maybe 15-20 people) in one of the 5-best snorkeling areas in Thailand. The daily price is more than we wanted to spend during this 2-month adventure, but since it includes the room, the food, and the snorkeling… it’s not too bad. I think I’ll just book it and hope for the best. The worst that happens is we get more “negative” stuff we can post on the blog. “Out of the comfort zone” – maybe that should be the next blog heading?
Annie’s almost done with her morning yoga now so we should be heading for breakfast soon.
I love this adventure story, and especially love all you go with the ups and downs. Feel I’m doing it with you.
Yes, same… Feels like we are all in this together… so the worst is that you have us, here, hangin’ in and rooting for you, there, through those adventurous, questing, highs and lows! ! ! Happy Snorkeling! ! ! At least it SOUNDS like a good decision! ! !
Oh and LOVE those PICS! ! !