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Wow, I've got no idea how to start this entry. Let put it simply, Tiffany has been with us for a week and she will share 8 of the next 12 weeks with us! So that alone is wonderful!
Leslie just had few days of school holidays. So less than 24 hours after the arrival of Tiffany in Bangkok we were ready for a little diving trip. We continue our exploration of the different diving islands of Thailand. This time it's Koh Toa. Koh Tao is hugely popular with the backpacker crowd, look at TB, nearly 1300 entries simply on Koh Toa. I had no idea what to expect. The end result was pretty good, even if we still prefer Koh Lipe way ahead of Koh Tao.
Few great souvenirs this week that we will remember for a while. Leslie, 12 dives so far, continuing his little diving adventures...Mari, had he first interaction with a trigger fish. The bastard appeared from nowhere...did bite nastily her small finger. 4 nice big teeth, and gladly for Mari, her finger is doing ok after few days. He could have take that full little finger away, but he didn't do it. We still
had to fight for a while to get rid of him, and were pretty happy that Shawn our dive master was properly armed with a solid stick to fight the bastard! We still had to stopped that dive after the attack, as the bite was pretty deep....but didn't stop Mari to hit back the water later on! I have to admit she reacted pretty well to the situation...deep opened fingers at 22 meters down, with the hurting feeling is not the best to keep your calm, she did!
And the same afternoon, in a "free tigger fish" environment, Tiffany did her first dive and is now a certified bubble maker! Well done Tiffany! We stay 4 nights/5 days in Koh Tao and dived 3 days. Two dives each day for Mari and me, one dive a day for Leslie. Tiffany was not really sure she wanted to try before we got here, but suddenly, once she saw Leslie disappeared below the surface, she had to try it. To make sure she really wanted to dive, we waited the third day to let her do her bubble maker experience. And I can tell you, by the second day, she couldn'
wait anymore. She now has her own log book, and a head full of souvenirs!
For the non-divers: Bubble maker is a trial dive for kids above 8 years old (Tiffany is 9 next month). They are only allowed to go down to 2 meters deep, and are escorted all the time by a dive instructor, on a one-to-one basis. Beside this, she had the chance to do a lot of snorkeling, but hey, she loved that dive. She will now have to wait to be 10 years old to do her PADI Junior Open Water, this one is a formal training allowing them to go down to 12 meters. For this she will also need to be able to come with us on diving holidays, let's see what the Mum will say, not yet done sadly!
Water was pretty warm at 31 degrees, and visibility from ok to pretty good. There are a lot of fishes, but seriously, nothing to rave about. Koh Tao seems to be a mecca for gap year students to do their open water padi. Ok it's cheap, but Koh Lipe is way better when it comes to diving!
While Bangkok was
pouring under rain, we were enjoying 5 days of pure sunshine without a single drop of rain...thanks for the season. June here is also the quiet season, so the place was completely dead. Not that bad for us, we were into family time and diving, not running around the bars.
Sadly, it seems easier to find great pizza in Koh Tao than great Thai food. This may be linked to the fact that the island is pretty off-radar for the thais, and over-run by foreigners. And yes, we are not cool, we have kids with us and no tattoos (hey, I write this with a big smile! Same same the slow boat ride to Luang Prabang in Laos).
Not going to comment on our dive school and accomodation, really nothing to rave about. What you can say is Koh Tao is really cheap, so you seem to get what you pay for. Not much to do also beside diving. We spent time playing mini-golf with the kids....that was fun! And we spent a lot of time eating great pizzas! Yeap!
What I really don't like about Koh Tao...the beaches are full...I mean full...of broken beer bottles! If
you read this, do be careful...we were scared like hell with the kids on the beach! Trigger fish attacks are not fun, but we can laugh about them, we don't laugh at all at idiots who abandonned broken beer bottles on the beach!
So for the next three weeks, not a single flight, not a single blog, nada...just four of us in Bangkok enjoying a great time. Leslie has still school, but there is so much to do here that keeping Tiffany occupied while Leslie is at school is pretty easy. Imagine, a full month with Tiffany, I can tell you, so far, she loved it....the smiles are there...all the time...
And for our next adventures, July and August....a lot to come!
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The Travel Camel
Shane Dallas
Four divers in one family!
Wonderful that Tiffany is able to dive with the rest of you, even if she can only head to a depth of two metres!