Surin Island Underwater Paradise

It takes a ten-hour bus ride to get to the Muslim-dominated province of Pha-nga. From here a large ferry takes one on a two-hour trip towards the island. Passengers are then transferred to smaller boats to reach the island itself, as big boats are not allowed near it lest they damage the corals. Koh Surin, a national park and sanctuary, sits south of the marine border of Thailand and Burma. Being on the Andaman sea it was one of the sites of the tragic tsunami that hit the country a few years back.

Additional trips to the Mogen sea gypsies community for selected toursists provide an opportunity to witness how the Thais have integrated them into society by giving them family names, a school, and some small business interaction with tourists. Several Mogen houses lined the beach if only to illustrate their way of life at sea. We were told the majority have moved inland since the tsunami.

The tour and dive guides are apparently all volunteers who were provided free food and transportation but without pay. I saw them picking up trash on the beach before everyone else awakes in the morning. They served food to the tourists. Many of them wore"Save Koh Surin" shirts that were not available in the souvenir shop. It makes perfect sense to have this kind of programme with travel agents, where young volunteers get to go along with tourists and educate them about the environment and life on the island while enjoying the trip at the same time. It's one of the more successful ecological tours I've known (the other one being the whaleshark diving trip in Donsol, Philippines) and I felt quite proud to take in more than the beautiful sights. I felt equally responsible for saving Koh Surin.