The Long & Diving Road

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And so I arrived on Ko Tao - Turtle Island, so called because it is shaped like a turtle diving toward Ko Pha Ngan 40km to the south (see I did read my guidebook!!). I spent my first day finding my feet and then going to SLEEP! I live in a bungalow, a 1 room + bathroom wooden shack on stilts, with a very hard bed (no blanket but 2 slight mouldy smelling pillows) and a small wicker shelving unit, a cold shower (all the showers here are cold) and about 73 geckos!! Including on massive one out on the balcony, that is blue with reddish brown markings and I kid you not is about a metre nose to tail-end. It’s nice though, it just makes a lot of noise when it’s wound up.

Well to be honest it’s been so long that I don’t know what to write about specifically! I went through a bit of a difficult time to begin with which I suppose is pretty standard arriving in a new place. I made efforts to make friends with all the staff but they can be a bit hard to get through to because they are so used to being friendly to new people who hang around for maybe 2 weeks, and I was struck by total shyness too! I pretended I was trying to study really hard but in fact I was just too scared to go up and talk to people!! My first full day was spent going on a fun dive and then in the afternoon I went on a cleanup dive which involved swimming around Shark Bay (yes, it does have sharks but they don’t like divers because of the bubbles) picking up bits of rubbish. I felt very virtuous afterward, even if we didn’t manage to find much more than bit of twine and a light fitting. We found plenty of glass bottles but you can’t take them because lickle creatures live in them!! Sigh. Other people were more successful though, so as an island-wide endeavour is was more satisfying!! I was then seconded to assist on a course which was hard work (many early starts) but really worth it, especially as one of the students (Jennifer) was really cool AND is still around over a month later, SCORE!! Soon thereafter Sarah arrived, who was on my IDC (Instructor Development Course), so we became study buddies, and also birthday buddies as our respective celebrations were a week apart. I was well chuffed to have people to celebrate with, though I still got up the morning of the 7th feeling very odd and not at all like it was my birthday. In celebration, we went on a mapping dive, did a whole bunch of Knowledge Reviews, and went to a lady-boy cabaret show. Some of them are really convincing!! They didn’t sing though, they mimed (FAKERS!!) but it was just brilliant. Especially when they got a bunch of us up on stage, and when they asked my name I told them it was my birthday, and I got sung to by the whole bar (well, not just me, it was some guy’s birthday as well) but it was brilliant, especially as I was wearing a neon-green dress and an afro wig. After the lady boys were done, we went to Lotus which is a bar on the beach, but I left soon thereafter because (it sounds so terrible) I had really bad heartburn, I felt really sick and just had to go to sleep!!

Most of the time I’ve spent here has been on the IDC which lasted all in all about 3 weeks. It was very interesting, though tiring being back in basically full-time education even if it was for such a short period. Long days in the classroom giving academic presentations and doing theory exams, in the pool giving confined water demonstrations and practising skills until we could demonstrate them perfectly. Out on the boat doing open water presentations and being problems students for the rest of the people on the course! All really hard work but when the actual IE (instructor exam) came round, it was really quite easy. I got all of 4 questions wrong in the 100 or so theory and rules exams, and all my presentations were really quite easy, lucky me! Passing was still an amazing relief though, I was so happy.... but all I could do was go home and sleep. For the first time in my life I’d had an ear infection, during the exam for which you HAVE to enter the water, which goes rather exactly against medical advice generally given for ear infections (don’t get it wet even in the shower). I was a little worried that my ear might go horrible and never recover! But not at all, I was just groggy and had a temperature from the infection.... still managed to get through ok though! The celebrations that night though were legendary. There is this thing called a snorkel test, where they empty a bucket of cocktail (like a sand bucket) into a snorkel attached to your mouth and you have to down the lot before you can breathe again. People often back out of them entirely, but I’d already had my fair share of buckets by this point, and had forgone many a party over the previous 3 weeks, so I was all up for it and did 2. In a row. I don’t know if anyone has ever done 2 in a row but I can tell you from personal experience that it is not a good idea - that much liquid does not fit into one tummy, and after I finished the 2nd one I mumbled “I have to be alone now” and legged it down t he beach to throw up into the sea. Those are what you would call smooth moves. In the end it worked out for the best though, because I didn’t have to process all that extra vodka and, after a little nap on a beanbag in the bar, I was ready to head to the neighbouring bay for a Babaloo’s party (I don’t think it’s the same one that used to be under Mass but what a coincidence eh?) where I danced a little bit until was I am informed was about 2.20, upon which I seemingly decided it was home time, and made a beeline for the bungalow....! Via the room where Chiara (who for those of you that don’t know is one of Johanna’s mates and basically and extra member of our household) had been staying and banged on the door, not realising she’d already left the island. Luckily I don’t think anyone else was in there, is they were they didn’t answer.

A few days of relaxing and sunbathing passed before I decided it was time t get back in the water, and a few of us went on a liveabord trip with this guy Bret who had been helping out with my IDC. We did some of the most stunning diving I’ve seen (still doesn’t beat parts of the Red Sea though - but very good) and also went to the Ang Thong Marine Park (I know, how funny, my thong!!) which is where The Beach is actually set. We found an inland lagoon that did look a lot like the one in the film, but it had no beach and we couldn’t go in it due to really strong currents as it is linked to the sea by some small underground caves. We saw pilot whales on your way back to the boat, and a massive school of dolphins the next day (sadly not up close), and a Grey shark on the last day, and spent the evenings leaping in the water from the bow of the boat ad partaking in cans of Tiger beer whilst floating around, giggling.
Today I went out on the boat to participate in an Underwater Naturalist dive (no - not nudity) to better my knowledge of which fish is which and improving my ability to spot interesting stuff. Only, when I got on the boat, I was informed that I was actually leading a group of people and had to brief them and lead them round underwater... luckily they were all DMTs (Divemaster Trainees) but I was still knocked sideways somewhat. Then I had to watch them performing rescue skills and had to teach and judge them. I find this all really funny as it was not a week ago that I was a mere divemaster myself! And now I’m making them!!
They have these hoses by the toilets here, we call them bum-guns, and they are like a manoeuvrable bidet. Anyway, I came back the other night and mine appears to have exploded, and being as I was out it was left spurting and soaking everything for hours!! Luckily nothing important got ruined but it was a bit perturbing arriving home to find puddles of water on my floor! I think this is a sign that I should ship my collected memorabilia home now....

So as you can tell my initial worries passed fairly quickly and now I feel really settled here! It remind me on uni, always having someone to talk to, there’s always someone around down at Buddha, and I’ve started assisting on courses with a view to taking my own and getting paid before too long. I think I’ll be sticking around for a little while, as I have it in mind to visit Nepal in September. I’ve just heard lots of good stuff about it - and Laos which I’m really looking forward to, before arriving in Australia at the end of September to meet Hannah! WOOHOOOO!

I still miss home though - I’m both hugely excited by the prospect of being away for a number of months, and horribly homesick and planning to get on the next BKK-London flight!! I miss all of you and so much stuff about home, marmite, duvets, grass, proper bread, upstairs, driving, veggie pasta bolognaise, the hills, the cold sea!!,

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Photos

Sampai Jumpa
Liveaboard trip to Ang Thong

Ang Thong
Marine Park

Ang Thong
Inland seawater lagoon

Retro Night
Ang, Kat, Mel, Bec

Retro Night
Ang Mel Bec

Retro Night
Fiona, Kat

Retro Night
Kat's Snorkel Test

Retro Night
Ang, Sam

Bowling
Ang, Megan

Bowling
Mel....

Morning walk
6.30am