Diving in Ko Tao

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So! We headed from Ko Phangan to Ko Tao via speed boat, and got very wet in the process. Nevermind. Upon arrival to the rickety wooden pier, we ignored all the taxi touts/diving touts (seriously - there are heaps) and headed to Seashell Divers, reccommended by Cat & Paul who had been there a couple weeks earlier. We hadn't 100% decided we were definately going to do a diving course before we arrived because I hadn't been able to equalise my ears while snorkelling, but you got the accommodation free if you signed up, so we thought 'what the hell'. We'd done nothing for too long, anyway. Unfortunately, we had to fill in heaps of pperwork before we could get the room (we were really hot, hungry and desperate for a shower) and because of my hearing problem I had to go get the all clear from a doctor. So we went and did that, I got the all clear (it wasn't a particularly thorough examination though, he looked down my ear with one of those ear things and said 'if you can fly, you can dive'. I decided not to mention the pain I get when flying. I don't think he would have understood me anyway.) At last we were given the room! Diving lessons would commence the following day.

Ko Tao was pretty gorgeous. If no one had been there and there was no developement, it would have been totally paradisic (new word). The development wasn't too bad, having said that. There was town areas slightly further inland and behind the beach bars/restaurants there was a pedestrianised (which in Thailand means there are millions of mopeds on it as well as pedestrians. Maybe they misunderstood the word PEDestrianised) strip connecting the two. Every other establishment was a dive school. It was still kinda cloudy, but gorgeous all the same.

The next day we started the arduous task of learning to become certified SCUBA divers. This involved watching crap American educational videos in which they repeated annoyingly obvious points and brushed over the more important stuff. Fortunately we are good students and had read the text book and knew it all anyway. We did our homework there and then.

Next day we went over our 'homework'. There were 2 other students in our class - both foreign (so yes, this puts us at somewhat of an advantage) and both were pretty crap. It was like they'd never seen the crappy videos/read the book. They probably hadn't read the book, actually. It took way longer than it should have going over obvious stuff (do they not teach science in Israel?) and I thing our instructor was getting a little annoyed. Oh! our, instrctor was a bronzed American man who called himself Natcho for reasons unkown. What a man. He reminded us a little of The Duff Man from The Simpsons. For those who have seen suffficient amounts of the Simpsons, you will know what we mean. He didn't refer to himself in the third person, but he really should have, it would have made him perfect. He had a great laugh too. Mike does a nice impression. He also wore his shorts way too low and rarely had a top on. Are you getting the picture? We really loved him, he enhanced our diving experience no end.

Anyway, after going over homework they threw us right in a the deep end (pun intended). We gathered together our SCUBA gear and boarded a longtail boat, which then made a very rough crossing to the diving boat. There was loads of proper diving people, it was scary! The boat then made another rough crossing with on very seasick Becky to a dive site. We loaded up with the gear (it is a very very weird feeling putting on such heavy gear that you can bearly stand, knowing you are about to jump into very deep water) and jumped in the water. Fortunately we were wearing very fetching BCDs (essentially inflatable jackets) which kept us afloat. We kicked our way against a rather strong current to the shallows where we were to parctice our 'confined water' skills. Actually, the water was pretty rough but nevermind. We had to do stuff like taking regulator out of mouth, taking off mask and replacing, breathing from our buddy's spare regulator (which you would do if you ran out of air) etc. It was alright, not as scary as it sounds. The other girls didn't love it, having said that. Then we went for a bit of a dive!! We swam from the shallows, so it didn't really feel like you were doing down, but we got to 8 metres, which aint too bad. And no problems with my ears! It so much easier to equalise with SCUBAing because you are weighted so you don't have to kick to get down and use all your air. There was life down there but we were paying more attention to breathing and not exploding our lungs. Breathing is so loud! Breathing in is relatively easy compared to on the surface but breathing out is harder. It takes a little getting used to.

Next day we did more videos then out for another dive. This time we went down the rope that the ship was moored to. Fun! We got to about 12 metres this time. Mike had a little trouble equalising his sinuses because he had a bit of a cold, but he was alright in the end. Controling your buoyancy also takes some practice. You don't want to be scraping the floor, but if you're not careful you'll start drifting to the surface!

Fourth and final day of the course we were up at 6am for a dive! It was all rather peaceful and lovely at that time. We did 2 dives that morning the first to 18 metres, the maximum you are allowed with the basic qualification we were going for (Open Water). We were the only people left on the course by the afternoon. One girl had dropped out the previous day when we had to swim around the boat and she refused to do it. The other girl dropped out on the first dive of the last day when her mask got some water in and she freaked out. Someone was filming us under the water all day and when Natcho was up at the surface with the other girl I got to have a go with the underwater video camera! Cool eh? Apparently I am possibly the only person to do videography on their Open Water course. Nice. I filmed the videography guy blowing air rings. He filmed Mike doing same. I couldn't do it, that's why I filmed. We saw heaps of cool fish like a blue spotted Stingray, Box fish, Sweet Lips, Angel Fish and the nasty Trigger fish, which we kept away from! We swam through some enormous shoals of tiny fish too. They went as far as you could see and that was pretty far.

Back on land and after lunch (where I accidentally ate the hottest chili in the world and nearly died) we did the final exam. We rocked, achieving 100% for which Natcho promised us a beer (although we ended up buying him beer back anyway - how does that work??).
That evening we went out with Natcho and videographer guy to celebrate. They took us to a well expensive place, rich sods. Never mind, we were celebrating. A good night was had by all, although we had to leave early due to utter exhaustion (diving takes it out of you) and a constant sensation of bobbing on the waves, which followed us for days.

The following day we left for Bangkok.

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Photos

Fish BBQ
MMM

Mike in The Classroom
School is so hard.

Pineapple on the beach
Good pineapple here.

Comments

[CatBrook]

Diving!
Oh wow, sounds like you had a great time! Really funny to hear your description of Natcho and yes, we would agree, haha!

[Mum and Dad]

Doing homework while on holiday sounds a bit extreme. But then its the British thing that if you are going to do a job its best done.....