Si's Year Out! (Plus Europe! Plus Morocco!): Kao Tao

Kao Tao is a tiny island (about 20 square km) off the Gulf coast of Thailand. Everything I'd heard about it made it sound beautiful so decided to brave the 72km boat trip and get over there! Arrived just in time....but it was worth it! The weather was amazing and the beaches had white sand with crystal clear water. Headed over to the 'less busy' side of the island but found it to be so busy that there was nowhere to stay! After looking around for ages, there was a cancellation and we ended up with a bamboo hut with a beautiful view across Tanote Bay :)

The snorkeling just off the beach was supposed to be amazing so I finally had a chance to use the mask and fins I'd been lugging around for the last month. The coral formations were pretty cool but the amazing thing about snorkeling off Kao Tao is the variety of sea life you see! I saw Jellyfish, huge Tuna, Angelfish, Batfish, Triggerfish and lots more. However, on the best snorkeling session I've ever had, I was lucky enough to see a Black Tipped Shark!! It was about 1.5 meters long and was very fast in the water. I sped off after it, following it into more shallow water, as it chased a fish. I must have got a bit too close as I seemed to put it off its attack and it missed the fish it was after. It then proceeded to swim slowly towards me. At this time I didn't have a clue whether they were dangerous or not so had a tense but amazing few seconds as the shark cruised right past me, only about 3 meters away!! After I got out I asked the guys at our accommodation reception (which doubled as a dive center) about Black Tip Sharks. They said they were harmless to humans but I was lucky to see one as the last two parties of snorkelers they took out shark hunting hadn't seen any!!

We were on the island about 5 days and, other than lots of snorkeling, we climbed some small mountains, walked along the rocks to other bays and lazed on the beach....a nice relaxing end to my Thailand trip....

Yes, you read right, I'm now leaving Thailand. Not to come back to England as originaly planned - I'm not quite ready to come home yet. I've decided to raid the bank to do one last trip to New Zealand, which is one place I REALLY wanted to go (and thought I'd miss out on). So I'm back in Bangkok and tonight I fly back to Australia on the way to NZ. I'm actually gonna try to pick up some work in Aus as my working visa is still valid (and I have NO money!) and might even fit an outback trip in there somewhere. In a few weeks I'm off to NZ and finally fly home on the 22nd of November!