Advertisement
So I realised today that I have already been on this beautiful island for a month and I thought I had better update everyone as to what I have been up to since Sangkran here.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to get started on my diving straight away due to problems with my sinuses but this gave me the opportunity to settle into the island, find some long term accommodation and get to know everyone at the dive school. I moved into a block of rooms with 3 other DMT's from the school, in a room with 2 balconies, a fridge and a desk....it's the little luxuries that make the difference. I am about 50 yards back from the beach and can just about see the sea from the front balcony, though the view is far from spectacular, unlike some other bungalows I have been to.
I have resisted the temptation thus far to hire a motorbike, worried that I will have an accident at some point on the bumpy roads. Instead I have relied on my legs to get me everywhere, which has meant a lot of very sweaty walks in the hot and humid weather. I have never
sweated so much in my life as I have on this island, a 50 yard stroll to the shop and back will leave me needing a cold shower. Fortunately everyone else is the same so when you are all in the bar dancing you all just kind of accept that you are going to be sweaty!
I have made it down to a couple of the island's quiter beaches, Shark Bay being the nicest but sadly I couldnt find any of the resident reef sharks that live there, though I did meet some very nice new people so it wasnt a total bust of an hour's walk.
My room is in the town of Mae Haad, which is the arrival point for all of the ferries that bring in new people to the island every day. It is great for my diving as it is a 2 minute walk to the dive shop but unfortunately, most of the nightlife on the island is in Sairee, a town about a 15 minute walk north of Mae Haad along a coastal path, which I seem to walk most days to get to the bars or to meet friends.
The
food on the island is very varied and we have found some great places, whether it is for thai food, sushi, burgers, pizzas, pasta or sandwiches. I have a sandwich lady I got to most days who now has got to the point of putting 3 chicken fillets in my sandwiches, I think I may be her most prized customer! I have come to the conclusion that sushi is not for someone like me as it costs me an arm and a leg to buy enough food to fill me up!
The bars on the island lie mainly along Sairee beach and most of them do food and have chill out areas on the beach with bean bags and big cushions to laze around on while you watch the stunning sunsets each day or, after dark, the fire poi dancers. I dont think I could ever get bored of watching those guys and just wish I could learn to do it, am sure it would be a pretty cool skill to whip out at any party. I have so far jumped a burning skipping rope, dived through a burning hoop and done some fire limbo dancing....havent tried the fire
poi yet though. If you dont know what it is, check out this video on youtube from 1:35 in
Other non diving highlights included the Koh Tao festival, where a big stage and lots of stalls were set up in a field one weekend and loads of performances were put on, varying from dive schools doing dance routines to live music from both thai and western bands. we got stuck into the mosh pit and danced away with all the locals to the random thai pop that was playing, was a great laugh, even with soaking wet shorts after being dunked in the dunk tank by Dan from the dive school.
Last weekend I headed over to Koh Phangnan for the full moon party. I met up with the big Irish contingent from Cambodia, which had swelled in size to 12 with the arrival of 3 more lads. They had booked into a really nice resort right on Hat Rin beach in the thick of the action so I just bought them all a load of booze as a cheers for letting me stay there. The first night we drank on the balconies til midnight and then
headed to the beach where the party was in full swing at a few of the bars with dance areas set up on the beach itself and DJ's throwing out some cracking house music. We all spent the night dancing till about 5 in the morning when we headed up to mushroom mountain to sample a shake or two, which left me in fits of giggles for the next hour.
On the night of full moon itself, the whole beach was one huge party area, with loads of dance stages, DJ's, bucket bars, bottle stations and food vendors. We acquired some of the almost compulsory bright shorts and vests and covered ourselves in glowing body paint before hitting the party in full flow. Another mad night of dancing ensued, as well as watching the fire shows along the beach. Though it wasnt the cleanest thing I have ever seen for the environment, with rubbish thrown anywhere and people peeing in the sea, it was one hell of a party.....lots of people must have agreed as there seemed to be people going at it wherever you looked on the beach later on!! We made it through till about 7 in
the morning before calling it a day and heading for some much needed sleep. I only had a couple of hours though before having to get up and leg it back to the pier for my ferry back to Koh Tao. Am hoping to be able to head over for the next full moon with some of the dive bunch at the start of june, can only hope it is just as mental. Hopefully some photos to follow when I get them off the guys, no way I was going to risk my camera over there!
As for the main reason I am here, the diving. I was finally allowed in the water after about 8 or 9 days here but not before I did my first aid course in the classroom. It was then on to the rescue diver course, where we spent 2 days learning rescue techniques foor various situations such as a lost or unconscious diver, how to get them to the surface, provide in water rescue breaths, taking their equipment off in water, towing and lifting an unconscious diver up a ladder on your own with them draped over your chest, as well as how
to give oxygen on the boat and treat decompression illness. It was a great course and I learnt a lot of skills that will hopefully never come in handy!
After doing some fun diving it was then on to the wreck diving course where I learnt all about the reasons for wreck diving, how to dive on a wreck, how to lay lines both outside a wreck and also how to lay lines inside a wreck, one handed, while using a torch to light the way. All of this was done on the Sattakut, a 49m former US navy frigate which was deliberately sunk here 2 years ago. Being inside the ship was a great experience and one I hope I will get to repeat at some other famous wrecks around the world, such as the Thistlegorm in the Red Sea.
I am currently in the middle of my deep diving course, where I am learning about safe techniques for diving to 40m and I have the 40m dive tomorrow which should be a good one as we have to do tests to show any signs of nitrogen narcosis. To help with deep diving I have also done
the nitrox course so that I can dive with enriched air in future. This reduces the amount of nitrogen build up in your body at depth and therefore allows for longer dives.
In terms of the sea life, I have seen some fantastic fish, huge shoals of barracuda and trevely, batfish, beautiful blue ringed angel fish, turtles, squid, jellyfish, amazing coral formations, some great little swim through rock formations and any number of other things but without a doubt, the highlight was 10 days ago when I was fortunate to be diving at Chumphon when a 4m whale shark appeared.
Unfortunately we were at the other side of the site when it first showed up but we heard someone banging on the tank to alert everyone it was there and a mad dash ensued across the site with some desparate finning so not to miss it. I got to where everyone was gathered and then this huge shark appeared out of nowhere, surrounded by 20 or so cleaner fish. It was comfortably th biggest thing I have been in the water with and was a majestic sight, gliding gracefully and easily through the water, with no hope of
us being able to keep up for long. Fortunately it circled round a few times so we managed a good time with it before I very reluctantly had to surface as I was running out of air. It was something I will never forget and I am so glad I mannaged to see one having missed them when I dived in Ningaloo. I hope that I get to see another while I am still here over the next 6 or 7 weeks, there seem to be plenty of sightings so fingers crossed!
On Saturday I will be starting my DMT so it will probably feel like being back at work, helping to set up equipment for customers, helping to teach courses and to guide dives....not entirely sure I am ready for it yet but I will do my best.
And thats pretty much been my first month on the island, am loving every minute of it, from the crazy nights out, the chilled nights on the beach and the sunshine through to the diving and the amazing sights and experiences in the water, all of which I have been lucky enough to experience with a huge number of
new friends from all over the world. I hope the next 6 weeks are every bit as good as the last 4 and fingers crossed for more whale sharks!!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.08s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 5; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0371s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
koh tao ferry
non-member comment
ferry to koh samui
Good post really i like it and also i like all the pictures which you share on this blog thanks.