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Best times to stay on Koh Tao

The rainfall in June, July, August and September is pretty high, but for the diving community the more serious difficulty is the rough seas and high winds. This is the monsoon season and whilst the Gulf of Thailand does not get the intense weather of the Andaman Sea, it still has its bad days.

Around April and May the weather is not great but is fine for sitting out on the beach. The best times to come to Koh Tao are from December through to April when there is hardly any rain and the skies are clear. The sea is calm with great visibility for diving and snorkeling.

Most of the bigger ferry boats will run from Chumporn but smaller vessels and speedboats might be restricted because of the high winds. There is some very good information on the Thai meteorological site where sea conditions for each region are shown on a daily basis. There are also weekly and monthly weather forecasts on the site. http://www.tmd.go.th/en/

Although all the offshore islands have to contend with the monsoon and winds, generally there are plenty of days when there are sunny skies. Often the rains come later in the day, as do the thunderstorms which have built up during the day.

The humidity in May and June can be very high, so anything strenuous like trekking can cause dehydration. Make sure to have plenty of bottled water with you, and on the really hot days, a hat.

If a trek in the jungle is one of the things you would like to do remember this is the perfect environment for mosquitoes, especially in the wetter seasons.

A good mosquitoes repellent and long sleeved clothes help to keep the insects at bay. They seem to always find a way of getting at you somehow, so having a good insect bite cream is useful