What nibbles at my legs underwater?
The blue streaked cleaner wrasse. He (or she) runs a little business, like a dentist or hairdresser. He is a professional skin doctor and makes a decent living removing parasites, displaced scales and tissue from client fish. Fish all over the world recognise the black stripe outlined in blue in the same way that a young child instantly recognises the McDonald's logo.
Mr Labroides is a businessman.He chooses the location for his cleaner station with care, ideally somewhere prominent on the reef. He spends some time performing an eye-catching zig-zag dance around the area to advertise the fact that he is in business and drawing potential clients into his surgery.
There is a mutual trust between Mr Labroides and his clients: they trust him not to nibble at delicate gill tissues; he trusts them not to eat him while he cleans their teeth. The trusting atmosphere extends beyond the relationship between cleaner and client. A client that feels he has been cheated is likely to seek the services of another branded cleaner fish station.
Some have estimated that he may take 1,200 parasites from clients a day and that some clients may spend up to a third of their day in his salon.
Life in Plastic.....its fantastic !....really?
As i was a child my mum gave a plastic straw to me and said, this is something special dont loose it!!
If you come and visit Koh Tao, you will now find a lot of Bars and Restaurants they will serve their drinks without a straw or with a re-usable metal or bamboo straw and we like that a lot!!
we know what happens with the plasic that goes in the sea and does a huge demage to the underwater invironment esspecially to sea turtles and sea birds!
It is the same for plastic bags given away in the 7/11 for free no matter what you buy please say NO if you dont need one!!
Hope to see you soon here on Koh Tao.
I finally saw my first Bull Shark the other day!!!
I have been working in the dive industry now for 6 years, and I've seen a few different species of sharks, Grey Reef's, White tip Reef's Tourney Nurse, Leopard Black Tip Reef's and also Bamboo sharks, all of which have been amazing encounters. The Bull Shark has been by far the most emotional.
It was just a juvenile around 30-40cm and in the strangest surroundings ever!!! There is was lying there with some enormous shrimp on a bed of ice standing out found of a road side BBQ restaurant in Samui. Seriously, is it not enough cutting the fins of live adults sharks to make a bowl of soup, you have to BBQ baby sharks too.
Sharks have been on this planet for 400 million years, in the last 3 years I've seen no adult sharks, we are wiping them out at an astronomical rate. Its estimated that each shark would be worth $1 million in eco-tourism in its lifetime, or im guessing a thousand Baht or so on the BBQ. Seriously DO NOT buy or consume any shark products, we need these amazing animals in our oceans not only for tourism but primarily in order to maintain the survival of our planet!!!!
Scuba Junction Diving Co Ltd.
White Rock is one of the most popular dive sites of Koh Tao for both day and night dives. It is home to the titan triggerfish, some of which occasionally act quite aggressively. The rock structures are a number of elevated shelves that provide shelter for honeycomb groupers, long-spine black sea urchins and various sea anemones, along with the soft coral mix with knob and pore corals and the colorful Christmas tree worms. If you enjoy underwater photography then this dive site provides the composition, and marine life for great pictures.
Why you should visit Koh Tao?
Because it is not just a small Island filled with only Scuba Divers! It also has so much to offer like wonderful landscapes, beautiful pristine beaches and hidden bays and some of the most amazing sunsets I have ever seen in my life!!!
Ahhhh, Don't forget about the amazing snorkeling that you can get cheap cheap taking a taxi boat, longtail, just for 300 batch per person. Or renting a bike to discover on your own BUT please pay the extra 100bt for the insurance. Totally recommend because you can have a small accident and it could cost you a small fortune when you return the bike.
A day trip to Koh Nangyuan islands is the most stunning Island that I ever have been to and have to be a obligatory day trip during your time in Koh Tao.
As well you can find a huge variety of restuarants all around the Island. Rock climbing, amazing resorts or cheap bungalows or Backpacker hostels for all kinds of pockets. Fishing trips, massages shops, good view points, etc.
Best time to visit Koh Tao for me is January, February, April (Thai New Year, Songkran), July, August and December. It is the high season but all year around is nice except during monsoon time that can vary on the last months of the year.
Most of the people come for a few days and stay longer, that mean be carful because some people stay for ever like me!
One of the best restaurant's on Koh Tao.