It was a glorious sleep with the A/C blaring! The breakfast buffet opened at 3:00AM but we waited until 7:00AM to go down. It was a yummy selection of all sorts of breakfast treats from around the globe- but maybe we are missing ENP, the noodles and the rice just were not as good.

Next stop is Koh Tao, a small island off the East coast of Thailand. We had a 10:10AM flight from Bangkok to Koh Samui an island that is located 2 islands South of Koh Tao. Koh Tao does not have an airport, so you either head south by train, car or bus to a port across from Koh Samui or fly to Samui. Our time is limited so we took the 1 hour flight from Bangkok to Samui. Very easy flight- I sat next to a Spanish professional basketball player who plays for a team in the Canary Islands.

The plane was packed as tonight is the famous Full Moon Party on the island between us and Samui- Koh Phangan. We have been to Koh Phangan a couple of times but never for the Full Moon Party- even 30 years ago it was epic and it has only gotten bigger, and like the basketball player said “maybe even a little bit dangerous”.

Our ferry left Koh Samui loaded and an hour later about 90% of the people got off for the party the rest of us stayed on the boat for the 45 min trip to Koh Tao. The seas were mostly calm and it was an easy crossing. The main port was BUSY- there are only a handful of passenger ferries that arrive each day. I’d already reserved our hotel so after some searching found the guy from our hotel and we loaded up into the hotel’s tuc tuc and made the 3 min ride to the hotel.

The hotel was as expected- close to the beach, clean and has A/C. We unpacked a bit then headed down to the pool to cool off a bit. We then went to find a dive shop. Looked up some recommendations on Trip Advisor- settled with one and got all signed up. Found a place to have dinner. Had bought snorkeling kits for the boys so while we waited for dinner the boys went snorkeling just in front of the restaurant. They saw a puffer fish and a sunk ship.

It is blazing hot here- like crazy hot. There are about 5 beach communities here on the island- we are in Mae Hat which is nearest the ferry. I’m sure we will do some exploring as the days go on. This island is known for diving- tons of dive shops that cater to divers.

One of the dive masters told us the peak Whale Shark sighting season ended last week but still some chance to see one. Fingers crossed!!!  We have never seen one-and seem to always just miss them.  Not a true shark- but the biggest fish in the ocean.  They are beautiful.

We will do 2 dives tomorrow, there are about a dozen great dives within site of the island.  You hear tons of languages spoken here and most everyone sports a dive computer on their wrists- they are used to automatically calculate how much time you need between dives as it is taking in data while you are diving (time and depth).  The old fashioned way is to hand calculate on these boards-

The length  of the town can be walked in about 10 minutes.  Our hotel in on the N end of the town, on our way home from dinner we stopped at a Thai massage place just down the road from us.  It was freezing inside and will become our go to center when we are on the island.  Mae got a pedicure-the boys had gone exploring and about 1/2 thru our massages they came in for their own.

You lie on either the ground (like we did at ENP) or on a mattress about the size of a twin bed.  You are fully clothed- although Robs grandma masseuse had him take his top off.  They usually are very small Thai women- who look like they could not squish a fly.  But they are laser sharp in finding all the nooks of pain in your body.  They use their hands, feet, elbows and knees to knead you.  They also are twisting you this way and that.  It’s truthfully not my favorite type of massage but it sure feels good after a day of work,  or like today in our case, sitting on a plane/ferry all day.

Don’t know if you can see but look under Rob, there is  a little grandma under him lifting him up by her knees.  I about peed my pants laughing so hard, he was grunting and groaning like he was birthing a 27lb baby.  She was smiling and laughing like it was no big deal.