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Published: August 22nd 2006
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Originally my plan was to do my four day introductory open water scuba diving course in Koh Samui, but thanks again (Sapa recommendation) to my friend, Polly, I made the right decision and changed the course to Koh Tao. From the little I saw flying in and out of Koh Samui, it seemed to be very built up and overrun with tourists. Koh Tao only has a few small tourist areas and seems to be much more laid back. The island is 90 minutes north of Koh Phangan by boat, and pretty much everyone there goes for the diving. There are probably more than twenty different dive companies operating on the island.
Rather than struggling to get on an 11.30am boat the morning after the full moon party, I decided to leave at 8:30am the following morning, which would get me to Koh Tao well before my first afternoon of class began. I napped for two hours before class in the comfort of my air conditioned bungalow. I guess my body wasn't used to the A/C after 5 days without it in Koh Phangan. I woke up with a sore throat, and over the whole dive course I was fighting
a cold. Luckily it was fairly mild, and I was still able to equalize without trouble when I was underwater.
For those of you who have been diving before, you know how exhausting it is. After my first two open water dives, I barely made it through dinner. Following the final two morning dives, I napped for four hours and then slept for over 10 hours later that night. Three of the four dives where to about 12 meters, or 36 feet, but I felt like you could have seen the same stuff just snorkeling.
The other dive, which was to the Japanese Garden in the Chumpon Reef, was incredible. There were tons of different species of corals that were all different colors. This time we were down to 18 meters/54 feet (the open water diver limit), and I could see divers swimming around even further below us. I saw huge schools of fish, a small shark, clown fish, and many more that I can't name. On our safety stop, at five meters below, at the end of one of the dives, our instructor found a seahorse latched on to a piece of the dive line. He wasn't
Lotus Bar
Notice the coconut tree growing sideways particularly impressed with the shark, but he was AMAZED by the seahorse. When he was reviewing the different sea animals that we saw, he must have mentioned it three times.
One of the skills that we needed to do for our certification was to remove our masks underwater, put them back on and clear out the water inside. Initially, I was worried about this skill because of my contact lenses, but after a trial run in the pool, I found that it was easy to clear the mask and it only left me with a slight stinging in the eyes. When we took off our masks in the open water, 12 meters below the surface, part of the drill was to put on a pair of sunglasses and to dance for the video camera. Fun stuff. So after four days of instruction, I am now Open Water certified up (or down) to 18 meters under.
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The nightlife on the island seemed to be pretty good, although most of the time, I was too tired to participate. From what I understand, there are a handful of small clubs that "share the nights." So basically each night a different club is the place to go. There are plenty of cool, chillout kind of bars with dim lighting, and some even with little tables set out on the sand. Lotus Bar was one of those; it's easily spotted if you are walking along the beach because of the sideways growing coconut tree that juts out over the beach (see photo). I stayed in the main port area, Mae Haad, but most of the action seemed to be in the Sairee Beach area, which is about a 20 minute walk north along the coast. Seemed like that would have been a better place to stay.
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I do have on good thing to say about Koh Sami: it has an amazing airport. Even as you are leaving, you still have the sense that you are in paradise in the open air, thatched roof buildings. They have free internet terminals and a free refreshment area. Off to one corner, there are about ten lounge chairs. Still waiting for those in O'Hare. Oh, and by the way, if you are planning on flying there, don't bother looking on any airline other than Bangkok Air, who actually owns the airport. Don't worry, even though they have a monopoly, their most expensive one-way ticket ot Bangkok is just under $100 to book last minute.
Travel tidbits:
- I recommend Plant Scuba, the dive company that I used. Very professional, and they limit the size of their groups to six. Some of the other companies had classes of 15.
- Do your dive company research before coming to the island if you are considing taking a course, but you may want to book once you get to the island because there is so much competition, that I think you can negotiate and get accomodations included.
- Lotus Bar was a cool place to grab a drink on the beach in the early evening after dinner.
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