February 26th - Koh Sumai and Angthong National Marine Park

Going to get up and, after breakfast, head on an all day visit to the Angthong National Marine Park  today.   This is about a 90 minute boat ride away from this island of Koh Sumai to a set of islands/atols 

that are a beautiful marine park.   This is where the movie "The Beach" was filmed (Leonardo DiCaprio way back before he was super famous).    The tour boats you out there, lets you do some snorkeling (the provide

equipment), then lets you do some kayaking, maybe a little walking on the island as well.    Small breakfast and lunch included... back to the hotel around 5pm.    Should be an adventure!

Okay, so here are the breakfast photos from the hotel buffet.   Not only is there a large "lineup" of buffet stations, there is another 'cook to order' egg zone around the corner as well as a ROOM filled with

various breakfast goodies (fruits, veggies, juices and the like).   Its an enormous offering!

And here is what I had for breakfast:

After eating I took a few pictures of the pools (both the 'kiddie' pool and the main pool for the resort)

The monkeys can come alive and take action if the children get out of hand... :-)

Went back to the lobby and waited for driver to arrive to take me to the boat for the boat ride to Angthong National Marine Park.   Turns out two others (I think brother and sister, though probably late teens or early

20's) were also doing the same thing.

Arrived at the docks after picking up another 5 or 6 guests from other hotels.   A lot of Europeans visit here -- large group from Germany, a large family from Sweden, a couple from France.

A breakfast tray of pineapple slices, watermelon slices, and croissants was put out for everyone to take as they wished.   There was also hot water for coffee or tea as well as cooler with

softdrinks.   

Here's some photos as we got closer and closer to the Marine Park:

So we moored and they had the folks who spoke German (larger group) go Kayak first while the rest of us got in the water and did a little snorkeling.

I did take my gopro, but have not loaded any images yet (will later tonight or tomorrow).   However, the water was far from crystal clear so I do to think that much

showed up on the underwater shots.   Mostly I just saw sea urchins and a few fish -- so compared to the waters of Hawaii not much to report on the sea life front.

But I will say the waters here were very warm.    One giant "sea of hot bathtub".

Here are some photos taken from the boat, of me and of the area:

Then it was our turn to kayak, as you can see from the last photo which I took from a kayak.

We had a guide and followed him around.   Most folks were in tandem boats, but I was allowed to use a single!   

Our guide took us under many overhangs, some like this:

The above still shot and video was actually of the entrance through a "cave" into a huge closed area with an open skylight zone -- basically a "one way in

to a giant enclosed area with open air ceiling".   It was pretty amazing and big (as you can see all the kayaks could be inside at the same time and

have plenty of room to move around)     Here's a still and a video of the area.

Here are some videos inside this area.    Entering, trying to get a view around it, and exiting the area.

And here is a video of some kayaking around the outside as we navigate around this "island"

After the morning kayak session we  did have a nice lunch break. 

There was rice, a chicken curry (not very hot, but nice flavor), veggie mixture, salad.  There was

also a great marinated chicken drumstick dish (I had two of them -- went back for the second one)

During lunch the boat motored over to another second of the Marine Park and for those who wanted 

there was another kayak session....  I was one of those who wanted!   The others waited on the boat

until we left and then the boat moved over to a beach area that we were all to meet at and they were

taken ashore by a long boat that "taxi"'s people from the tourist boats to the beach area.   They've setup

a concession stand there, which is how they make their extra money.

Anyway, pictures from the 2nd kayak session below:

We kayaked onto the beach and then had the option of hiking up the "stairs" (they said over 100) to see the green lake.   Apparently this is a famous lake where a crater caved down

to sea level (or slightly under it) and there are some pathways for the ocean water to enter and exit, so its a green salt water "lake".   This was featured in the movie "The Beach".

So I decided to "climb the stairs" -- which is not really accurate as the "stairs" are really move like a ladder over time as you get higher and higher.   You go up, then over the summit,

then back down.    No stairclimber exercise required of me for at least a day after this one!

After climbing back down the stairs it was time for a dip in the ocean.  Here is the 'swim beach' we were all parked on.  The boat in the middle

is our boat.    Dropped in for a float around (not much worth 'seeing' and didn't have mask/snorkel at this point) and then hung out on the beach

for a while before getting taxied back to the boat for return trip to Koh Samui and the hotel (about 2 hours of travel time).    The staff supplied 

additional treats (cut up pineapple, watermelon, muffins and soda).

Once back at the hotel (about 2 to 2.5 hours later) I was checked back in.   My original room was a "superior" room, which was at the low end of their packages.

The room itself was fine, but it was right over the bar and pool table area, and the other side was the checkin/entrance to the property which is also right next to the main

road.   The traffic here is crazy and they have security guys with stop signs and whistles who will stop traffic to let people cross the street.   So basically the room was

beautiful, but way to loud for me.    So I paid for an upgrade and they'd moved my luggage into a "Villa", which is more near the top end of their price structure.   They

had me get into a little golf cart and drove me over to a private unit -- very much less noise from any sort of bar, road, pool area, etc.    The unit had a main room with

couch, tv, bed, etc and then a sliding door into a side bathroom area with walk in toilet, shower and dual sinks.   Then that had an outside sliding glass door to a private

outdoor shower and bathtub!    The entire "bathroom area" had its own air conditioner controls, separate from those from the main room!   Wow.    Then as if that were

not enough the main room had another sliding glass door "out back" to a private back yard.   The back yard had a covered raised area with lounge cushions, an umbrellaed

table with chairs, and a "walk in" huge soaking pool to relax in.    Amazing.

Took a nap then decided to get something to eat for dinner.   However, I wasn't really wanting to eat all that much, so I walked the other way

along the beach front, back towards the stands I saw on the first day.   There were a LOT of touristy restaurants there, with guys and gals out front

trying to coax the tourists in to eat.   I really didn't want that, so I kept walking and eventually, on a side street, found a rolling stand that was doing

individually grilled chicken (my choice) sticks.    For 50 THB, about $1.50 USD.   Then I found another stand half a block back doing mango sticky rice.

A little more expensive at 60 THB, like $1.75 USD.    Then there was an ice cream stand... pretty expensive but -- oh well -- for 120 THB ($3 USD) I got

a scoop of mango passionfruit sorbet.   Finally, there was an interesting "pancake stand" that had both sweet and savory items.   I decided to get an

onion, tomato and cheese one -- thinking it would be those items in a crepe.   I was wrong - but happy - as it turned out that it was those items in an

indian bread "made to order".   Here are some photos of the above.

Walked (or stumbled) back to hotel room, took a shower and a soak in my "private outdoor soaking pool" and then went to bed!