SCUBA school

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Day 169 (10.09.07)

We arrived in Koh Tao at the horrible hour of 4.30am having managed a couple of hours sleep on the boat. With nowhere open we weren't sure where on the island to head for so decided to settle in the port until things opened. Chrissie found a spot of ground to curl up on and tried to catch a few more winks and Mark chatted to a French guy who lived on the island and kept an eye on our stuff. He advised us to head for Taa Toh beach and one of the smaller dive schools there so at around 6.30am we set off on a mission across the island.

A little while later we had signed up for our PADI open water diving course with a dive school called Big Bubble and been given our theory book. This included accomodation across the road in a great little bunglaow with views of the stunning turquoise sea below so we dumped off our bags and headed to the beach to start the homework we'd been given. We interspersed the reading with a few dips in the sea which was clear and very warm although really shallow.

At 3pm we were back at the dive school to watch the first installment of the training video and following this we retired to our balcony to complete our homework for the next day - we had realised that this would not be a relaxing few days but were really looking forward to the next day when we'd get to go underwater for the first time.

We had dinner in a restaurant overlooking the beach and then headed to bed early - it was a school night after all!

Day 170 (11.09.07)

Homework done like the concientious people you all know us to be we arrived at the dive school to meet Andre who would be the only other person in our group and Alain our instructor. The morning was spent going over the theory we had covered from our books and ensuring we were prepared for the confined water dive we would complete that afternoon.

After a quick bite to eat we grabbed our gear and jumped into the Big Bubble truck to the port to catch our boat. We were headed to Mango Bay where we'd practise various scuba skills on our knees under a couple of metres of water. We first had to prove we could swim and float and then we learnt how to 'gear up' preparing our equipment for the dive.

The first leap into the water with all the dive gear on felt very strange but we were soon breathing thorugh our regulators and swimming across the water to the shallows where we'd do our confined dive. The next two hours or so were spent learning how to handle any emergencies which may occur during a dive, for example, low air situations, clearing a mask full of water, swimming without a mask, recovering a regulator that had come out of the mouth etc. It was all simpler than we'd thought it would be and we soon got used to breathing and being underwater. This was a great place to do our first dive (as opposed to a swimming pool which some schools use) as we had fish around us the entire dive - the highlight being a full school of sardines moving as one big cloud - a great start to our diving careers.

Our first dive over we got back on the boat and packed away our gear feeling excited about doing our first 'proper' dive the next day. Once back at the dive school Alain gave us our homework for the next day (what more?) and we went off to get started. After doing some work we found a place with a good buffet to choose from for tea (food is pretty expensive here compared to the street food we normally have elsewhere) and sat watching the sea come in on our lovely beach. Ko Tao is a beautiful island with gorgeous white sand beaches and clear blue sea all surrounded by huge rounded rocks. It has a really relaxed feel to it which is perfect after a hard day at SCUBA school.

Day 171 (12.09.07)

We started the day with some more theory with Alain, a real character, and just before lunchtime we sat our theory exams. These had to be the most relaxed exams we'd ever taken as we sat eating luch at the cafe over the road while we completed our tests. We both aced our tests (did you expect any less of us?!) and before we knew it were back on the boat again headed for a bay called Ao Leuk for our next two dives. We did two dives both to 12m and practised some skills before swimming around to look at the incredible corals and vast array of fish. Amongst other things we saw a pickhandle barracuda, some scorpion fish, a porcupine fish, a trigger fish, 2 blue spotted rays, some banner fish, angel fish, butterfly fish etc.etc. - absolutely amazing. We were hooked on diving already!

After school was out we took Alain for a beer and amongst much lighter stories he told us about his experiences of the Tsunami - he was in Phuket at the time and managed to climb onto a warehouse roof to survive - very interesting to hear a first hand experience.

With no homework to do tonight we went out to dinner and relaxed for the evening. This diving malarkey is pretty tiring though so we went back fairly early for some sleep to make sure we were on full form for our final two dives the next morning. These would take us to 18m - the depth limit for an open water diver.

