Finding Nemo

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Well another week in Krabi and we still haven’t made it to Tiger Cave Temple!! Instead we have relaxed on the beach, enjoyed the Loy Krathong Festival and I become a certified Diver!!


Loy Krathong festival is celebrated according to the lunar calendar and so the date is different every year. It is a festival of lights with lanterns being launched into the sky and flowers and candles being launched into the water ways. It is to wish for good luck, merit and apologise for the polluting of the water ways by celebrating the festival!! Thais make the floating flowers out of a bamboo stem wrapped and decorated with banana leaves and flowers before 3 incense sticks and a candle is placed in the centre. We were invited to make these by one of the girls who works at Good Dream where we are staying.
Mark was less than happy to be going saying that it was going to be ’a bunch of girls making flowers’ and didn’t want to go. I managed to pursued him that we were going to a bar so he could get a beer at least if he didn’t want to make the flowers! So that’s what he did at first - I sat down and tried to figure out how to wrap and fold the leaves around my bamboo base with not too much creativity or luck. Mark decided to come and ’help’ by delivering me a beer and asking if that’s all I was doing!! As I had now been joined by about 3 Irish lads all making flowers I think he felt a little better about making one. So eventually he sat down with me and made himself one! I think his is better than mine!
That evening we were expecting to launch them into the river soon after it got dark but typical to the current weather as it got dark it started to rain - and it didn’t stop! It was a proper storm over Krabi so not many people got out to the river before about 11pm that night, and no lanterns were launched in Krabi as the rain destroyed them before you could light the candles! It was still raining but lightly enough to make it the short walk from the bar to the steps by the river. We went with Noi and the group of Irish lads from the bar to launch them into the river. It was really quite peaceful despite all the people. We would of liked to have continued the party but I began my dive course the following morning so an ‘early’ night was required!!


Unfortunately due to Marks continuing ear infections and deafness he wasn’t able to join me on the dive course, but did come along for the ride on the last day as my personal photographer!!

So having booked myself onto an open water course I got picked up at 8 AM on Monday for 3 intense days! I spent the first morning doing all the theory of diving so I never got to go into the water. So after about 4 hours of reading through PADI books and trying desperately to work out what the dive tables meant, but after 5 knowledge reviews and a final exam I had passed my theory test. So on the second day I got picked up knowing that I was going to spend the day in the water. My instructor Chris was waiting for me at the dive shop and I got kitted out with all the gear for the day. It was all a little confusing at first trying to remember what was what and how to use it all. So we put all the gear onto the long tail boat we were going out on with 3 other divers were on the boat with us but they were certified divers so the captain dropped us off in a small little bay on Poda Island to do all the confined water skills that I needed to do. I spent about 4 hours in the water on the first day. I learnt to breathe under water and control the depth I was at by breathing in or out, how to ‘lose’ and recover my regulator and check how much air I had, as well as understand the signs underwater. The bit I really didn’t like was having to clear a mask full of water!! I just couldn’t get it right - instead of breathing out of my nose to force the water out I kept trying to breathe out of my mouth!!
By lunchtime that first day I had done all my shallow water confined stuff and completed 2 shallow dives to 5 meters. I then had lunch - a lovely green chicken curry with rice and vegetables on the beach before changing over our air tanks to full ones and heading back into the water. This time I had a longer dive - repeating some of the skills from the morning - including clearing my mask which I hated! This time we went to a depth of 9 meters. We saw lots of little fish on the reef - when I remembered to look around rather than watching my instructor! I’d almost forgotten what I was there for until the fish come up to my mask and looked at me, obviously wondering what I was! There were lots of shoals of small fish amongst the corals and I even saw a small crab on the bottom. I wasn’t quite relaxed enough to truly enjoy the experience of this dive.

On the last day both Mark and I were picked up and taken to Ao Nang to meet up with Chris and get the boat. We were the only ones on the boat today so we went to deep water for a deep water entry rather than a beach entry. I was really nervous and put it down to the fact that I had to get everything right in order to become certified and I really didn’t want to fail! So I gathered up my gear again but couldn’t find the regulator I had used the day before so had to use a slightly different one. So we packed up the boat with all the gear, food and water for the day and headed out to Koh Haa (Island 5) for the first dive. I had to learn how to back roll off the boat . Luckily we had anchored next to a boat with three divers who were doing just that so I sneakily watched them do it - not sure it made me feel any less nervous about it though!! Chris demonstrated how to do it leaving me on the boat to sort myself out, but after a short while and a little manoeuvring I followed Chris into the water (see the video) in my first deep water entry! Actually wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be and the water was about 29 degrees so didn’t feel too cold. This is also the reason I was diving without a wet suit, which was actually really nice as you really got the feeling of diving and the water against your skin. We spent an hour under water and completed a few new skills as well as repeating ones from yesterday (including the dreaded clearing of the mask), whilst in deeper water. We went to a depth of 12 meters this time and I was more able to relax and enjoy being under the water with the fish. A lot more fish here, including a puffer fish and a shoal of cuttlefish further out in the water. I looked up and around at one point and I was surrounded by hundreds of fish - there were shoals of small and medium sized fish mingling together above us and around us. They look as intrigued by you and you are by them with a few stopping to look at you as they swim past! After an hour down we resurfaced for lunch- a lovely fried rice and chicken, and change our tanks over again.

We transferred over to Koh See (Island 4) for the last and final dive of the course. We did another back roll of the boat which was less scary this time as I knew what was going to happen and then I had to do some surface skills which included taking off my BCD and weight belt and putting them back on again - its not as easy as it sounds!! After this we dove to a depth of 17 metres whilst trying to avoid the many, many jellyfish that were in the area. At one point we counted 7 Jellyfish so we descended a little further to go underneath them .
I had seen many different types of fish and coral but was still holding out hope to find Nemo and see him in his natural habitat and on this dive I did. There was a small family (2 big fish, one medium and one little fish) protecting their anemone- they actually come out of it and stare at you! I smiled s much I forgot to breathe out and started to ascend to the surface. Once I managed to compose myself I managed to get back down and continue swimming alongside the reef. I was even happier to see another family of ‘Nemo’s’ around the corner - these also came out of their anemone to stare at us! Lots more fish and tactical avoidance of jellyfish and an anchor we ascended my final dive and I had completed my course!! 3 hard and intense days and I had finally become a CMAS 1 star certified diver!! This means I can dive anywhere in the world up to 18 meters so bring on the rest of the year!!

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Photos

The monkey thieves
They had pinched flip flips, hats and shorts from balcones and were playing 'catch' with them!

Good Dream
Our guesthouse