Friday, November 21, 2008

Finding Nemo

I was apprehensive about leaving Ton Sai, we had had such a good time there that it seemed logical to stick around for as long as we could. But we headed over to Koh Lanta anyway, lured by the promise of amazing diving and the beaches of Koh Phi Phi. Koh Lanta delivered in spades. We stayed right on the beach in an amazing bungalow. The next day I went diving at Koh Haa, on possibly the most amazing dive I have ever been on. To be fair, my dive in Austrailia was almost 10 years ago(!) and it's possible I don't remember it as thoroughly, but I was absolutely ENCHANTED by Koh Haa. Perfect crystal waters, warm but not too hot, and an AMAZING diversity of marine life. It was like diving in the Pacific Coral Reef exhibit of the Seattle Aquarium. Large, colorful schools of fish, shoals of barracuda, sea cucumbers and starfish and corals carpeting the sea floor. So many different kinds of pufferfish, including the large porcupine pufferfish that curiously follow you around like a yellow spikey puppy. What I was really hoping to see was a whale shark, but I was almost to distracted by all the vibrant colors teeming around the reef to bother to gaze out into the distant murky blue for what might be swimming in its depths. Turns out, I did see a whale shark. While I was on the boat, eating lunch. Oh well. Someday, I will see one while diving, but at least I saw one with my own two eyes, even if I wasn't in the water while it showed up. The next day, Mikaela and I went on a snorkeling/beach tour around Koh Phi Phi. The beaches were absolutely as phenominal as the hype makes them out to be. The snorkelling paled a bit in comparision to Koh Haa, but was still decent. We went snorkelling in Monkey Bay, and stopped at the beach where we were immediately surrounded by a troop of monkeys! They came right up to us, in all honesty, I was more timid about the whole thing than they were! So our time in Koh Lanta paid off, and a bit sadly, we left for Cambodia. But we weren't to sad about it, Cambodia is an exciting prospect in itself!

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