Thailand's beautiful islands, in peril -- Koh Tao & Koh Phi Phi

In my '94 Thailand visit, when I reached Koh Tao I had an epiphany -- this was what I had been looking for without knowing it, life in a jungle hut by the ocean, snorkeling in the gorgeous reefs just off the beach every day, no electricity, no worries. I canceled the rest of my planned trip and spent the rest of my time there.

But sometimes a treasured memory, like any posession, can become a burden. Coming back fourteen years later, I find that like so many other places in Thailand there has been much construction, and now where there was a simple pier and a few ramshackle buildings a whole town jammed tight with tourist-oriented storefronts has sprung up, and where there were only foot paths now stretch concrete roads abuzz with 2- and 4- wheel traffic. The reefs have been impacted by all this development as well, obviously by trash, tires and water bottles, as well as by the many boats stirring up light-blocking dust and wastewater causing excess algae growth. Ocean acidification and global warming will be only the final nail in the coffin for these already exploited ecosystems. Sadly there seems to be no signs of awareness or action toward protecting what is left, not even basic information.

We headed south from there, to the more-virgin Koh Phi Phi, where coral fairy architecture is still in full swing, and one can dive down into the octopus's garden with anemone tentacles rippling in the waves, clownfish darting in and out, scintillating rainbows of hundreds of kinds of fish, iridescent lips of giant clams, urchins bristling with eighteen-inch spines, brilliant christmas-tree worms popping in and out of the coral, and even a two-meter shark, darting past us in one exhilarating moment. Add to this sheer cliffs of limestone and rainforest swarming with birds, shot through with sea caves and pretty beaches, and wow! Certainly the nicest spot we've found in Thailand. But the signs are everywhere -- ceaseless construction, stray wrappers and water bottles, proliferating water taxis -- that no lessons have been learned, and so ultimately these reefs are just as threatened.