Ang Thong National Marine Park

Thursday we were off to Ang Thong National Marine Park.  The minibus picked us up by 7:30 to transfer us to the Samui Island Tour Boat.  Once we got on the boat we had fruit, croissant, tea/coffee/pop/water.  It was a nice slow calm ride to the islands taking about 11/2 hours.  The tour guide told us there were 42 islands in Ang Thong National Marine Park.  We stopped at Mae Koh Island and got off onto a longtail-boat which took us to shore on a beautiful beach.  Here we took a short but steep climb following the stairs to view Talay Nai, a salt water lake.  This emerald green lagoon was surrounded by limestone cliffs, so beautiful to see and very well worth the trek up there.  Let me tell you we were quite ready for the buffet Thai lunch waiting for us back on the boat.  We sat with a dairy farmer from Norway, very interesting to visit with.  They had been to Canada several times as she has relatives in BC.

We continued on to Wua Ta Lap Island, stopping and getting off onto a longtail-boat to get to shore which was another beautiful white sand beach.  Here is where we hiked to the Top View Point, a distance of 500m following a nature trail using a rope.  This was quite a rough and rugged climb along limestone shelves and tree roots working our way to the top.  It was very steep in many places forcing you to use the rope to help pull you up and making the climb very difficult.  Once we got up there it was a fantastic view of the islands, very worth the climb to see the view.  NOW...how do we get down???  Fred used the rope to help lower himself to his next step like the mountain climbers do and I picked my way down slowly on my bum.  This was the hardest trek we have EVER done.  My legs felt like rubber once we got down and we were drenched in sweat.  The beautiful clear water was calling so we jumped in, sooooo refreshing.  Before long they were wanting to get us back to the boat for our return to Koh Samui.  It was a very relaxing ride back and a fantastic day of some awesome sights.