Diving on Turtle Island (Ko Tao)

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Ko Tao (lovingly named "Turtle Island" because previously, ie before tourism, turtles used it as a breeeding ground, and its shape is somewhat turtle-like) is a beautiful island in the eastern shore of the Gulf of Thailand, and happens to be the cheapest place in thailand to get PADI certified. 😉

Chris and I hesitantly booked a package from the Buddha View Dive Resort office just off Khao San, which couldn't have worked out better-- for 9800 baht we got an overnight bus south to Chumpon, tickets on the morning catamaran (which was hilariously devastating as the Thai crew guys had to pass out endless plastic baggies for all the passengers who got wretchedly sea sick), 5 nights accomodation in the Buddha Resort, our Open-water classes/ dives/ and logbooks, and the PADI manual. Essentially, we paid the same amount as someone who simply showed up to take the class- only they had to pay for transport and a hotel. So I felt vindicated. 😉

Buddha View (http://www.buddhaview-diving.com/) is located in the southern bay of Chalock Baan Kao, nestled in between Buddha Rock (actually a pile of boulders that really do resemble a sitting Buddha) and Viewpoint (really beautiful place to watch the sun set). Buddha View is the largest and most popular dive operation in that area, and at night almost everyone turned up at the outdoor restaurant to feast on the serve-yourself bbq or sit on the deck's cushions and get a drink at the bar.

We found this island to be much more pleasant than Ko Chang, although they are pretty similar with rocky coastlines dotted with shallow white sand beaches, I guess this one was just easier because we prebooked accomodation. Due to its isolation, everything on the island is really expensive, especially food, but we found a delicious authentic Thai place (called Trang's) along the road toward the pier, which served huge portions of really tasty vegetables and rice (50 baht), chicken burgers (50 baht), and fruit shakes (20 baht).

The PADI is course is short but sweet-- 2 days in the classroom and swimming pool, then two days (4 dives) out in the ocean. Gearing up in the heavy BCD, tank, and drysuit (its like 80 degrees here remember?) is quite a challenge, especially on a rocking boat, but luckily diving is all about the buddy system, so Chris and I helped eachother get dresses and do safety checks.

We mostly had to practice diving skills while under the water, with only a little bit of time for exploring at the end of each, but it was enough to see plenty of colorful fish and coral (which I somehow never understood the beauty of before-- I am excited to go to real dive sites like in Indonesia and Egypt). Then we'd return to the boat and feast on pineapple and watermelon slices, chat with our dive team (3 guys from Norway, a Kiwi man, and an Irishman), and get more instruction from our South African dive master.

At the end of the course our class filled out our new divebooks, watched the funny souvenier video (they filmed the last day and edited in the afternoon), and partied a little at the bar (well I should be truthful--- the Norweigan guys got Chris really drunk).

And then----- We took a day off to relax on the beach and promptly signed up for more!!

Yes, we stayed a few more days to get our Advanced Open-Water certification, allowing us to dive anywhere in the world down to 30 meters (where "all the good stuff is anyways")!
So there you have it, we've been roped into the diving world, now we'll have to go spend thousands of dollars on gear, gadgets, and dive vacation packages...

The advanced course is mostly just diving and learning more about charts and dive-planning (wouldn't want to get "the bends" or decompression sickness)-- but the best part is the Night Dive-- where we got to see a sea turtle close up. For anyone who doesn't know, when I was a wee child I had a certain fixation on sea turtles, so I was all too pleased to hover next to a Green turtle as it surfaced for a breath of fresh air.

Chris had a lot more difficulty on this dive because his mask kept flooding (slight unknown crack) and he had to change masks multiple times while underwater, into ones without prescription glass. So, unfortunately, he was almost completely blind the entire dive and didn't get to see the night creatures, or the turtle-- I held his hand and guided him with the group through the coral and along our route.

After 8 or so days on the island we had to move on, taking the night ferry (a very pleasant and fun experience to sleep on) back to Chumpon, where we caught a bus and longboat to Railay-- the rock climbing mecca of Thailand...

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