Koh Khai Nok, what an absolutely quintessential tropical island. Shame about the tourists. Yes, I know. I'm a tourist too. But there's tourists like them then there's tourists like us. We're travellers, explorers, lifestylers.
Luckily, being travellers, we are not in a hurry. We are not mass tourists at their worst. We have no time frames for our days. We don't have to be crammed into speedboats and delivered to islands for a fast one hour stopover. We don't need to hire jetskis and be those annoying tourists that have no idea of etiquette on the water. We don't have to bob around in the sea in bright orange lifejackets that make each of them look like a buoy to tie our boat to.
Now that was a rant I didn't know was in me 😁.
Back to this gorgeous tropical island. It's so tiny, yet offers everything you could desire on a tropical island. There's the brilliant white sand you can see from several kilometres away, with brightly coloured sun umbrellas and beach chairs lining the shore to entice you to kick back and relax. The water seemed to change from azure to aquamarine then to turquoise. The limestone rocks with their striations of orange and grey are covered in greenery, and shallow waters offer snorkelling opportunities. There's cold drinks, beers and cocktails and some food options available too. If one is prepared to fight for space to get the dinghy to shore, of course.
A procession of tour boats disgorged tourists all day, then lined the boats up along the beach so there was limited access to actually swim in the water. I find it quite bizarre that anyone would be able to enjoy this paradise when you have to fight for a square foot of space to call your own. The jetskiers roared around each other, and around us, creating plenty of waves to keep us rocking. Also making it unsafe to swim across to shore.
afternoon tourist session
We dinghied over to what looked like a decent snorkel spot, with no jetskis, and found some beautiful big coral bombies and plenty of tropical fish to keep me entertained. Unfortunately an underwater camera that is no longer waterproof means no more fishy photos for a while.
By 6pm the last of the tour boats had ferried their customers back on board and left us in peace to enjoy the stunning display the setting sun put on for us. Wow, what a splendid sight to behold.
There next morning we awoke to peaceful tranquillity and an island all to ourselves for a wee bit of exploring. Even with the plethora of beach chairs and umbrellas, without the tourists it was heavenly.
It would be a rare thing indeed to find such a beautiful tropical island totally uninhabited especially here in the waters around Phuket. So, we suck it up and have learned to look beyond the rubbish piles and beach litter and beat the mass tourism wherever possible.
Hubby found Wilson the 2nd
As the boats started arriving to deliver the locals who staff the many food and drink stands, it was time for us to head back to Watusi, drop our mooring and sail away in search of the next island paradise.
Until next time, Watusi Woman - chaser of uninhabited islands, out.
