Koh Tao, our happy place.

Koh Tao. Where do I even begin?

We were meant to be on this little island for 5 days just to complete our PADI Open Water Diver course... we ended up here for 2 weeks. For us it was our own little slice of paradise and here’s why...

1.Diving

Yes we’d come here to do our PADI Open Water Diver course anyway, but that’s all we’d planned to do- no extra dives. This was just the cheapest place to become qualified with good conditions year round. BUT, we fell in love with diving and ended up diving 4 more times once we’d qualified. The water is crystal clear meaning the visibility is amazing, it’s bath-water-warm so you don’t get cold, and there’s lots to see- it’s like a whole city down there just getting on with it’s business. We saw beautiful coral, angelfish, bannerfish, moray eels, schools of various fish, bluespotted ribbon tail rays, remoras, huge triggerfish, gobis and shrimps, and a sea snake- so exciting. For us, part of what made it amazing was our dive school. After extensive research we went for Scuba Junction and boy are we glad we did. The friendliest, most knowledgeable instructors, small groups (no bigger than 4 people, but mostly we dived just us two), and hot on safety and standards. If I’m honest I was a bit nervous about qualifying, but these guys put me at ease and I throughly loved the whole experience. Breathing underwater is the coolest and we’re now addicted- Advanced here we come!

2.Beach Life

I’m one of those people that feels instantly happier the second you plonk me by the ocean. On Koh Tao, whether you’re on the beach itself or on the back of a moped up a hill, you can always see the water with its shades of dark blue and crystal clear, fringed with white sand. Add to that how green Koh Tao is and how blue it’s skies are and I’m in heaven. The water on Sairee beach is super shallow but super warm, so after breakfast our favourite thing to do was wallow in the shallows for a good hour or so. It’s so clear that you can see the little fish flitting around. And the best part? It’s not crowded at all. We’ve come in ‘low season’ but the weather was still amazing (aside from a couple of days with showers) and it means most of the time we shared the beach with 2 or 3 other couples. Everything’s still open, but it’s just super chilled.

3.Viewpoints

If you manage to drag yourself out of the water and off of the beach then there’s some amazing views to be had. We rented a moped for the day and made our way round the bends and up the hills to several of the other beaches and viewpoints on the island. Our favourite was John Suwan viewpoint. It’s a bit of a boulder climb in parts, but so worth it. It overlooks both Chalok Baan Kao Bay and Shark Bay simultaneously and is a super cool spot to sit atop a boulder and take in the views. We also went to the Westcoast viewpoint and Mango viewpoint- disclaimer, this one is rather hairy on a moped, so make sure whoever is driving can a)Drive a moped well and b)Stay calm whilst their terrified girlfriend is clinging to the back of them for dear life. (Don’t worry mum, we were fiiiiine). At every viewpoint the story was the same: Koh Tao is bloody beautiful. I’d massively recommend getting a moped and exploring the island for a day- it just made me love it even more.

4.Food

Anyone who knows me knows that this obviously deserves its own category. On Koh Tao we were in vegetarian/vegan heaven. There’s a good range of Thai and Western food on the island with most Thai places cooking any dish to your needs- i.e leaving out the meat. There’s also a lot of cafes that are purely veggie/vegan and who are also trying to be eco-conscious- many use repurposed furniture, so you’re sitting on pallets turned into seating, lots have binned off plastic straws (Hurrah!) and are using metal instead, and we saw lots of water stations to fill up your own bottles to avoid more plastic- they even sold Tupperware and metal bottles so that you could get your takeaway without creating more rubbish. So forward thinking, and we loved that they loved their island. A lot of these were on the beach too, so I could put my feet in the sand and combine my love of the ocean and snacks. A final bonus is their takeaway service- it’s all run on Facebook and you just message your fave place and they’ll drop it to your door- IN A PAPER BAG WITH PAPER STRAWS, that’s it, I’m in love.

5.Sunsets

Our favourite way to end our days here has been to slope off of the beach, into a deck chair with a Chang in hand and watch the sunset. Sairee beach is the best place to see them on the island and they’re so darn beautiful.

6.Dogs

I couldn’t make a Koh Tao list without a little nod to these guys. Part of why I love Koh Tao is because they love their dogs so well. The dogs are all owned, but they spend their day frolicking at the beach. We met Rocco, who belonged to a local dive shop, and spent our time together digging holes in the sand, chasing coconuts in the water, and having cuddles. The instructors at our dive school had dogs too, and Jeff was often there to greet us back from a morning dive, ready for salty snuggles. A lot of cafes own dogs as well, they all have such lovely temperaments and they’re great company for your tea and game of cards.

Basically, in summary, we want to live on Koh Tao and become dive instructors. Any family and friends reading this, please arrange to ship your lives over to Koh Tao. Ta.