The Adventures of Doug and Bec: Thailand

We booked a snorkeling trip to Koh Rok with the Green Hill Garden and at 7:45 in the morning we were met on the beach by a large speed boat with four v6 200 HP Yamaha outboards on the back of it. After stopping at several beaches down the coast to pick up more guests, the 30 in our group headed out to Koh Rok which was well out to sea.We arrived at about 10am to a beautiful white sandy beach with palm trees and coral reef all around it. It was here that several of the group got off as it seemed they had booked a beach day rather than snorkeling. From here we headed a few hundred metres to the other side of the island and geared up for a hour or so snorkel session.

The water was colder than Ko Lanta and other places we had been in Thailand, which was a bit of a relief, yet it was still probably around 28 degrees. The water was amazingly clear and we could see at least 10 metres deep quite clearly. The first snorkeling spot we went to was abundant in Parrot fish, Angel fish and various other smaller fish. There were a heap of sea slugs and many giant clams which had bright purple lips. The coral on the first site was only 2 metres below the surface and was fairly bleached unfortunately, and lacking some of the colour I have seen back in Australia.

After a hour or so of snorkeling we headed back to the beach at Koh Rok where the staff had prepared a nice lunch of grilled chicken, green curry and some sort of saute vegetables with rice. We all sat down to a much needed meal beside the beach followed by a hour and a half of snorkeling/swimming from the beach. Bec and i found the beach to be absolutely infested with hermit crabs... there were thousands of them... so we setup a ring on the beach and had multiple hermit crab races much to the amusement of the kids that were on the trip with us.

After some races we had a nice swim and had a bit of an explore of the island including a trip to the toilets which ended in me nearly stepping on a 5 to 6 foot iguana, shortly after which we got back aboard the boat for another snorkel.

The site we snorkeled at in the afternoon was further south along the island and slightly deeper. I think because of this the coral was a lot more colurful, and there were a lot more fish. Several of the snorkelers had some bread to feed the fish which ended in a feeding frenzy towards the top of the water which was quite spectacular. One of the tour guide also showed me a family of Clown fish right blow the boat which Bec loved. We spent a fair bit of time diving down to the Clown fish who were fiercely defending their home to other fish who came near. It was quite amusing to watch they would come out really fast at any fish that came near... this included if we put out hands near as well. We were lucky we had the underwater camera and got some quite good shots and videos.

After a fair bit of snorkeling in the afternoon we headed back towards Koh Lanta. It was quite a fun ride for us sitting near the front, as the swell had picked up a little bit and everyone sitting at the back of the boat got absolutely drenched for about an hour.

After a long day snorkeling we headed into town on a tuk tuk for nice fried whole snapper for dinner before retiring quite early as we were to head back to Phuket the following morning on the ferry.