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Published: October 24th 2007
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Ben and I arrived at the ferry terminal early about 8am. It was a lovely sunny day and we had a nice crossing from ko phangan to ko tao. Ben had been in touch with a guy he met in malaysia who was on tao at the moment. We decided to stay at the place he was at as we had no idea where to stay. It was called dive point and it had a dive shop linked to the accommodation (this is the norm on tao.) So ben and I checked in and arranged to dive that afternoon. The guys at dive point were brill and offered us a package, if we took 6 dives with them they would give us the dives for a price of 700 bhat each-which is ridiculously cheep- and they would throw in the accommodation for free! It was such a good deal. The rooms were ok, with a shared bathroom but hey, we were out diving all day so we didn't mind. The dive point crew were grate and it was a shame they were closing down for the low season or I would have stayed with them longer. The last dive we took
a trip to a place called chuporn pinnacle. We were one of the first boats there, and were in the water by 7 20 am. As soon as we were in I saw loads of sharks! clear vis up to 20 metres so we could see everything, It was an awesome experience. Huge 2m long grey reef sharks swimming right towards you then at the last moment they would dive below you. There were also black tip reef sharks that were within 1 m of us! I counted over 20 sharks, It was a truly wonderful experience!
Ben's mate, paul from bolton had met a couple on his travels lisa and ali, so our group became 5. Lisa and ali were doing their open water course while me and ben were fun diving. We hung out at night and eat together, it was a good three days. But I am staying on Tao for a while and the other four were all off to bangkok and then off in their separate ways. So we checked out of dive point and I said goodbye to ben, he's planning a return trip to thailand next year so maybe I'll
still be around. One spare afternoon I scoped out some potential Dive operations on the island and decided to give one called big blue divers a go.
Big blue offered a reduced rate room while I completed my EFR and rescue diver course. The room was utter shite. worst one I have stayed in yet. Paper thin walls through which you could hear EVERYTHING and a bad cockroach and mosquito problem. So i decided to look for my own place- which I would have to do eventually anyway- So i looked around and found a bungalow with bathroom and a nice big balcony for 4000 a month! cheap as chips. It's on the outskirts of town but I can walk to the dive centre in less than 10 mins. It is perfect, no noise very clean and it has a big bed with mosquito net (yippee). It's set in a large garden area with lots of coconut palms. Those coconut trees are so dangerous! you can hear them dropping all over the place! I now tread very carefully looking up all the time! If one hit you on the head that's it, game over!
So I have now passed my EFR and rescue diver course. and my first week on tao I have done too many dives to list. I have also bought some equipment and am close to being fully kitted out. The Dive master course I started 3 days ago this will take me a couple of months. There is Way more work involved than I first thought. 9 exams in total for which you have to attend lectures in subjects such as dive theory, dive physiology and safety to name but a few. also countless practical assessments and skill tests. But this is good as it means big blue dive centre is good school to learn at and the people here are great, really helpful. I'm still getting to know everyone as it is a big school but give me a few weeks and I'll have everyone's name sorted out. So here i am for the next two months at least, the blog entries will have a bit more time in between them as i settle into my new home, plus I'm not moving around so there's less to write about. Anyway bring on the whale sharks!
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