Day 172 (13.09.07)

We got to Big Bubble and were excited to find that we would be diving at Chumphon Pinnacle. This is most of the instructors' favourite dive site as there are sharks there! The boat took an hour or so to reach the dive site and we kitted up and jumped in. We descended to 18m and as we swam around looking at the reef and fish Alain pointed for us to look below us. It was incredible (and nowhere near as nerveracking as you think it should be) to see a shark swimming around 10m beneath us. The sharks at Chumphon Pinnacle are grey reef sharks and very used to divers checking them out so there's nothing to worry about, but they are an awesome sight being 2m+ in length. In all we probably saw about 5 sharks on that dive - very cool. We also saw a Giant Moray in a cave and a school of big batfish (and loads of other fish too but you're probably getting bored of hearing them all by now!)

Still buzzing from our first dive of the day we set off in the boat for our last dive of the course which was to be at a site called Twins. After descending we had to settle on the sand at the bottom to go through some skills once again. Chrissie was a little more buoyant than the boys and was being bounced along the bottom by the current. Alain just looked at her and laughed and then decided that if Chrissie didn't want to stay with her buddy (Mark) then he'd have him so swam over and pretended to kiss Mark through the regulator - very funny, although a little tricky to laugh through a regulator! Eventually Alain gave Chrissie a little extra weight for her jacket and she was able to stay still enough to go through the skills. After this we went to explore the site and amongst many other fab fish we saw a small white eyed moray and best of all some saddleback clownfish (a lot like Nemo - so cute!)

Back at the dive school we were given our logbooks and filled tham in with Alain who then signed us off as Open Water Divers. Having had a superb morning but feeling shattered we had an afternoon nap and then got ready to meet Alain for some celebratory beers. During the beers we talked with Alain about maybe doing a couple of fun dives with the school to continue to build our experience and confidence. He recommended that if we were going to do this then we should do the deep dive part of the advanced course (one dive and a little more homework) as this would qualify us to dive to 30m and open up more dive sites around the world. We would be given a discount as we'd already done our open water with Big Bubble so after some dinner we retired to our balcony to think about our options.

Taking into account that we loved diving and were already planning other dives around the world we looked into all of the options available to us ... the deep dive would be good ... but another 4 on top of that would make us Advanced Open Water Divers. It took us a couple of mins to deliberate whether we could afford it and we came to the conclusion that we weren't going to get it any cheaper anywhere else, we liked the dive school, had a fab instructor... decision made!

Day 173 (14.09.07)

The next morning we had the day off but were unsurprisingly up early again and in the office booking in for the full advanced course which would take another 3-4 days. We did however ask if we could kick things off the following day and have a bit of a rest - which they obliged but handed us our books to look through and complete the relevant chapters of homework (we thought we had finished with that!)

After a really lazy day split between the beach and our balcony we read our books (and did some homework for our advanced course) and had a really relaxing time.

As evening approached we went for a walk around the headland to a viewpoint, en route we met a couple from Plymouth, one of whom had been to Marjons, (small world) who we got chatting to and who joined us for dinner at our (now regular) buffet dinner haunt.

Day 174 (15.09.07)

Up really early again, VERY uncharacteristic for us, Chrissie kindly went to get some breakfast while Mark finished off his homework. Back at Big Bubble we were once again with Alain and going through the skills we would be tackling on the two dives of the day PPB (Peak Performance Buoyancy) and Navigation. Before we were finished in the dive centre we were kitted out with our underwater compasses and practiced our navigation on land. Not bad but we couldnt wait to try it out underwater.

After Alain had gone through everything and we had checked our kit for the dive, we sat down and met Kathryn and Anna,(two girls from Preston) who were going on their confined dive for their open water course. We got on really well and continued swapping travelling stories on the boat.

Our first dive of the day was our PPB, learning how to better control our position in the water. Once in the water, we descended to the bottom (about 17m down) and settled on the bottom. We each took off our fins and had a 10m running race alloong the sea floor. It was pretty hard to stay low enough to the floor with Alain winning, Mark picking up silver and Chrissie (Mrs Potter) coming in for a respectable bronze medal (well not that respectable since there were only the three of us - Alain had finished before Chrissie even moved a metre!)

