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Koh Tao is an island paradise beyond cliché. The beaches are golden, the sea an azure blue and the lush green palm forests melt into steep tropical mountains which jut into the ever sunny sky. I've been on the island for five days now and yet the laid back attitude one acquires here makes it feel like months.
The ferry journey over on the 6th of April was simply spectacular. I was afloat for about an hour and in that time saw more flying fish than I could count and, far more spectacularly, a whale. On arriving I jumped on the back of a pickup truck with my rucksack and was driven along the 'main road' (a strip of concrete running from north to south along the island) to my hostel in Sairee Village. Here I stayed for four days to complete my open water diving course.
Scuba diving is, without doubt, one of the most incredible things I have ever done. You strap on your BCD and tank, put your regulator into your mouth and descend into a completely alien and staggeringly beautiful world. On Koh Tao, the coral reefs are spectacular. As well as the numerous varieties of coral, there are anemones which shine with fluorescent brilliance and scores of Christmas Tree shaped creatures of vivid yellow, purple and red. Amongst this setting swim more numerous, diverse and beautiful fish than I have ever seen in my life. A highlight was on my last day when we dived off the south west pinnacle. As we followed the guide rope down to the dive site, a school of literally hundreds of barracuda were swimming by us, casting a shimmering silver light over the whole scene. It was, in every sense of the word, awesome.
Yesterday was the first day that I hadn't been diving so had the chance to explore the island. I've made a good friend in my diving 'buddy' Bas, who hales from the Netherlands. We decided to hire mopeds and drive to the opposite end of the island to visit Shark Bay. Here we snorkelled for about an hour in which time we saw two green turtles, which was incredible! As they moved slowly and gracefully through the water you could swim alongside and look into the wise brown eye of the creature. It was an extraordinary privilege to be so close to a wild animal of that size and beauty, and it was humbling to think that it could have been roaming the sea for as long as 150 years.
As the sun set, we sat in a bar overlooking the bay and wondered as the view. The sky was a crescendo of colour with a fiery red at the horizon which faded to orange, to yellow, to violet, to blue until it melted into the oncoming dark. Below this, the rows of Palm trees lining the beach were silhouetted and the sea mirrored the sky, giving the illusion that the whole vista was floating somewhere up in the air. I must say, I'm not looking forwards to leaving this place.
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