credit: KohTaocompleteguide.com
Regretfully, I will be leaving Koh Tao in a few days, but first I would like to explain to you the pleasure I feel when I snorkel there.
As soon as I approach the shore my senses are activated. The beauty of the landscape, the gentle sound of the waves, the smiles of holidaymakers,...
When my feet touch the warm water, the pleasures that await me whisper sweet words in my ear like a siren song.
Finally, I plunge my head into this underwater world. Land noises disappear almost completely to be replaced by the crunching of parrotfish. The light is softer, my body finds itself weightless and the abundance of life unfolding before my eyes invades all the cells of my cortex.
There is so much to see that I only manage to integrate a tiny part of it. Fortunately, I have been swimming every day since my arrival and the impressions, the memories are permeating more deeply day by day.
Even after more than a month, each new release brings me a discovery. Whether it's the hawksbill turtle with which I swam for several minutes in Ao Leuk or the huge green sea turtle seen in Haad Tien.
The hawksbill measures up to one meter, dives up to 70 meters, for a duration of up to 81 minutes. That's a real diver.
Renowned and long sought after for the superior quality of its shell, it is for this reason one of the species of sea turtles most threatened with extinction.
The multitude of fish around me all seem to want to compete in who will be the biggest, the most colorful, the most phosphorescent.
The banner fish and its long white arrowhead, the ring angelfish, the pufferfish that puffs up when scared, the squirrelfish that tries to impress me with its huge eyes, the rabbitfish, the Harlequin sweetlip with luscious lips, the butterflyfish, the sand perches and the gobies which walk on the sand with their fins, the cute clownfish which reminds me of Nemo, the scissor-tail sergeant who swims in battalion and the wrasse which reminds me of impresses every time I meet him.
And my favorite, the parrot fish.
Fish are not the only animals that inhabit the sea, there are also anemones and fragile corals that grow so slowly.
I am not equipped to film, even less to film underwater. Fortunately, Youtube is there to make up for it and give you a taste of Koh Tao.
This island will remain deeply imprinted in my memories and, who knows, maybe I will return there one day. And, to have a chance to realize this dream, I even became a member of a FB group for renting apartments located on this Eden.
All is not perfect in paradise
I thought I was in paradise until the first windy day. It was then that tons of plastic, rejected by the continent and brought by the sea, landed on my beloved island.
On the left, a plastic bag and on the right, a jellyfish. Now imagine that you are a hungry turtle. Difficult to tell the difference. Sea turtles are the first victims of plastic bags which they confuse with jellyfish. Even in small pieces, the plastic bag is indigestible.
credit: https://www.koreus.com/image/sac-plastique-meduse.html
There are also tourists who damage the corals with their flippers and sunscreen oil.
The very slow growth rate of corals, their very specific ecological needs and their sedentary way of life make them all the more fragile.
But, more and more, people are aware of the impact of their actions. We all have the responsibility to protect our planet if we want our children to benefit, just like us, from the beauties offered by Mother Nature.
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