Afterwards we did a series of activities swimming through a giant hoop, doing somersaults and practising other buoyancy skills. It was really interestng and well worth going through to improve our technique.

Back on the boat we stayed in Mango Bay for our second dive of the day. After testing our kick cycles and elapsed time we were set our navigation tests. Alain gave us a heading, a shape (square or triangle), number of kick cycles and would tell us to make the first turn to the right or left. We were then asked to navigate the shape using our dive compass. It was a lot of fun and we found it easier in the water than on land.

When we had both sucessfully navigated our shapes we all went off for a bit of a dive to see what was about. After about 10 mins engrossed in checking out the local corals and wildlife and not paying the blindest bit of notice as to where we were going, Alain turned to us both and asked us "where is the boat? ... We are lost!"

We looked at each other laughed into our regulators sending large streams of bubbles up to the surface. Making his best guess Mark started to lead us toward the boat - not too far off course but without Alain correcting us we would have missed it by some margin! We will need to brush up on these skills a little methinks!

That evening we met up with Anna and Kathryn for dinner at our usual and washed it down with a couple of beers.

Day 175 (16.09.07)

The next morning we were on the morning boat destined for Chumphon and our second meeting with the sharks - this time face to face at 30m! After finishing with the theory, we were asked to do a simple test on the boat which we would repeat at 30m to test our susceptability to Nitrogen Narcosis - a drunkish feeling you can get at greater depths. Alain had prepared a slate with numbers 1-25 mixed up randomly. On the boat we had to point to them in turn from 1 to 25 where we were timed. at depth we would have to do the same but from 25 to 1.

In the water we were excited as this was our favourite dive from the open water course and we were not to be disapointed. As soon as we were underwater we saw sharks - everywhere. This time instead of staying at the lowest depths we were on their level from 20m and downwards. It was amazing and even Alain was pointing them out to us like a kid in a candystore.

After our test we went around the reef pinnacle climbing as we went seeing lots of sharks and much closer then the first dive. Soooooo exciting - but strangely not scary at all.

Finishing the dive we just wanted to go for more and see more sharks!

After completing our deep dive we set off on the boat to do our Multilevel dive at the Twins dive sight. Whilst going through our briefing Alain stopped and said "S@*T i've forgotten the bloody computers". By the look on his face this was not one of his frequent jokes but for him a heart sinking moment. After asking the other Dive Masters and Instructors on the boat if there were any spare (the answer being no) we planned to follow his and plan the dive manually (which was part of the course anyway).

Having planned the dive we set off. On our descent it quickly became apparent that the visibility was not going to be good - by the time we got to the bottom we were also being buffeted by currents making for a much trickier dive environment.

However, getting used to the currents we still managed to see a ray and some amazing fish and corals. As we swam through a coral formation, we bumped into another group of divers fron our boat who had just found a huge turtle. He was amazing and very graceful for a big fella. We watched him for a little while as he pottered around the area and then left him to it. What a day - not only loads of sharks but to find a turtle as well! So lucky!

We got back on the boat feeling really chuffed. Back at Big Bubble we filled in our log books with Alain before saying goodbye as he had to leave the island for a couple of days to do a visa run.

Booking our last dives with Chill (from Grimsby) Chrissie opted for a Naturalist dive to recognise the fish (not naturist!) and Mark chose to book in for a Night Dive. Chrissie would dive the following day and Mark's would be the evening after that.

We spent the afternoon relaxing and planning the rest of our time in Thailand before once again meeting up with Anna and Kathryn for dinner - another great and relaxing evening.

Day 176 (17.09.07)

This morning we were at the dive centre early for Chrissie's Naturalist dive (and Mark was alowed to tag along and go snorkelling).

Chill took Chrissie through some fish looking at how to recognise them and the symbols for them so that she'd be able to point them out to other divers in future. We took the boat to Shark Island (shaped like a shark's fin - no sharks there) and Chrissie started her dive. Throughout the dive Chill would point at a fish and Chrissie would have to recognise it and give him the correct symbol back. On the dive Chrissie saw ( and symbolled!), amongst other things, some moray, lots of batfish, a remora (suckerfish), some beaked coral fish and right at the end of the dive on the safety stop a boxfish and two scribbled filefish - superb! Ascending to the surface, Chrissie was now officially an advanced diver!

