We Survived Death Island

Well that’s what some people call it. The island is actually called Koh Tao, or Turtle Island 🐢, though it earned this unfortunate nickname of “death island” from a few past incidents and active conspiracy theorists. (And perhaps its historical use as a shark-infested prison in the 1940’s.)

Today, the island is a stunning marine paradise with world renowned diving and snorkeling in nearly every bay. We took an all-day tour to four spots: Lighthouse (Ao Kluai Thuean), Ao Leuk, Shark Bay, and the adjacent Nang Yuan island. Lucky us, only 13 people booked a tour with capacity for 150, so we had a peaceful and private experience.

🐠🐠🐠

One of the bays (ironically, not Shark Bay) serves as a safe haven for baby sharks. I never imagined I would be swimming towards someone yelling, “Shark here! Shark here!”

We swam out in a group, eyes on swivel across shallow waters, until suddenly we see a baby shark darting through the water past us, completely unbothered. These creatures make quick turns that are quite hard to track without an expert’s eyes. Our guides took us out to into deeper waters to see giant sea turtles, too!

Nang Yuan island is actually three small islands all connected by a beautiful white sand beach. They take conservation seriously: no single use plastics are allowed on the island or water shoes (to prevent tourists from standing on and killing the coral.)

The coral extending from NangYuan island is called “the Japanese Garden” and is coming back to life after destructive swells ~15 years ago

Farewell to Island Life

We spent our last day on the island exploring around on a scooter rented out from a sweet local woman — Koh Tao’s steep hills really tested its limits though and on our way to one of the viewpoints, the scooter didn’t have enough power. So, we parked as close as we could and hiked the last 350 meters up. The views were worth it!

We sunscreened more than once during our snorkel trip, but it was not enough and we are both sporting very red backs. Carrying our packs around is a real pain now 🤬 but makes leaving this tropical paradise a little easier 😪

A New Friend

While waiting for our room to be ready we started chatting with one of the staff, Thura, a Burmese refugee. He told us his story of giving up an engineering career and leaving his family behind to escape persecution. Tura spends most of his time learning English to increase his earning potential and make a new life for himself in Europe in the future, so he loves to chat up foreigners.

We shared a couple guitar jam sessions (Bruno Mars and Ed Sheeran have some popular international songs) and he even took us up the nearby hill on his motorbike to a not-so-secret Secret Bar to watch the sunset together.