Damon's Diorama » koh

Koh Tao and Koh Yang Nuan, Thailand

Damon — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 20:32:45 +0000

Koh Tao, Thailand

Koh Yang Nuan

Koh Tao and Koh Yang Nuan are islands were you can do some diving and snorkeling in the Gulf of Thailand. If you’re trying to get to these islands, your best option is to take a trip from the island of Koh Samui to get there. Koh Tao is one of the areas in Thailand where you can possibly see whale sharks (and regular ones!), and you will see lots of brightly colored tropical fish in the shallower snorkeling areas.

Given the recent announcement that the Thai government is considering restricting access to Koh Surin and The Similan Islands, it will be interesting to see if similar steps are taken to protect the coral for human development and other environmental pressures in other aquatic marine parks.

Koh Libong: Thailand Beaches

Damon — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 22:36:40 +0000

Koh Liblong is located in the Southern Thailand provinces of Trang. While the beaches aren’t as well-known as the other Southern Beaches (Phuket or Koh Samui), the added benefit is that you don’t have ten million tourists floating around to disrupt your ability to really “get away from it all”.

My wife and I stayed at a eco-friendly resort on Koh Libong, which meant that electricity (powered by a generator) was only available from 8am-5pm; this, of course, meant that hot water was only available during these times as well. The people that ran the resort were super friendly, very simple, and were probably more representative of the real Thailand than you would find in some of the more popular destinations (they ate their meals from what they caught in the sea that day).

Thailand: Snorkeling on Koh Surin Island (Sea Snake)

Damon — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:09:33 +0000

This is probably one of the few times I will publish a higher resolution picture on the web, largely because it makes seeing the sea snake easier. While I personally wasn’t afraid of the snake, because I know they would have to bite you somewhere fairly “soft” to inflict lethal damage, the guide started to freak when this snake got a little “too close for comfort”. I basically took this snap with my Olympus underwater cam, then was whisked away a few seconds later.

Update: I found out this is known as a Banded Sea Krait.