We have our travel arrangements sorted out for the next leg of our journey up to Chiang Mai – this was not that easy as the internet here in Koh Tao is I think supported by some rusty tin cans and some string to the next island over, which has it’s own set of tin cans and string…..
With that out of the way, we are just making decisions about what to do with the rest of our time in Koh Tao as we go along. This morning after a late breakfast and some Skype time with Rachael we decided to get the water taxi to take us over to Koh Nangyuan.
Koh Nangyuan is a pair of limestone outcroppings that are connected together by a sandbar just a few hundred yards off the north-west tip of Koh Tao. There is a dive site just off the west side of the island, and the snorkeling is said to be pretty good, so along with the beach between the two rises the place is fairly popular with day trippers. Going on a day trip involves sticking to a schedule and traveling in a pack with a bunch of other tourists, so we chose to pay a couple hundred baht each to jump in a longtail boat and cross and return at our leisure.
The boat ride is about 10 minutes and we have our beach to beach service. There is a small fee to enter the island (it is a reserve area) and the park workers at the entrance are also stripping tourists of their plastic water bottles as there is no plastic or cans allowed on the island. Like we saw at Ang Thong this policy actually helps a lot as we don’t see as many of the discarded bottles, plastic bags, and take-out containers that we see in so many other places.
The island is basically 2 large limestone ‘islands’ that rise up a few hundred meters connected in the middle by a sandbar. There are some bungalows on each of the islands so you must be able to rent them and stay overnight if you are so inclined. There is also a restaurant and a dive shop here to service the day trippers from Koh Tao and the people going to the dive site that is located just off the island.
There appears to be a wooden walkway that circles each of the islands, so Mrs. Columbus and I head off to do some exploring. In typical Thai fashion, many things are not built to the same set of standards that we would see back home, but that does not slow us down and we head off down the rickety walk around the larger island. What does slow us down however is when enough sections of the trail have been washed out by the sea and the trail ends abruptly. We try going the other direction in hopes that it is just a few sections that are out, but we meet with the same results.
The smaller island has a similar set of walkways and signs pointing to a viewpoint so we head off in that direction with hopes that the trail is better maintained. Things are looking up as the path is mostly intact even if it could use a bit of repair. Ironically they suggest not sitting or leaning on the railing – in the sections that are still there it would certainly not hold much.
The walkway leads us around to a path that goes up to the viewpoint. After lots of stairs, some narrow paths, and a bit of a rock scramble at the top we are rewarded with some fantastic views of the entire island and the sandbar.
After our descent from the viewpoint we have a couple of hours left to relax on the beach a bit and play in the sea. This also gives me a chance to try out my new waterproof camera I brought along on this trip. The snorkeling here is OK, but nothing spectacular, but I do manage to get a few fish photos and the camera works pretty good.
At about 3pm most of the day trip boats have packed up and left, and they start to put away much of the stuff on the island for the day. Just as we arranged, at 4pm a taxi boat is ready to take us back to Koh Tao. We get in a bit of pool time at the hotel before going out for dinner and then calling it an end to the night. We have one day left here and are thinking about a hike up into the hills before we leave for Chiang Mai and the next step of the vacation.