A day after the full moon party, we set off on a new adventure to the Mu Ko Ang Thong National Park. The park consists of 42 islands with a wide variety of marine life in the coral reefs. We started by hopping on a speedboat that took us out to the northern islands where we hopped into beautiful blue waters for snorkeling.
We found friendly angel fish that would come up right next to our masks, parrotfish, and other colorful creatures. A bit of coral bleaching, but plenty of life! We also made sure to watch out for sea urchins down there 👀
From there we set out on Ko Mae Ko to hike up to Emerald Lake, a body of sea water completely surrounded by the island. This lake was formed thousands of years ago and remains preserved today.
Our final stop was the National Park’s main island. Half the group hopped on kayaks for a paddle around the nearest island — with all the time we’ve spent paddleboarding, we were in sync and leading the pack 💪🏻
Before long we were watching the last daygoers be wrangled off the beach and their speedboats disappear into the distance. A park staff member mentioned in passing that only three guests were staying that night — we’d have the place almost entirely to ourselves 😍
3pm Tuesday
8am Wednesday
The bungalow was our simplest accommodation so far with cold water and very intermittent electricity to run two fans in the humid sea air (much of the island appears to run on solar). We were already doused in mosquito spray from walking in the jungle which proved fruitful inside, too, since the doors and window seals had long since peeled from their frames.
Far more exciting was the family of monkeys having dinner right outside our window!!
The main island has a small restaurant and accommodations for ~30 staff members, most of whom we wouldn’t have known were there save for a few evening smoke plumes.
We spent some time hiking to the park’s main attractions and the trails were steep! We had the main viewpoint to ourselves and were grateful to pour sweat in peace as the next day’s visitors didn’t start appearing until about 11am. 🥵😅
After a bit of a kerfuffle with the tour operator holding our return speedboat hostage, we’ve made it to our next island — Koh Tao! We are soaking up our last island time for a few days before heading north to the mountains of Chiang Mai 🌺⛰️
Sunrise Owls 
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