The snorkelling package tour at Koh Samui starts early in the morning, and we were picked up from our hotel at the crack of dawn. We had checked out already, so we took our luggage along and dumped it at the tour office before getting on the boat. There were some pretty girls on our boat, so we were all happy - especially Kini ;)

Breezy boat ride

Our tour guide was absolutely incompetent and only interested in impressing the girls on board. When we reached the designated snorkelling place, he hurriedly handed us the snorkelling gear without any instructions on how to use it, and then vanished. So once we had worn it and gotten into the water, we had no idea what to do next. We tried to copy whatever everyone else was doing, and dunked our faces under the water. That allowed us to see a few fishes and some coral, but the experience would surely have been way better had we known how to snorkel properly.

Being in the water with snorkelling gear is not really snorkelling

From there, the boat took us to an empty beach and en-route we were shown some small islands that supposedly resembled famous monuments. But apart from one that resembled the Sphinx, one really had to stretch one’s imagination to see the alleged similarity. At the beach, there were kayaks lined up and everyone on our boat got into them in pairs. OJ & I got into one while Kini & VMK shared another. All the kayaks then rowed to another beach and that was really good fun. On the way, one of the kayaks overturned, and OJ & I went to help. But it was a hopeless endeavour. One of the two Frenchmen in the upturned kayak was so massive that the best we could do was just offer him one of our oars and slowly help him back to his kayak. Once there, he just hung onto it until more help arrived and he could be dragged ashore. After spending some time on the new beach, everyone kayaked back to the earlier beach where lunch was being served.

Sphinx island

Private beach with kayaks

After lunch, our boat took us to a natural lagoon with a high viewpoint. This place was incredible. From the vantage point, one could get stupendous views of the surrounding areas. The natural lagoon was surrounded by mountains, and was fed by an underground tunnel to the sea. The marine life in the lagoon was fabulous, but tourists were not allowed into the water here.

By the time it was time for us to head back, the sea had become quite rough. Our driver seemed to be bent on proving that our boat was indeed a speed boat. As we raced back, the boat jumped up and down on the violent waters. It was a thrilling experience, although we got completely drenched in the process.