Koh Tao

This is the first post on our new blog, which marks the beginning of our new life in Thailand.

We started our aventure by 2 weeks of vacation, because Gaspard is only going to get 15 days off per year with his new job, so these two more weeks were crucial for us. Plus, last month has been very busy for us: we left Paris, our apartment, our jobs, our families, our friends all at once.

We have decided to go to Koh Tao. It is a small island in the Gulf of Thailand, next to the infamous Ko Phangan and Ko Samui.

Koh Tao is a well known destination for its preservation, its nature, its little beaches and its diving spots. People literally come from all around the globe to explore the crazy coral reefs off the bay.

We’ve visited Koh Tao already 2 times during August before and we loved the island and its seabeds, plus it is pretty much the only place in Thailand where you can expect decent weather during monsoon season.

There is no airport on the island, the only way to get there is by using the ferrys from Chumphon or Surat Thani. The first two times we came by plane to Surat Thani airport and then using the ferry. This time we flew to Chumphon from Bangkok, as it is faster (Koh Tao is the first stop of the crossing).

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We first stayed for 5 nights in Fisherman’s hotel, located in Chalok Bay. A quiet and lovely place, especially the pool area:

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Overall, the Fisherman’s hotel was a little bit deceiving for the price we paid (65€/night, breakfast included). In Thailand you can expect better rooms and better service for that price. But we still had a good time!

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Below are our favorite places of the island:

AO HIN WONG

This tiny beach is located in the North-Eastern part of Koh Tao. The shore is cleaned everyday by the owners and it just feels good to see that some places remain untouched. It is also a famous spot for snorkelling and you will see a lot of boats coming from the numerous diving schools off the island.

TANOTE BAY

This bay is also a very good snorkelling and diving spot, you can expect to see a lot of different species, and even black tip sharks here!

We stayed in a hotel here when first visiting Thailand 4 years ago, with Clem’s family.

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It’s our favourite beach of the island. It’s calm and well preserved, and in the evening you can have the beach pretty much for yourself!

Shooting time! — Click to expand

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A post shared by Clém Drif (@clemdrif)

FREEDOM BEACH

Freedom beach is a privately owned part of the island, so the access is, again, restricted. You need to pay to get to this beautiful area. We payed 50 THB each (less than 2€).

This beach is also very clean and well preserved. Unfortunately you can’t see the sunset from there but there was 0 people at dusk, so again we’ve had the beach for ourselves.

The beach is located down a hill, on top of which there is a wonderful viewpoint called Jon-Suwan Viewpoint.

This viewpoint offers an extraordinary outlook of the island, but you have to deserve it! The hike to the top, although quite short (approximately 10-15min) is rather dangerous and steep. Shoes and water are mandatory!

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A post shared by Gaspard | Bangkok (@gaspardvisuals)

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This sums up our favourite places of the island to chill out. But this third visit of Koh Tao also introduced Clem to scuba diving! Finally, she took the leap and passed the PADI Open Water Diver course! Koh Tao is known as one of the cheapest place on earth to learn scuba diving so it was a great opportunity to try it out. We chose Koh Tao Diving Academy in Chalok, because one of our friend is a diving instructor there!

Of course, the morning she decides not to come to dive, the visibility was perfect, the ocean was calm and Gaspard did two awesome dives!

The first one, at South West Pinnacle where we saw a big turtle, moray eels, blue dotted stingrays and a school of barracudas.

The second one was at Shark Island, and 2 minutes into the water we made the encounter of a whale shark! A once in a lifetime moment every diver dreams of. Thankfully my diving buddy caught it on video!

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This sums up our two-week vacation in Koh Tao, hopefully we’ll come back very soon, this time with friends. This island has a lot to offer and we’d love to share with others!