The Snorkeling Surin Islands Overnight Tour –  is an amazing overnight trip to probably the best snorkeling places in the whole country. You will explore the beautiful quiet nature at Surin Island, sleep at the beachfront in a tent and visit the underwater world with his beautiful coral reefs on a large Speedboat combined with a longtail boat trip. You can book this tour as a day trip or overnight.

The Snorkeling Surin Islands Tour starts with a early morning 5:40 am pick up from my Guesthouse in Kathu. After a long but comfortable transfer in AC minivan i arrived short before 9:00 am at the Pier in Kuraburi. I had a bit time to have a cup of coffee and some cookies at the Pier before i collected my fins and hopped on the big speedboat. It has a rear platform and ladders for easy entry and exit from the water.

After boarding completed the boat departed the pier at 9 am and the journey starts with a 90 minutes ride through the open ocean. Plenty of space on the big speedboat we were around 30 people and this boat is made for 40-50 passengers.

Anyway some of the guest get afraid and seasick because of the bumpy sea. Be aware of this and take some pills if your stomach get upset easily always before you take a speedboat ride. I would recommend this Snorkeling Surin Islands trip to experienced snorkelers. There are fresh water showers on board the snorkeling boat. There are life jackets of all sizes. The masks and snorkels provided are good quality. Once we arrived at Surin Island we were free to snorkel and swim at Ae Bon for about 40 minutes. Life jackets were provided for anyone who needed them. In the water it was easy to swim a short distance from the boat and be alone, away from the other snorkelers.

 

The clarity of the water around Surin Island was amazing, as well as the healthiness of the coral and the abundance of fish. Besides Nemo clown fish, reef sharks and eagle rays i saw different types of coral groupers, grunts and some species which are indigenous to the Surin Islands. Reef octopus, the banded sea snake, syngnathiformes like the famous seahorse and particularly the pipe-seahorse are to be seen regularly.

At midday the boat took us to the Moken Village Island. On Surin South live about 80 families of the indigenous Moken, a tribe of sea nomads which used to travel the islands on the Andaman Sea between Myanmar and Malaysia. We pay the Moken village a short visit. This give us a little insight of the original Andaman Sea inhabitants history and lifestyle.

Later we went to Koh Surin Nuea where a very tasty buffet lunch was served. The island was visited from a few other tourist as well but that didn’t take away from the beauty of this Island for me. After lunch I walked to the beach and took a few photos from the camping ground and the beautiful quiet surrounding. Later i enjoyed the look over the quiet empty beach in a hammock right in front of my tent.  Time for a nap because 13:30 they picked us up again for the next two 40 minutes snorkeling trips to Ao Mae Yai and Ao Chod Kard.

Ao Mae Yai (Mae Yai Bay) isn’t much to look at above the water, but the fish life here is fantastic. We saw bat fishes many lined surgeon fishes and moorish idol fishes. At Ao Chod Kard later we saw gold saddle rabbit fishes, lunar fusilier fishes and many species more.

Around 15:30 we head back to the Koh Surin national park. More time for relax at the beach until 18:30 where a delicious thai dinner set was served at the restaurant. After dinner i went for a short walk around this little paradise. I met our friendly local guide on the way and he remind me that they switch off electric from 22:30 hrs. Not a party place this Island but just perfect if you look for some pleasant relaxing time.

• Amazing Underwater World.
• Beautiful clean beaches.
• Not crowded.
• Great value for money.

CONS:

• long journey.

TIPS:

• bring your swim wear and sun cream

 

Next morning after breakfast at 9:30 hrs our Longtail Boat was ready for take us too another two great snorkeling spots. It was just start to raining a bit and the sea was a little bit rougher than yesterday. Anyway as a snorkeler you get wet so no problem for us. This time we are just two couples the captain two friendly snorkeling guides and me on board. We went to Ao Suthep and another spot nearby. Same as before we just put our nose under water and we saw hundreds of colourful fishes there.

Around 12:00 hrs already hungry we get dropped off  at the Island and enjoyed again a delicious thai lunch buffet. Time to say goodbye to this little paradise at 15:00 hrs our big Speedboat picked us up at the beach where our long journey back to the Hotel starts.