My first Ocean Dive

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Phuket Early Morning

Having a touch of jet lag is never fun. Thankfully after a few hours of tossing and turning it was 4 A.M., thank-you trusty travel clock for your one an only time to be accurate, and what better time to get up and check out Karon Plaza before heading out on a dive trip. One hot shower later, I let myself out of the still locked guesthouse and made my way passed a pack of soi-dogs. Funny how they all looked like dingos. Must be the gene all dogs in Thailand revert back to after all that inter-breeding.

I really enjoy this time alone in the morning. The day is at its purest and the people up at this hour all have purpose in their step. Shop doors rattled up and people watered potted plants. I watched brooms pushing yesterday's waste into the street and as always, I was fascinated when I finally spotted two Monks.

Every morning, Monks walk the streets of South East Asia, begging for food for their one meal a day. Last year, I watched a monk make his way past several business where people knelt, praying after handing food over to him. This year, an older Monk followed by a Novice stopped at food carts that crowded a block between 7-11 and the bank. I noticed that the only people to make merit were middle-aged and older people. The young seemed to pay no attention to the Monks. I wonder if their culture, so ingrained with Buddhism, is starting to see this shift more and more in their young people? I also wondered if the magic of the moment somewhat fizzled with 7-11 in the background?
Maybe a little.

Watching Monks receive food made me hurry back to the guesthouse where I ordered an English breakfast which Steve had said would fill me up. Along with the normal American breakfast, I got baked beans, English bacon and real English sausages. No cocktail wieners for once. I truly felt full after that breakfast. I guess I will have to have Jok another day!

While waiting for my ride to Chalong Pier for the day of diving, I watched what I think were Chickadees eat crumbs from my toast that I threw to them. These birds are everywhere in the world. I also got some insight as to the ice situation in Thailand. I often wondered where the ice comes from as most places do not have freezers to make it and seem to use extra large "Coleman" type coolers to store everything. As the birds finished off the last of my crumbs, a Honda Wave (they seem to be the norm over here) with a sidecar pulled up, stacked at least 7 feet high with bags of ice. The boy delivering the ice ran 5, potato-sack sized, bags of ice into Mama Noi's Restaurant, next door, and then drove off. I would have bet that after delivering all of his ice, he would be heading to school. Yes. He was that young.
I now saw how it was delivered. I now wanted to see where it came from.

The ride to Chalong Pier was broken up by the songthaew stopping to pick up the food for the boat to serve. Being the only one in the back, I got help load the Thai buffet which appeared to consist of mixed vegetables, fried pork, Tom Yam, fresh fruit, salads and spaghetti and meat sauce. All good Thai food.

We boarded our boat,S.Sonboon (I think is the name) which is run by South Siam Divers after a trip via a shuttle bus down the long pier. We were offered hot and cold drinks, fresh fruit and toast and were given the briefing about the boat. Not knowing what to do next and this being my first boat dive without an instructor or people I knew, I went about readying my gear as no one told us how long it would be before we got to the first dive site. As we cruised out of the harbour, I found others were watching me and eventually joined in and we quickly got to know each other. It appears that we're all on our first serious ocean dives. 8 people are doing their open water course. My dive buddy, Dave and I are just out for some fun diving. We have about the same number of dives in. Should be good a good match.

Back home, I dive with a few Dave's, one who got me to get my certification and one who is a member of the national police's dive team. Turns out that my Thailand dive buddy, Dave, is a police detective in Australia.

My first and second ocean dives were very good. The bathtub warm water along with the visibility one finds in a pool made for some very good diving conditions. Our first dive went off without a hitch but on our second dive, Dave had some issues and had to quit only 10 minutes into the dive. Our dive master and I ended up continuing on and we saw quite a few fish.

As we chugged back to the pier, I knew that I would be booking another day of diving as today had been a lot fun. I really liked South Siam's operation and figured I would book with them for the next dive as well.

When I got back to Karon Plaza, I found Candace getting a manicure at the "salon" next to Sunrise Divers. The salon consisted of several reclining chairs where you could get a foot massage, pedicure or manicure along with a whole slew of other beautifying procedures. I got a tour of the salon including the upstairs where you can get full body oil massage. I don't think the "happy ending" type of massages take place here.

Being rather tired from diving and Candace having been in the sun at the beach for the better part of the day, we decide to head out for supper and stroll around Karon before heading back to the guesthouse.

Wanting to get out and see more of the Island, we rented a scooter from next door to Pineapple Guesthouse. Of course it was a automatic step-through which was an added bonus in case Candace had the urge to drive. Last year, some of our best memories came from cruising around. Hopefully this year would be the same.

Ahhhhh.....the bed never felt so good.

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Photos

Preparing to Dive
Moments before my first big Ocean dive.

Diver Below
Heading up!