Day 23-25 -snorkeling, chilling

Day 23 - snorkeling

so we did end up going to jansom bay but it took us forever lol we decided to walk and there were lots of cute shops and stuff along the way and we got hungry for lunch before we got there so we had nachos at el gringos lol

we got to jansom bay at about 3:30pm or so. we had to walk through these really fancy shmancy bungalows to get there. it was $15 per person just to use their pool :oP

anyway the beach at the bay was pretty tiny and there were huge granite bolders everywhere but it was clean thank goodness! we put on our gear and went right in- forgetting the disposable waterproof camera i bought just for snorkeling because we were so excited to finally snorkel lol but i used it for another snorkeling trip we took so it's all good.

snorkeling at jansom bay was great because our snorkels worked! lol lots of different colorful fish and TONS of coral. the most coral i had ever seen! we swam a bit out of the bay and around some rocks towards this other little bay where there was supposed to be a shipwreck. well we ended up having to go over this enormous "field" of coral and it felt like it was really close to us because the water magnifies things so we felt like we were gonna hit it with our fins and that we couldn't ever go up for air and tread water lol it was awesome though! (and we weren't actually close enough to hit it accidentally).

we found the shipwreck and it was REALLY creepy! just like out of a horror movie where they slowly film some dark and scary shipwreck and then a giant octopus comes flying out lol but thank goodness, nothing flew out of this one but little fish :o) jens was regretting that we didn't bring that camera. we didn't wanna go back for it because we didn't wanna swim over that coral field again lol

we also saw some GIANT dome-like coral (i don't know the names of all the coral) but they were bigger than me! it was really amazing! we were probably in the water an hour or so but we were exhausted from all the swimming around so we swam up to the closest beach and walked back to the beach where our stuff was. it was a great little snorkeling trip!

dinner- papa's tapas - another AMAZING meal! we got 5 different vegetarian tapas and one shrimp that included: gazpacho soup with little croutons, fennel and citrus salad with vinaigrette, tomato and parmasean salad, baby potatoes baked with pearl onions, rosemary and garlic, shrimp cooked in garlic oil with aioli and bread and cauliflower risotto with truffle oil! OMG! it was awesome! lol

for dessert we got the cinnamon chocolate fudge cake with orange rind shavings and freshly whipped cream and a french press of coffee- again: OMG!

to top it all of we wanted to try port so we got the ruby port and it was really good! it's just a sweet wine.

we were stuffed after that meal and all we could do was go to bed lol

Day 24 - chilling

we were pretty tired from snorkeling the previous day, plus we've been traveling so much we needed a day of doing nothing so we basically just ate, hung out, took a nap, interneted and read.

breakfast: new heaven cafe. turkish breakfast, waffle and fruit, mango lassi, coffee. the staff there is really incompetent but the food is good so we keep going back lol

late lunch: onions rings, thai spicy crystal noodle salad with veggies, apple pie.

dinner: portobello again. wine, vegetarian antipasto board which included fresh mozzerella cheese, various pickles veg., olives, grilled veg., etc. and a pizza with coppa ham, asparagus and artichokes. all wonderful!

on the way home we happened by papa's tapas and they had live music so we went in, plopped down in a giant bean bag, ordered wine and port and listened to a guy play flamenco and french jazz on the guitar. he was really good!

Day 25 - more snorkeling!

breakfast at new heaven again - muesli with yogurt and fruit, turkish breakfast, tea, and i ordered a mango lassi but i think they gave me a tropical shake...you kinda take what you can get at this place lol but it's always delicious.

got a longtail boat over to these 3 islands off the coast of koh tao. all three are connected by one beach. met a guy from vermont/new york who is living with his wife in nepal while she teaches english and he does photography.

got to the island and had to walk on "the bridge of my worst nightmare" for like 30 mins. before reaching the beach lol i survived.

there was a huge tour group of koreans wearing life jackets in 2 foot water and screaming a lot lol oh koreans...

