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Koh Tao 2016

Pictures by Jo & David Spinney

Thailand January 2016

Pictures of Koh Tao, Thailand

We had heard so many good things about Koh Tao, that we decided to go there to do some diving.

We had a very early start from Patong Beach by Mini bus which we caught at 7am, which took us to the bus station at Phuket. This was a tricky day for Jo, as she was suffering from the trotts.

We then caught a coach at 8am to the harbour at Suratthani. This bus picked up passengers all along its route, even though the bus was already full when it left the bus station.

When we reached Suratthani where we caught the high speed catamaran to Koh Tao.

When we arrived at Koh Tao it was about 8pm. We found the dive centre and registered.

We had booked a package from the dive centre which included a room.

The duty Dive Master/Instructor took us to our room. On opening the door he saw that the bed had not been made, so he went to get the key for another room.

This room didn't look very good either, but the guy had gone before we could say anything.

The room was very dirty. Mould on the shower head, the ceiling and walls. Dirt on the floor.

There was no fridge for cold drinks, No hot water, no brushes or mops to do some cleaning.

When we pulled back the sheet on the bed we found that the sheet was dirty and stained.

We went to the office to complain and ask to change rooms, but there was no one around.

We were stuck, so we out towels on the sheet and pillows to get some sleep and to deal with the issue the next day.

The next morning, no-one wanted to know. They could not give us a better room. The sheets were "clean" they told us when we got the room.

Jo went for some diving, while David stripped the bed to get the sheets washed somewhere else.

The bed was disgusting when the sheets were stripped off. The mattress was heavily stained and mouldy.

David started looking for another room right away. Sadly he couldn't find one, and we couldn't get off the island for a couple of days.

Jo returned from her dives very disappointed, the 2 reefs that they dived were badly damaged by the thousands of poorly trained novice divers, there was virtually nothing to take photos of. The dive Guide never slowed down so she could take photos and didn't try to point out any life.

David's ear infection was getting worse, so that afternoon we went to the local hospital. They syringed his ear and gave him antibiotics (which we later found out were actually just suda-fed).

As we were stuck on the island for a couple of days we booked some more dives for Jo, diving one of the local wrecks. The next day on her return Jo was very upset as they only went back to the same reef as the first day.

Jo gave the dive centre another chance on the third day, but again they just did a shallow dive with no customer care at all.

We were very glad to see the back of the island as we headed back to Bangkok on route to the Philippines.



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