サムイ島アントンカタマランツアー（シュノーケリングとカヤック）

The day began with a little surprise: the travel company had confirmed our pickup time in writing as 8:00 a.m., but the driver arrived at 7:00 a.m. Apparently, the tour included time travel! We rushed to get ready while the other passengers waited, understandably less amused than we were. We felt the deep stare of disapointment to the back of our heads for the 30 min drive! We were then taken to a waiting area, where a basic outdoor breakfast was provided while more than 40 other guests gradually arrived. There was certainly plenty of time to digest it, although, given what happened at sea, perhaps breakfast was not such a good idea. The sea was rather rough, and at least 10 passengers were seasick. Because of the conditions, we could not snorkel at the usual location and were restricted to a small area. Kayaking was similarly limited: we were allowed to travel perhaps 300 metres before turning around. Still, at least we were able to go, and we appreciated that a guide was always in the water with us. We visited three beautiful islands, but to us, the experience felt very commercial and two locations were extremely overcrowded. We also felt that spending two hours on the final island was too long, particularly given the weather and the number of visitors. The guides were friendly, helpful and plentiful, there were more than four on the boat, and they did their best in difficult conditions. Overall, we enjoyed seeing the islands, but 2 hours travelling through rough seas (there and back), combined with crowded and highly commercial stops, made the experience less relaxing than we had hoped. Of course, it is slightly hypocritical to complain about too many tourists when we were among the tourists making it crowded. It is rather like complaining about traffic while sitting in your own car, but that does not make the traffic any more enjoyable!