Cameron Keyser
Google
The National Park is set in the Surin islands and is absolutely stunning. The scenery is gorgeous with the clear blue waters and a colorful coral reef with plenty of fish. However the national park staff, with the exception of some like Alex, are just plain rude. They barely smile at all and they seem like they don’t want any of the tourists there at all. In particular the ladies at the front who deal with check in, coupons for food, and the drink lady seemed particularly crabby.
Not to mention the mental system they have in place for food coupons. You have to exchange cash at the coupon counter to get food, but if you want to order drinks, you have to pay with cash or go exchange your food coupons for cash… literally going back and forth between the counters to get the right change and coupon amount.
We decided to go on the snorkeling trip through the national park (Sebina tours) and we were told we were required to rent life jackets for 40 baht per person, even though we did not need them. When we got to the other side of the island where the snorkeling tour starts from, we were told they were not required… not sure if this was due to language barrier or not, but the life jackets that we were REQUIRED to rent sat on the boat for the duration of the trip.
The rest of our stay was solid, as long as we were not dealing with the unfriendly staff. They really put a damper on what could be a superb experience