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Published: March 8th 2006
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Hello again everyone. Today is my last day on Ko Tao. It's a beautiful island in the gulf of Thailand, northwest of Ko Pha Ngan and Ko Samui. It is world-reknown as one of the best scuba diving sites due to the abundant aquatic life and the perfectly crystal clear ocean. Ko Tao means "turtle island" in Thai, but I think this island looks more like a peanut. Ive got a nice little bungalow near the water, and even with the parties at night, its nice and quiet. Ive spent most of the last 2 weeks here either in or under the water. Until yesterday, I snorkelled all day. I met up with Helen and Becky again, and so each morning we'd swim a hundred of so meters off shore to where a beautiful hard coral garden is. The fish are beautiful; ive seen fish of ever colour, shape and size. One day Helen and I were off shore about 150 meters when we spotted a decent-sized Hawksbill sea turtle. As it was my first time seeing a sea turtle, it was an amazing experience. We followed the turtle for quite a ways, and every so often the turtle would stop
Me
First dive. Lovin it and turn to look at us, wondering what we were doing and if we were enemies. Pretty cool.
So we snorkelled up until yesterday until Helen and I decided to take advantage of the spectaculair diving here. We arranged a Discover Scuba Diving program, and coincidentally, our friend Jace was our instructor. Jace is from Liverpool, and now makes a living here on Ko Tao diving every day and dj-ing at night in the local clubs. The dive company, Seashell, was great; they did not treat us like babies, and unlike most dive companies who teach you in a 3 foot pool, we were thrown straight into the ocean to learn the fundamental skills. They came pretty easy to us, and within a matter of minutes we were off about 18 feet below the surface checking out all the coral and clown fish. Our first dive lasted about 35 minutes, and immedialty afterwards I arranged a second one for later that afternoon. The second dive was great as it was 2 instructors and I off alone in a new dive spot. We were under water for 45 minutes, and got about 10 meters deep. As I was more used to
the diving, and less worried about proper breathing and all that stuff, I saw alot more, including the most aggressive fish of Ko Tao, the triggerfish. Freaky little buggers, they chase you if you get too close and they often bite at you if you arent fast enough swimming away. One of the guys from our boat got his fin chomped on while we were underwater. It put a decent hole into the thick hard plastic.
We were supposed to leave Ko Tao today for Ko Pha Ngan, but at the absolute last minute we decided to go for another dive and leave tomorrow. Todays dive was great. We lasted about 45 minutes, and got a little too close to another triggerfish, who fortunately did not want to have anything to do with us. Three dives and Im still not certified. Oh well. It only cost me 130 dollars CDN for the three dives including rentals, boat ride, and instructors.
So off we are tomorrow to Ko Pha Ngan, in preparation of the monthly full moon party, where literally thousands of people from all over the world decend on a beach for an all night party.
Ko Pha Ngan is
alot more developed than Ko Tao. Tonight, for instance, we ate dinner in the dark because 24 hour electricity does not exist here. I love it. It is hard to see development ruin once pristene beaches, as we saw on Ko Samet, so it will be pretty hard to leave Ko Tao for one of the more popular island destinations in Thailand. But even here on Ko Tao, new resorts are sprouting up all the time. So come visit here soon, because if you're like me, you'll want to see it before it becomes like Ko Samui, Ko Pha Ngan, or Phuket. The two 7/11 here on this island is enough. Go to those other islands and they are on every street. For backpackers, it is a constant battle trying to find an undeveloped island. But once one is discovered, the money moves in and the resorts begin to grow. It is truely sad.
Anyways I cant get any pictures from my camera and cds onto the computers here. So I will upload them when I get to Ko Pha Ngan. I have underwater pics of coral and fish, as well as pics of me and my absurdly short new haircut. So check back in a few days.
Ko Tao was amazing. I will most definitly be back here again. Take care and see you all pretty soon. Ciao, Frazer.
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