During our visit to Thailand you know I had to do some diving. I bought a new underwater camera for Christmas and this was my first opportunity to try it out. I think the results were very impressive.

The first day was a pure dive trip to Sail Rock, which is considered the best site in the region. The guys at 100 Degrees East proved their the best dive shop on Koh Samui by getting us there earlier than all the other companies. We got a quiet dive to ourselves and then the underwater traffic jam started while we relaxed on the boat for our surface interval. Then, we’re back in for our second dive right as everyone else gets out again.

The visibility was poor below 12 meters, but I’d rather be shallow and see stuff. When you get certified, everyone wants to go deeper, but that’s not often where the action is.

The first thing we saw the moment we jumped in the water was a school of barracuda. Unfortunately, they were gone before I had my camera ready, so I missed out. There were whales nearby, because we could occasionally hear them singing. As we headed back to shore we briefly saw a back break the surface, but that was it… just a glimpse.

For the second day, I convinced Beth to come along as well. We did a day trip to the Angthong National Marine Park, which is definitely a highlight of any visit to Koh Samui. The chain of islands is absolutely magnificent and offers great opportunities for snorkeling and diving.

Beware the stairs on your way to the Emerald Lagoon. The steps are sometimes only a couple inches wide and are damn near vertical at times. It was a serious workout getting up and down, but well worth it for the pristine landscape which awaited us.