Diving Chumphon Pinnacle @ Koh Tao

I would not be surprised if in my other life I was a sexy merman or an impish shokoi of Philippine folklore, because diving for me is an irresistible passion. This recent dive took me 460 km from Bangkok to Chumphon by train and 75 km by high-speed catamaran to the idyllic island of Tao (Koh = Thai for island). I had prepared some weeks for this, including all the internet research on the island and the shark infested dive sites. The sharks at Chumphon pinnacle - I confess, were the strongest lures that drew me to Koh Tao.

In all the preparations I chose to neglect the details of the travel to the island and let destiny take over for added excitement and adventure. I even didn’t pack my bag until the lunch break on the work-day of my departure. After work that afternoon I got on the bus to the train station, and only then did I remember that it was a Friday.

In Bangkok Fridays are the meanest of days in terms of traffic conditions. A 30-minute standstill is normal on these days and this bus trip to the central train station at Hua Lamphong was no exception and threatened to derail my trip to the island. I decided to get off the bus and take the notorious motosai tag-see or be left by the train.

I don’t want to spoil the mood by being wordy… so click on the first photo to get rest of the story.