4 Islands snorkeling trip
My husband and I went on a 4 island boat trip with The Koh Chang boat. Our hotel arranged it for us. We would get to visit 4 islands surrounding Koh Rang. This arrangement included taxi to the pier and back to the hotel, usage of snorkel and lifejacket, a lunch and fresh fruit.
In de morning they picked us up at our hotel in a songthaew (taxi with 2 benches across from each other) and brought us to Kai Bae pier. We shared a speed boat with about 20 people from different hotels.
1. Koh Yak Yai
The first stop was at Koh Yao Yai. It looked rather like a rock formation than an island to me. That didn’t matter to me because I went on that trip to snorkel anyway. At first everybody was a bit hesitant, but finally most of us jumped into the water. The water was cool, clear and very blue. The life vest bothered me quick and I took that off really fast. The water is so salty that it is not much of an effort to stay afloat. There were many big colored fishes and they were everywhere! We stayed there for about 30 minutes.
Koh Yak Yai
2. Hadsanjaw
The next stop was at Hadsanjaw. It was a long white sand beach. There was a table and benches. The crew of the speedboat brought food to the table. It wasn’t just fried rice or something simple. They served rice, 3 side dishes and sauces. The organisation did some effort for the food. I tried everything ofcourse and every dish was good. But I didn’t go on this trip to eat. I didn’t eat that much and went in the water.
There were a lot of sea cucumbers, which I always find disgusting. I know they don’t really do much but they look so weird. I was shocked to see a woman playing with a sea cucumber and having her son pet the animal. I’m living in Thailand for almost 2 years now. I’m used to not telling anybody what to do or what not to do. But for those of you who read this : Contact with a sea cucumber may produce a skin rash and severe eye irritation that can result into inflammation that can result into blindness in severe or untreated cases. Just leave those things at the bottom of the ocean where they belong please. That being said, the water was clear and shallow. There were some rocks in the water which houses little colored fish. It was again worth a stop.
Hadsanjaw where we mainly stopped to have lunch.
3. Koh Yak Lek
The third island was Koh Yak Lek. Lek means little or small so the name reveals that it is a similar but smaller version of Koh Yak Yai. The island might have been a bit smaller but there were plenty of colorful fish. Again the water was cool, clear and very blue. I had so much fun snorkeling.
My husband very happy at Koh Yak Lek
While we were out snorkeling the crew cut fresh fruit which we could eat on our way to our last stop.
4. Koh Song Pe Nong
Koh Song Pe Nong is an Island near Koh Rang. It was my absolute favorite. The water was extremely clear. It was so blue it was surreal. If it wasn’t salty I would probably have drank it. There were almost no rocks on the seabed. There was nobody anywhere near us (besides the people we shared the speed boat with of course, but they mainly stayed on the beach, beats me why). There were not too much waves as it was enclosed by other islands.
At Koh Song Pe Nong the water was extremely clear.
Monkey island
While we were cruising back to Koh Chang I was stunned by the color of the water. It’s incredible how blue the water really is. We made an unexpected stop at an island which was the home to many monkeys. The crew threw the leftover fruit on the island. I’ve seen many monkeys before, so I wasn’t as excited as other people. But it’s still special to see them living on a small island.
The color of the water is not photoshopped.
The islands were located in Mu Ko Chang National Park. The fee to enter Mu Ko Chang National Park was 200 Baht for my husband (foreigner) and 40 Baht for me (Thai).