Day 28 Koh Chang Snorkeling

I ate a very light breakfast this morning with a double dose of meclizine.  I was hoping that would make the day bearable.

We were picked up by a skiff right at our beach, and ferried out to the boat on which we would spend the day.  It was a beautiful sunny day, with fairly calm water (hopefully less than yesterday). 

Our Route

 The boat was not terribly crowded, but there was a large condtingent from Russia.  We couldn’t figure out why so many Russians would come to Thailand.  The problem we had was we were thinking Moscow, not Vladivostok.  Siberia is a straight shot north of Thailand (about a trip to Florida from NH).  The whole island here caters to Russians, with almost all restaurant and store signs in Thai and Russian.  Anne spent quite a bit of time conversing with several of the Russians, giving her a chance to practice her 2^nd language (she was a Russian major a few years ago).

The crew on board the “Thai-fun” was great.  Energetic and humorous.  The manager was  a comedian, magician, chef, emcee, and deck hand all in one.  She wore an eyepatch, and we couldn’t decide if it was for effect (think “Captain Ron”) or an ocular problem.  None of us were crass enough to ask.

We made it to our first snorkeling site without any nausea.  I had frightened Anne yesterday with my tales of seasickness, but she , too, seemed to have no ill effects from the wind, water, and waves.

The snorkeling, similar to the diving yesterday, was O.K., but not great.  The fish at the first site were sparse, and there was minimal coral to speak of.

Next came lunch, and I found I had a decent appetite (the wonders of modern pharmacology in high enough doses).  We stopped at another island after lunch and hung out on the beach.

The final site was the national park that required paying an entrance fee of 200baht (about $7pp) to the park rangers that boarded our vessel.

Snorkeling here was much better, with more sealife, fish, coral, and anemones (with clown fish).  The water was pretty warm, in the high 80’s, so Jeri was actually warm (with her thin wetsuit).

 

Selfie (+Jeri)

Phil

The last stop was actually a drive by of "Monkey Island".  This small island is covered with monkeys (thus the name).  I, unfortunately did not schlepp my long telephoto, but I was able to get some ok shots that I blew up.

Apparently, they usually feed the monkeys, so the boat evokes a pavlovian response to come to shore to greet us.  Too wavy to get close enough to feed them, so the monkeys were SOL.

 As we returned to the Panviman, the sun began setting giving us another beaut.  I’m guessing that sunsets are what Koh Chang does best.

Tomorrow, cooking school.