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26 November 2005
There are obstacles in
living on an isolated island that don't exist in continental
life. Koh Tao is 66 km off the coast of the peninsula of
Thailand, due east of Chumphon. It is roughly 50 km north of its
nearest neighbor with real infrastructure, Koh Pha Ngan.
Transit options generally include small speedboats (2h),
"express"
boats (2.5h), catamarans (1.5h), and an assortment of slow boats (small
car ferry, and a cargo ferry, 8h). If the sea looks like anything
but a mirror it is best to avoid the speedboats. The express
boats are only slightly better, and can handle 1m swells without much
trouble. The catamaran is safe in 2m swells, and it will run in
almost anything. No means of transport is comfortable in swells
over 3m.
This isolation makes it difficult when the seas get
rough; 2m swells
add 50% to the time, and 4m swells doubles the time, if it is even
possible. Being stranded on the "rock" generally isn't that
big of a problem, but the lack of supplies coming in can be a problem
at times.
It had been about a week since the slow boat had made it
to Koh
Tao. Fruit and foodstuffs had not made it to the island since
then, as well as some other important supplies for island life.
Thai food can actually taste pretty bad without good fresh vegtables...
You know the seas are bad when...
One good measure of when the seas are bad is when they
send out the
Thai Navy to deliver eggs to the island. Just how many eggs can
you fit on a Navy Cutter? Apparently about five pickup trucks
worth! The unloading process was interesting to watch: a bucket
brigate (only with flats of eggs) ended at a pickup truck and spread
into every corner of the boat. Eggs were coming from
everywhere!
Ironically, this goodwill mission made it to the island
a couple hours
after the slow boat, but the market was full of fresh vegtables and of
course lots of eggs. All the locals and restaurant staff quickly
made it to the market to raid it for their much needed supplies.
And, equally importantly, all the empty beer bottles
were loaded up on
the ferry to be returned for deposit.
A good day on the island, and a great evening for food!
(In case anybody wants to know, a pickup truck can hold
about 8,640
eggs in flats, and considerably more if they are scrambled.) | 
