If you do nothing else on Koh Samui (besides swim, sunbake and drink cheap cocktails that is) make sure it is an Island Tour to the Angthong National Marine Park.

I spent 3 days on Samui and this was by far the best activity I took part in and one that in my opinion shouldn’t be missed.

The Tour I chose was a full day tour with collection from your hotel bright and early. Collections happen from all over the island, with everyone converging on Nathon Pier ready for departure at 8:30 am.

Over 100 people can fit on the boat, so it is chock filled with people from all walks of life and a fantastic way to interact and meet new friends.

There were two tour guides who gave us all safety instructions and information for the day in Thai, Mandarin, English and German. So, all (if not most) bases are covered. The debrief was so very detailed, nothing was missed, and no one was left wondering what was going to happen throughout the day.

During the debrief and presentation a light breakfast is served of croissants, bananas, coffee and tea.

Arrival at the Marine park is approximately 10 am, and the first activity for the day is Kayaking. For those that don’t want to kayak, they are welcome to get onto a longtail boat to the next destination. For everyone else, we jump into Kayaks, and for those of us who are solo, we are paired up with other solos as the kayaks are for 2 people. I’m paired up with a lovely girl from Nepal, who kayaks in a denim jacket (Say What!). The next hour is spent with Christine the German Tour Guide, kayaking around Mae Koh Island, over reefs, in and out of caves and generally having the best time.

We are met by the rest of the passengers at the base of Talay Nai on Mae Kong Island. There are a few steps to climb before reaching the top and the saltwater lake known as Talay Nai. It is a beautiful emerald green colour and the views out over the ocean and surrounding islands is spectacular.

After our time at the Emerald Lake, we are back on longtail boats back to the main ship for a tasty lunch of chicken curry, rice, spring rolls, cabbage salad and fresh fruit and water or soft drink. Seriously they were such generous servings, I could barely get through the whole thing.

By the time lunch is over you will find yourself at the next Island Wua Ta Lap. Here you have multiple choices of activities. A hike of 500m to the Top View Point, snorkelling, swimming, relaxing on the beach or in the hammocks and a nature trail to Lotus Cave to look at stalagmites and stalactites. My 2 new friends and I had decided we wanted to climb to the Top View Point for the views and then follow up with a snorkel. We were given 2 hours of free time so thought this was the best option. We were also told the walk up and back should only take about 40 minutes. HA! Yeah right! Maybe for people that do it daily and are conditioned to complete it in that weather.

It was bloody hard. It was vertical in some spots and the steps weren’t your average steps, they were huge and uneven, and the humidity was through the roof and the sweat was dripping off us. There are 4 rest stops and we stopped at every single one to gather ourselves and urge each other on.

But it is so worth it to reach the top. The views are out of this world and the sense of achievement you get from completing such a gnarly climb is pretty damn good too.

By the time we got back down we only had 40 minutes left for our snorkelling. Ha! So much for a 40-minute climb. It had taken us an hour and 20 minutes.

We were prewarned by the guides that the snorkelling wasn’t going to live up to the Great Barrier Reef standards, and they were right. It was pretty murky but we were able to make out the coral, a sea urchin and a sea cucumber. We got rid of our snorkelling gear pretty quickly and just had a paddle around and some photos in the hammocks along the shore. It was a nice relaxing way to finish such a fabulous adventure-filled day.

Once back on the boat, we could help ourselves to soft drink, water or beers and sit back and relax while we were driven back to Koh Samui

We docked back at Nathon approximately 5 pm and were driven back to our hotels

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