Having finished my initial scuba training yesterday, the instructor invited me on a day trip to Koh Taen, a small island just off the southern tip of Samui. We started out driving up to the viewpoint near the top of the highest peak in Samui, which has great views to the south, where we were heading. Then it was back down the hill and to a small fishing village near Laem Sor. The south of Samui is still mostly undeveloped, although it doesn’t look like it will be for much longer.

The almost deserted beach at Koh Taen, south of Samui.

 
We took two fishing boats out about 30 minutes to Koh Taen. We anchored at the south end of a long beach on the east side of the island, near a reef. The tide was low at this point, so the top of the reef was above water. This was a really great spot, at a pretty good time. I just let myself float on top of the water, drifting along the face of the reef, which was full of fish. It took very little effort to steer in the water. I gave my new pocket camera - which claimed to be waterproof to 10 meters - a try, and got a couple of decent pictures, which you’ll find in the gallery.

Next we hauled anchor and went to a smaller island just next to Koh Taen, called Koh Mat Sum. This island is deserted and has a long white sandy beach facing Koh Taen. Some people sun-bathed, a few went snorkeling again, while I and a few others walked down the beach, looking at the wild plants and trees, and doing a bit of shell collecting.

Lastly, we went back to Koh Taen, where we landed this time and had lunch at a tiny little resort on the beach. There aren’t many people here, and we only saw one other small boat of tourists, so this place is really off the tourist trail. The food was really good (highly recommend the curry chicken). After lunch, I walked down the beach to a small rocky island. Away from the others, I was struck by how quiet it was. There was no boom box blaring, as there almost always is everywhere in Thailand, there was no sound at all. As I was walking, it took me a while to realize that an occasional “shhhh” I kept hearing was the sound of an little wavelet of water running through the course sand on the beach. What a great day away from the crowds!

See the Koh Samui photo gallery for more pictures of this idyllic island get-away.