With us all meeting back on the boat we had a bit of a rest as we sailed over to Ao Leuk where we both had a great snorkel in the shallower coral. We were lucky to see loads of fish and a very inquisitive stingray. After 45 mins of checking out the coastline we went back to meet up with Anna and Kathryn on the boat where they had just completed their open water course - celebrations all round!

After an afternoon relaxing, we all met up for dinner and planned some possible dates to meet up in Borneo to climb Mt Kinabalu together. After dinner and a couple of beers we went over to another bar on the beach called Babaloos for a drink (Kate and Danny had recommended this place to us so we had to go). Unfortunately it was the only night in the year it was closed so went elsewhere for a couple of extra celebratory beers.

Day 177 (18.09.07)

We made the most of the chance to have a lie in by sleeping in until 11. Nice. We then took a stroll into the larger town on the island to check out travel prices and use the internet to book some flights to Borneo. Unfortunately, as we had left our booking of flights a little late, they were a little nore expensive than we had thought, so we left them to see if we could get them cheaper elsewhere.

After a stroll back we got a bite to eat and looked into other flight options for the afternoon taking a quick break to phone home and to wish Chrissie's dad Tony a Happy Birthday (Happy 21st Pops!).

With time ticking away we had to get ready and make our way to Big Bubble for Mark's Night Dive. After a bit of a wait for everone to get ready we left for the boat as the sun was really starting to hit the horizon.

On the boat we 'geared up' and went onto the sun deck for a very enthusiastic briefing from Chill (we get the impression that night diving is his favourite). Then before he knew it Mark was in the water dive torch in hand and swimming toward the buoy line.

Heading down to the bottom he found it was a different world, not as dark as expected. Mark saw some some weird and wonderful fish including a frog fish - apparently they are rare, box fish, big shrimp, some really big squid (excellent) and loads of other fish that looked much brighter in colour in torch light than under natural light. Chill settled the group on the bottom where no other divers were nearby and asked everyone to point their torches into their stomachs to make it pitch black. Anytime anyone moved, green 'sparks' of light flew everywhere. It was the bioluminescence in the water reacting to the movement and it was amazing! After a couple of mins pretending to be Harry Potter they left for some shallower water to see what could be found. There were loads of fish and shrimp but not the illusive octopus Mark was hoping to find ... he cant complain though he had an amazing experience! Mark had also now joined Chrissie in the rank of advanced diver!

Back to the dive centre and we got changed before heading out to Babaloos to meet the instructors and others from the dive school for a beer. A great bar for our last night on Koh Tao!

Day 178 (19.09.07)

Checking out of our room we left our bags at the dive centre before going for a walk around the cove to a quiet beach where we sat on a rock and chatted for ages. Back to the main area for a bite to eat we went for a walk past shark bay and up a really, really steep hill to a monkey reserve. Having been entertained by their antics for a while we set off back to Big Bubble, picked up our bags and started the walk back to the port.

On our arrival we bought our tickets for the night boat and went to the internet to check out more tickets to Borneo - eventually swallowing the cost as we (Mark especially) really wanted to go!

After a bit of dinner we went to a bar to watch a film to while away the time before our night boat left. Unfortunately we had to leave 15 mins before the end of the film.

We found a bed and got settled in. After a shaky start from the captain (driving into the pier) we had a bit of a rough journey but managed to get some sleep.

We had a great time on Koh Tao and we will miss its charm and beauty - but onwards to Koh Phi Phi, another idyllic Thai island we must go to... It's damn hard work this travelling life!

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Comments

[yum yum]

Sharks!!!
You crazy cats... oh my god that looks scary... i would ahve totaly freaked out! Mark you brave boy doing the night dive.. just amazing!!! Great to catch up you.. miss you loads. Not long now till Eliza! ahhh!!! Going ok, few 'technical' issues to iron out.. ha ha!!! Love you xxx