Koh Chang Day 3

On Sunday we woke up early so we could catch another two-rows to Bang Bao Pier where a large boat (after the usual 45 minute delay for late tourists) took us into the sea. The ride was unusually choppy and at least ten of the guests were seen vomiting over the side. I don’t know if my fate was better or worse; the choppy sea upset my stomach too, but the lower part. There were two bathrooms on the boat, the first was taken by someone saying hello to their breakfast again. I’d later learn that THAT bathroom had a functioning toilet and bidet sprayer. My toilet room was about 4’x3’ and featured a broken porcelain bowl (no seat) and a big tub of water next to it. I’d seen (and used) these before in Chiang Mai, but with the rough waves I was literally bouncing off of the bowl and into the wall, splashing water (and god knows what else) all over myself. Undoubtedly the worst bathroom experience ever.
After the 90 minute ride through the chop we finally reached our first destination. It’s worth noting that the weather reports the week before had all said there was at least a 60% chance of rain with thunder and lightning throughout the weekend. On both Saturday and Sunday there wasn’t a raincloud in the sky. In fact, the weather was better than on our island hopping day in Phuket the year before. We eagerly hopped into the water and started swimming with the fish circling through the corals circling the island.

At one point I got too close to the rocky island and kicked in the water to get away. I was already closer than I thought and kicked up against the rocks and/or barnacles under the surface. This made lots of scrapes on my foot and cut a half inch circle of flesh clean off of the side of my big toe.

I had insisted earlier that I didn’t need a life-jacket as I knew how to swim. Now, as I bobbed up and down holding my thumb against my foot to stop the bleeding (thinking “there aren’t any sharks around here … right?) I was reconsidering the benefits of a life jacket. Unfortunately this had all happened quickly and I hadn’t yet been in the water for five minutes of our 45 minute dip. I maneuvered around the best I could for the rest of the time but my mobility in the water was limited to say the least.

Back on the boat the captain (?) put betadine on the wound and lit a lighter under a bandaid so it would stick to my foot through the next three wet stops.
The first stop had basically been a bunch of rocks jutting out of the water. Our next stop was an actual beach with white sand.

We didn’t seem to have much time at this stop and the water was very shallow, so I didn’t take very many underwater shots. The seafloor was basically sparse rocks covered in white sand and larger bits of broken coral. Even the fish swimming by were mostly white.

Our third stop was another rocky outcropping similar to the first stop.

It was here that I took the most underwater photos, as my toe bleeding was under control, the water was deep and the Chinese tourists had brought pieces of bread to feed the fish.

Our last stop was Kohwai island. This island was bigger than the others, with resorts and an actual pier on the beach.

The water near the beach was very shallow going out almost all the way to the end of the pier. I spent most of my time swimming in water only up to my belly button far from shore.

Earlier, at the third stop, one of the “guides” had said that island #3 was our last chance to snorkel. Because of this I didn’t bring my snorkel to Kohwai, although it turned out I could have. Ironically it was at this stop that the fish were the least afraid of me. Near the pier there was a constant sream of fish swimming through a warm current, and they were happy to come up and sniff at me.

After getting back on the pier to get to the boat we saw these really long skinny fish that I hadn’t seen in the water before (perhaps they’re scared of humans).

After we made it back to the hotel we hung out by the pool. I tried the cheeseburger at the pool bar and it was actually really good. (it was also really expensive by Thailand standards)

After we got out of the pool we decided to explore the complex a bit more. We went to the far side of the horseshoe (the opposite side of the one we were staying on) and discovered that there was a creek running right beside the resort, a small land barrier and then a lagoon on the other side of that.