Breakfast First
We started the day off right by fueling our bodies so that we were all in a good mind set. We met our trusty longtail captain, Mr. Ott, at his boat at 8:30. He took us to the resort rental shop and geared us up with fins, then we were off. It is an hour and a half trip by longtail boat from Koh Mook to Koh Rok. This trip cost $4,500 Baht, or $135 US dollars, which included the National Park fees for snorkeling. There is an option to take a speedboat and cut your travel time in half for $7,800 Baht.
Arrival at Koh Rok
I can hardly express the beauty of the waters surrounding this island. It is actually two islands, which at low tide are connected by a sandbar. As we approached I was in awe at the pristine, crystal clear turquoise waters. I couldn’t wait to get my gear on and into the water. There were a couple other boats there, but it was not at all crowded.
We started at the north island on the east side. I wish I could have captured pictures to share of the beauty in this underwater world. We saw anemones with clownfish in them, which of course is exciting for everyone that has watched Finding Nemo. We actually saw three different species of clownfish – the ‘Nemo’ kind, skunk clowns and my favorite, the Clarkie clowns. We also saw a wide variety of corals – the best I have ever seen anywhere. I used to have a 150 gallon saltwater tank, so am familiar with most of what we were seeing. There were brain corals, favia, capping corals, plate corals, encrusting corals, acroporas and staghorns. I’m sure there are some I have forgotten/missed. There were also huge colonies of carpet anemones, sea urchins and my personal favorite, beautiful clams.
We picked up and moved a few hundred yards and it was interesting to see how things changed in such a short distance. There were fewer small fish and more abundant larger fish. We saw several different varieties of wrasses, the cleaner wrasse being my favorite, the clown fish, schools of green anthis, several varieties of damsel fish and several varieties of gobies. As we went further south we found many varieties of parrotfish, larger angelfish and maybe some type of sea bass? Dawn also spotted a large purple starfish that was pretty awesome and on our way back to the boat I found a sea star (?) that had 13 legs, was vibrant purple and covered in black spines.
Lunch on Koh Rok
After the two snorkel stops we were taken to shore at the north island for lunch. There were a lot of your groups lunching at shore, but most of them had food brought in with them. We ate at the restaurant on the island, which was typical Thai fare. There were half a dozen or so bungalows in the island, but it didn’t appear they were in use. At first I thought that I would not want to stay on the remote island that gets clogged daily with masses of tourists, but have to say I would think hard about it after snorkeling in its waters. I have found nothing like it as of yet after vacationing in Hawaii, many Caribbean islands and even through other parts of Southern Thailand on two other trips. Point being, if you ever make it here, don’t miss snorkeling at Koh Rok – specifically the east side of the islands.
After Lunch
After lunch we returned to the boat and assumed we would be heading back to our resort. We were told it was a six hour trip. However, we were taken further south to snorkel off the east side of the southern island. I’m not certain how deep the water was, but as we were pulling up to this snorkel stop I would be it was 70-80 feet deep and you could still see the bottom through the most beautiful bright blue water. Again, you just can’t believe the difference in coral/fish in such a short distance. We were told when we were getting in that north of the boat was Thailand waters and south of the boat was Indonesian waters. The water was crazy warm. Dale and I were the only ones to take advantage of this stop. The others were wiped out. There were different varieties of coral – mostly huge masses of capping/encrusting corals – and much larger fish. What was most apparent was that there was very little current and we were able to float right above these large fish while they went about their business, completely unbothered by us. We saw the deepest purples, bright reds and beautiful turquoise parrotfish, as well as some very large ‘Gill’ fish from Finding Nemo. Remember him, the one in the tank with the scar? They are beautiful and majestic. You could hear the parrotfish take every bite at the coral and the white marks that were left in their wake all over the corals was really interesting.
More Snorkeling!
When we returned to the boat we were taken around the back side of the southern island. It was really interesting to see the different layers of rock cliffs. Chase and I discussed how this island was formed; he confidently informed me that it was from the shifting and pushing up of tectonic plates and that is why we could see all of the layers or rock.
We stopped between the two islands for one last snorkel location. I was also wiped by this point and opted to hang on the boat while Dale and Mr. Ott gave it a go. Dale had been tipping Mr. Ott pretty well the past few days, which I believe is the reason we were taken to four snorkel stops instead of two. Dale reported that the coral was not nearly as good as it was on the other side of the islands, but that the parrotfish were three times the size.
Dinner Back at Koh Mook
Kadie slept the whole way back and Chase tried to sleep a little. We were all pretty sun wiped.
This is a living palm tree that is rooted to the left with it’s top turning upright to the right.
I should have gotten a picture of the whole tree.
Some showers were definitely in order upon return, followed by dinner at the restaurant we ate at the first night over by Charlie Beach. This time I took a picture of the Menu so I could share the name with you. It is Mayow Thai Kitchen. The first night we ate there we had the place to ourselves, but it was packed last night. On our way back to our resort I had our taxi driver make a pit stop at another restaurant on our route that had mango sticky rice advertised. For $100 Baht ($3) I was in heaven with a serving of sweet coconut milk covered sticky rice and a half a fresh, sweet mango. Best dessert ever!Dale ended up feeling a bit motion sick from all of our time on the boat. It hit him towards the end of dinner – feeling a bit dizzy and having hot flashes. It is interesting the way that it can hit like that once you are back on solid ground. Almost like a reverse effect.
The 2004 Tsunami
Our taxi driver spoke some broken English so we tried to ask him questions about the 2004 tsunami that devastated a lot of the Thai islands. From what we could glean he told us that nobody was lost on Koh Mook because it is a fishing village so when the waters around the island receded drastically to feed the giant wave the islanders knew what was coming and were able to get everyone to high ground before it hit. On other islands this was not the case and locals were drawn to the receding shoreline in confusion. Since that disaster tsunami evacuation routes have been clearly posted on all of the islands and warning sirens have been installed. Hopefully this kind of natural disaster will not be life-taking in the future like it was in 2004.
The People of Koh Mook
The locals on this island are so nice, honest and helpful. We had friends vacation here the week before us upon our recommendation. On this same snorkel trip to Koh Rok a diamond earring was lost. It was found on the boat and returned the next day. These people live in what we would consider absolute poverty – their huts house no furniture or beds, have no running water and no electricity. Yet they are good, honest people that go out of their way to look out for the many tourists that are often easily taken advantage of in other places. The crime here is pretty much non- existent. I have never felt unsafe.
Enjoying reading about Thailand? Explore posts on some of our other days here, here and here!
