Thought I'd get a start on this, since I got to the airport early and found a shop in the new airport mall that has free wi-fi (for those that don't know, the Samui airport is now a destination in itself).

Arrived in Samui Thursday night. Main objective was to get my initial scuba cert. I won't bore you with the details of that, except to say I'm hooked. The dive on the twins was all it took.

The class occupied the first two days. I had planned to do an eco adventure that the instructor also did, but since I was the only one, we decided it wasn't worth it. The instructor got a last-minute booking for a snorkling trip on Sunday, and he invited me along for that. The other guest were all Germans, two of whom were old customers of my instructor.

We started out driving up to the viewpoint on top of the highest peak in Samui, which has great views to the south, where we were heading. Then it was back down the hill and to a small fishing village near Laem Sor. The south of Samui is still mostly undeveloped, although it doesn't look like it will be for much longer.

We took two fishing boats out about 30 minutes to Koh Taen. We anchored at the south end of a long beach on the west side of the island, near a reef. The tide was low at this point, so the top of the reef was above water. This was a really great spot, at a pretty good time. I just let myself float on top of the water, letting my body drift along the face of the reef, which was full of fish. It took very little effort to steer in the water. I gave my new pocket camera - which claimed to be waterproof to 10 meters - a try, and got a couple of decent pics. Will upload them in the next day or two.

Next we hauled anchor and went to a smaller island just next to Koh Taen. This island is desserted and has a long white sandy beach facing koh Taen. Some people sun-bathed, a few went snorkeling again, while I and a few others walked down the beach, looking at the wild plants and trees, and doing a bit of shell collecting.

Lastly, we went back to Koh Taen, where we landed this time and had lunch at a tiny little resort on the beach. There aren't many people here, and we only saw one other small boat of tourists, so this place is really off the tourist trail. The food was really good (highly recommend the curry chicken). After lunch, I walked down the beach to a small rocky island. Away from the others, I was struck by how quiet it was. There was no boom box blaring, as there almost always is everywhere in Thailand, there was no sound at all. As I was walking, it took me a while to realize that an occasional "shhhh" I kept hearing was the sound of an little wavelet of water running through the course sand on the beach. what a great day away from the crowds!

I stayed at Smile House in Fisherman's Village, Bophut. It's about the only resort in the village itself. There are a few guest houses, but no other hotels. My standard bungalow was comfortable enough, and for a low season rate of 1,500 a night, it was good value for Samui.

sounds like fun...look forward to some pics...

It was a blast. Probably my best beach vacation in 10 years. On the boat back from my first dives on Saturday - before he got the tour booking - Adam (my instructor) had me thinking about doing the rest of my full open water cert on Sunday. But when I woke up that morning, I was glad it was out of the question - so many little aches and pains. I work out six days a week, but scuba uses muscles that get much of a workout at the gym or on a bike!

Sounds like fun Michael. Did you fly with Thai?

V pleased you enjoyed the diving - perhaps you can check out some dive sites for me around Phuket/Krabi before we arrive in Feb

Koh Taen sounds lovely. We stayed in Smile Resort a couple of years ago - just for one night before catching a boat to Ko Pha Ngan - it was v good value for a family. We had a huge teak bungalow that would have slept 6 for about 4000B.
BB

Hanuman - no, Bangkok Air was cheaper for the times I wanted. People complain about the cost of Bkk Air, but really, if you're flexible about the time, you can get good deals. In this case, Thai's flight down was too early in the afternoon, and the flight back too late Monday morning (wanted to get in some time at the office).

Bella - Khao Lak & Similans are definitely on my 'to-do' list - have been since before I learned to dive. Don't know know if I'll get there before Feb. or not. Think it will be Oct. before I do the full open water cert. and I want to do that with the same instructor.

Smile still has the two and three bedroom 'chalets' and they still cost around 4K in high season. I would definitely put it high on the list of family-friendly budget places to stay, especially since Fishermans Village is still free of the girly bars and other seedy aspects of most Thai tourist places.

Got the photos up on my journal. You can check the following link:
http://chiengfa.com/gallery2/main.ph...g2_itemId=1399