We arranged a snorkeling tour the day after we arrived. This can be done at the island office where you can choose other activities to do as well. The boat departed the main island (Noth Surin) about 7 AM. He looked a bit pale but I didn’t pay much attention. When the boat stopped, my friend and I were ready to jump into the sea, while he still looked a bit hesitant. I challenged him to jump, he wasn’t very sure but he jumped anyway.

My friend and I got an empty plastic container from the boat crew for buoyancy. I was very excited with the picture of the multi-colour corals…that was amazing. When I looked up on the surface of the sea I couldn’t find him around me. He was on the shore which was about 500 metre away from the boat.

Even seeing him from a distance I could see something was wrong, so I decided to follow him there. Swimming alone was something I wish I wouldn’t do again, with my legs and feet hanging down in the deep blue sea letting my mind imagine of some creepy marine creature. While I was swimming, my leg hit some unexpected object with a soft texture. I held my breath for a second and forced myself to look down into the sea. Fortunately my leg had just brushed some seaweed, so I continued swimming until I reached the beach where he was.

He was lying down with his eyes closed, breathing deep and hard. I grabbed his hand and found out that he had just thrown up. Now he’s got no strength to get back to the boat.

I told him we had to go. I wasn’t a good swimmer and I couldn’t carry him away with me. I decided to give him an empty plastic to assist him. It wasn’t enough for 2 people to hang on to though. I made up my mind to let him go with it and I would swim back. We managed to get to the boat eventually! So embarrassing that everyone was clapping hands for both of us….lol

I was a bit surprised with what happened with him. He told me it was just some “sea sickness”. Having no breakfast, traveling too early, and being in the boat made him sick. That made sense to me but tell you what I was fooled by his reason.

After being together years later, I found out later that it wasn’t about the sea. Up until now, he still gets “sea sickness” if he has to wake up before 10 AM…even we live so far away from Wellington’s shore….lol

Anyway, after that trip we were both famished as we burned so much energy. We could manage to enjoy the food that the national park provided for us. There’s no choice of food on the island apart from the food from the national park’s canteen. You can’t choose what you wanted as the food was included with the package. They cooked for everyone the same thing.

Life on the island wasn’t as boring as the food though. We enjoyed immersing ourselves in the clean green sea. We found the place at the shallow part of the sea very fascinating. There’s a shade from the tree covering the area we sat in the sea. We watched the little fish swimming around us as if they were marching in the parade.

Nighttime in Surin was absolutely peaceful. Although the quantity of the stars weren’t as much as the sand we lied on, they were enough to dress up the dark sky like a giant crown of the Queen.

The first thing woke us up in the morning wasn’t the sun. It was the troop. More than 20 of them walked on us with no mercy. Fortunately, they didn’t bite us. The troop of ants came from my sweets in the bag. Thanks to them, we were lucky enough to catch the first ray of the day. Listening to the wave washed out the beach made me want to be a lazy queen (of ants!) all day.  

Too bad we didn’t take many photos of the place; we thought that one day we might come back. Tsunami had hit Surin Island so badly in December 2005. It will never be the same again…

This is the lesson I have learned and always tell people I know to take lots of photos when they travel. Although the memory is always with us, showing is always far better than telling.

I had heard about how gorgeous Surin Island was a long time before I chose this trip for our first date outside of Bangkok in 2002. It’s not just another paradise Thailand has to offer. It’s a beach that offers you fresh clean air, fine white sand, and vivid green water. On top of that, what we loved most was the cozy shade from the tree letting us lie in the sea until those little fish got bored of having humans around…

We departed Bangkok around 7 A.M. heading along the highway in south Bangkok. Travelling down south by car wasn’t too painful, the easiest way to get out the city of angels is to follow the sign that says “Nakorn Pathom”. Surin Island is situated in Pang-nga province.

With the long, straight, smooth road and driver-friendly signs we arrived at Pang-nga about 3 P.M. Being a national park, Surin Island only allowed tourists to embark for the island in the morning. So 4 of us had to stay overnight in Kuraburi.  

Kuraburi Greenview Resort was where we stopped that evening, in a lovely bungalow. Before checking in we drove to the Surin island office to get the boat tickets, but the information we got put us down. To travel to the island with their boat would take up to 3 hours, so the officer recommended us to contact the speedboat company instead. Actually the place that arranged the speedboat was the same place we had to stay that night. Doh!

Paying 1,600 bath for the round trip was a great deal considering the speed (only 1 hour), and you can also save time and energy to spend on the island instead. The accommodation we stayed that night was a bit costly compared to the quality of the place but we only had 2 choices for the whole town.

By contrast, the accommodation we stayed at on the island cost us just 150 baht/person/night, as it was a tent!

Although this trip was our first date outside of my hometown, it was the first of many that we chose to do something a bit adventurous. We both thought it would be good for us to get to know each other. As we wished, I discovered something about him through the event coming up the day after….