January 22,

Today we had plans! We got up and about having our Javas and breakfast of Muesli, yogurt, and milk. By 0945, we walked down the beach to Koh Samui Watersports by James Jetstar. We booked an Island Jet Ski Tour. It is a four hour private tour of Five Island – Koh Tan – Koh Mud Sum with a lunch meal included. It’s a splurge venture for us – 10,000 Baht ($294.17) total, but we have been wanting to do it. We are on one Jet Ski and have a guide, Kai, who had his own Jet Ski. They have outfitted us with really great life vests and eyeglass straps. Jeff and I are both wearing our swimwear outfits we bought in Vietnam. We want coverage and protection from the sun!

We started out right at 1000 and zoom through our protected bay area. The water is smooth and it is great to see shoreline we have not seen. Then we went out of the protection of the bay… and it’s well, rough on that Jet Ski. I will not deny it. We still enjoyed it but at times I felt like I was on a bucking bronco! (horse emoji??) Anyway, we arrive to Five Island area, which is Mu Ko Ang Thong National Park. These islands remind me of the Ha Long Bay islands. They jut right out of the water and seem Karst-like. Kai leads us around the islands some and takes our pictures. I attempted to take some also. We did not get off and visit any of these islands though. With it being a national park, it may have involved an entrance fee?? I don’t know. We take off and zoom on.

It is a glorious day, but like I mentioned choppy for a Jet Ski in the ocean. It does not seem so when I just look out across the beautiful water, but then we hit a wave, and crash down. Thankfully the Jet Ski does have great hand holds for a passenger and an awesome cushioned seat. Jeff did a great job driving “The Beast” – it’s name (LOL)! They are noisy-loud. As we are leaving the Five Island area and going to our next area, you can just make out mainland Thailand in the distance. That’s cool!

We arrive at Koh Tan, Google maps shows it as Tean Island. Anyway, Kai leads us up to the shore and we unload at a resort type area. As we walk in, Kai says lunch time. It’s 1040! We should not have had breakfast!!! So we sat and by 1100 we had a huge spread laid out in front of us– one dish at a time. First a platter of watermelon & pineapple. Next a platter of stir-fried rice with bits of eggs and veggies. Then a dish of sauteed vegetables – cabbage, carrots, onions, bok choy, and baby corn. And then a platter of crispy chopped chicken. But wait one more dish – the soup! It was a Tom Yum(?) with chicken. The food was so great and flavorful. I wish I had been more hungry. We left enough food that two more people could have eaten and had their fill as well. When we finished, we did some photo ops and then loaded up on The Beast and went just a small distance along the same island to a nice beach area.

Here we unloaded and did some swimming and snorkeling. That was good since I needed to work off some of that food. The snorkeling was better than I thought it might be, but by no means great. We could see some small wrasse-type fish, a few trumpet-type fish, and an occasional angel fish. The visibility was not that good, but without fins I did not venture too far out. Jeff stayed out longer than me. Once I was done I just sat near a boulder in the water in some shade. Kai gathered us up and we crossed some more ocean to our last stop.

We arrived at Koh Mud Sum. The place is packed with Long Tail boats and Jet Skis. We squeezed in to unload and then Kai put our crafts on an anchor. Kai walked us to the area where everyone was, telling us there is a 50 Baht ($1.47)each, charge to be on the island. He also called it Pig Island. After we paid our “cover-charge” we spied the pigs. There were a bunch, all sizes from small piglets to huge sows! They were all camped mostly in one area, just behind the big restaurant, squealing and rooting. A few itinerant pigs were on the beach. Of course this is where many tourists were… with some of them squealing. I took a few pictures from the peripheral of the mass. It was not a frenzy, but some people were trying to pick up the piglets, and a lot of them were in the middle of the pig bunch to get Instagram shots. We meandered along a beach and found a trail that cut to an almost isolated beach and walked it for a bit. There were some shells over here and palm to football sized pieces of broken coral all along the beach. We went back to where everyone else was. Then I noticed some dogs also roaming about. It humored me – the island should be called hogs and dogs. (LOL)

We found Kai and he gathered our Jet Ski. We now set back across the ocean waves to get back to Koh Samui. We took in more of the resort areas as we were zooming toward them. We could see the big five star one. It is bungalows on stilts “walking-up” the side of a mountain. We arrived back and thanked Kai – Jeff gave him a 250 Baht ($7.34) tip. What an adventure!

We walked back to our place, changed into our swimsuits and jumped into the pool to cool off. Then the rest of the afternoon/evening was just chill time. We had bread, cheese and watermelon for supper. So glad we were able to get to some other islands, albeit, for a small amount of time. I can say that I enjoyed the venture, but I don’t need to Jet Ski anymore.