we went down to the opposite end of the beach and got into the water on the left side of the beach (there was water on either side). it was awesome! jens zoomed off as usual. he likes to swim a lot and just glance at things but i like to sit and watch one fish or a group of fish for a long time. it was lucky that i did that though because after a little while this HUGE group of 3-4 kinds of fish just started swimming all around me! like ALL around me, REALLY close! it was sooo coooool! i had the camera this time so i got pics :o) i swam all around and saw tons of fish and coral.

i can't find a good "types of coral" website but here's what i did find:
http://library.thinkquest.org/J0112361/coral/coral.htm

i saw all those kind of coral except the fan coral i saw was brown not red.

and i also can't find a good site for thailand's saltwater fish but i know i saw parrot fish: http://blog.nesthostelsvalencia.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/parrot-fish.jpg

and sea anenomes similar to this: http://www.berlinmethod.com/images/photos/anenome.jpg

and longfin fish like these: http://www.3reef.com/forums/attachments/tropical-fish/22673d1261526681-moorish-idol-blue-dotted-sting-ray-long-fin-20bannerfish.jpg

and lots of sea slugs! http://blog.cryos.net/uploads/SeaSlug.jpg

we also saw some tiny electric blue fish, white translucent fish, yellow fish, yellow and white fish, fish that stick their heads in the sand to find food, a GIANT fish i don't know the name of, little purple fish, needlenose fish that swim just under the surface of the water, etc.

so pretty cool huh??? it was great!

we swam around the whole area of water that was blocked off by a rope and we were truly exhausted by the end of it because we didn't have fins. they wouldn't let us bring them onto the island because they can disturb sediments which are some sea creatures homes or something. i did see a lot of little sand mounds with holes in the tops...

anyway we were tired and i had major dry mouth from breathing through my mouth for like 2 hours lol it's a very strange sensation to be emersed in water and have dry mouth lol but i'm still amazed at the ability to breath with your face in the water due to the use of a snorkel - it's really cool! lol

we had lunch in the cafe- shrimp and pineapple fried rice, fruit plate and pancake.

then we swam in the water to the right of the beach. the water was much clearer there- at least in the first 25 feet for so and tons of parrot fish and these white/lightblue/light yellow fish were swimming in a huge school and stopping to eat off the coral. the weirdest thing was- you could hear them eating! munchmunchmunchmunch lol it was so funny.

we had to go pretty far out on this side to see coral but we saw some HUGE stuff! big mounds of it that were bigger than our bungalow! and we saw some black spikey sea urhcins that really freak me out! they look like this: http://www.scuba-equipment-usa.com/marine/NOV04/images/Centrostephanus_rodgersii.jpg

scary!

we swam and looked and swam and looked and then we went up on the beach and layed down til it was time to go.

took the longtail boat back, showered and went to a place to have my camera looked at. the guys thinks i got water or sand in it (which is what was the problem the last time i had to get it fixed! :oP) i blame the elephant that sprayed water on us right when i was gonna take a picture in singapore! dangit! i hope he can fix it. if not we may try in bangkok. i'm just worried it'll go kaput right in the middle of photographing the amazing temples of ayutthaya or ankor wat :o/

then we went to dinner at...dunno the name. jens got lasagna and i got the burger. it was pretty good. we listened to a couple swedish guys sing/play american covers. they were good! had great english!

now i'm here updating. we go to koh pha ngan tomorrow! we'll be there 6 days and i think we're just gonna chill the whole time. 2 months is a looong time to be on vacation lol i need a vacation from vacation! i at least need to store up energy for all the walking we're gonna do in bangkok and ayutthaya, laos and then angkor wat in cambodia. i think laos will be pretty low key though. everyone calls it "sleepy". we shall see.

anyway- we're happy we finally got some awesome snorkeling in! can't wait to see the pics from the disposable!

have a great day/night! whichever it may be :o)