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Published: February 24th 2007
Current Mood: Its about time im Back at the Beach..... Oh and im Now an Advanced Diver!!
Hahaha where did i leave you last time?? OOOOOH i remember.......... On a Train to Chumpon!
Well what to say?!?!?!?! the night was a hoot as ever but unlike last time, the train had arrived on time in Bangkok which left us arriving in Chumpon at 3am rather than just before the boat was leaving at 7!
So as you saw the train was simple the reclining seats reclined and the open windows worked like any others do in the jungle at night with the lights on!!! Everthing comes in. No where near as bad on this trip though the Mozzies left us alone But the night was a cold one!! On arrival in Chumpon the same old drill of finding the ticket office and waiting for boats was still in place!! We did however already have our tickets for the boat in Bangkok so we sat and waited for a classier type of taxi from The station to the dock!
After being Transported to a dive shop and then to the dock we all borded the grand old ship
which did leave an hour late but isnt that Asia Time???? So i was well excited about the up and coming dives! I was even more excited to be back on the islands with my good mates to!! i couldnt wait to see there faces on arriving as i remember it to be like something out of a film you never expect to see! The boat ride took around 3 hours and arriving to see the sights of jungle meeting beaches and a little bit of development around the Harbour the image to me was very much as i had dreamed about ever since i had left!! Amazing!
So the boat Docks and we all depart, Grabbing our Bags in Transit we are escorted by the cattle that walk the pier and are greeted by Name boards in association with Buddha View! Onto the Back of a jeep we all get on and off it races in the direction of a new place to me..... a different cove! Arriving at the dive school resort we are loaded into rooms, this time myself Pierre and April sharing and are informed of the weeks Tasks that are ahead! It seems that
here we will dive but as seperate groups which was a shame as i kinda wanted to do stuff with P and April but the innevitable was to be! For our first Day on Koh Tao Spent the time in the Sea playing on the Sand bars throwing Hand fulls of Sand at each other and just being Kids hahaha it was great!
On the evening and very Sun burnt to we all sat to get some BBQ which is laid on every night at Buddha view and is very nice if you can get there before the crowds! After Nosh we decided to head over to a festival that was happening in Aid of aquatic life and the releasing of Turtles or something! There were alsorts of jeastures being made and funds raised also for the treatment to Stray Dogs on the Island!! The island had developed nicely! The festival also housed tonnes of drink and food offering all of the great visuals to in the forms of fire jugglers and Live Bands! Cracking Night! On feeling Nackered we all retired for a following day of Diving!
Right...... For the guys the course begins today! They were
taking there Open Water so up and off they went at 7.30 for there first day! (guys if you wanna tell any stories feel free to write some and post them to me! ill paste them in!) Leaving me in Bed i slept for a while then got up to take a Fun dive as my course only lasts 2 days as apposed to the open water lasting 4!
My first fun Dive was out to White Rock, Which was a wicked day for visibility! I took this dive to really just familiarise myself with the equipment so i wasnt all flappy when starting my course!! A highly recommend, by myself thing to do!! Setting up the equipment on the Boat i was buddied up with a guy called Sol who was a wicked Lad! In the water we get and and a little Painful it was to!! The Injury to my foot was still very much open and the Fins literally cut right across it!! So as you can imagine there was a little chaffing going on (but dont mention Chaffing to Pierre hahahahah)
Anyway in the water for around 45 Mins the dive was so clear!
we were told of a fish Called trevor who was a trigger fish that apparently would nip you if he gets riled up hahahah i shit myself when i saw him!! he was a large one hahaha but in the distance i turned around and went the other way!
So now familiar with the equipment and ready for my course the guys took a second fun dive but i stayed on the boat to rest my foot!! was a shame but the best for me in the end! On there return we all got some munch on the boat and headed back to the dock to jump a taxi to our resort! Pierre and april were still in the pool working on there skills but not long after i was joined and we drank a few beers with a BIT OF DINNER!
The following morning my big Day begins so leaving P and April in bed i went out at 7am for the first of my Three dives that day! Dive one (Location ill add later) Was a multi Level Dive showing us the rules and needs to knows about planning dives at different levels using Pressure groups
and surface intervals stated on a thing called a dive planner or Wheel! So down to 18 metres for 12 mins and then 12 metres for 20 mins our total Bottom time was 32 minutes! The aim really was to just have fun but keeping a look at depths and air gauges! The visibility was awesome! This diving Larke is the thing for me! After a 3 minute safety stop (which is a decompression stop that prevents you getting the Benze) we surfaced and borded the boat for a surface interval which is ten cups of tea to me hahahahaha!
The plan for the second dive was to manage our Boyancy in the Water!! this was wicked!! Taken to another site we enter the water and head down to the surface! At the bottom (12 metres) The tasks we had to complete were a laugh!!! The idea of Boyancy control is to find the perfect amount of weight you should wair in the water! getting this right helps in your dives as it literally enhances the ease of diving taking all effort out of swimming allowing you to breathe less and enjoy a dive more! The first task was
the meditation routine hahahaha Basicly we had to cross our legs holding onto the fins and with a fully deflated BCD use our lungs to levitate above the sea bed!! Sounds easy ay hahaha it was a good laugh dodging Sea Urchings that stab you with prongs in the ass if you sit on them every time you hit the deck for getting it wrong hahahaha After 5 mins or so tho and playing with the air in the BCD you get the drift and you realise that breathing in Makes u go up....... which means breathing out makes you go down! The second task was the Fin Pivot which is basicly lying on your front with your legs apart on the Bed!! On breathing in as deep as possible the idea is to float until your standing upright and at the point of hitting your peak breath out allowing you to fall on your arse with the momentum from the inhale! Fontostique!! watch out for the urchings!!!
The Third and final tasks were swimming through your buddies legs after swimming along the bed at a constant distance from it (10cm) and then repeat if you mess up or
smack your buddy in the under crackers with your tank!! This lead to a circle being formed under the water and taking it in turns each of us using our lungs would swim along the surface like in the last task through your buddies legs and breathing in with no fin work float up on the inside of the circle! Ahh this was awesome!!! 1st time thank you please!
Back to the boat and back to the ranch we all are exhausted! Never the less the plan for us is to eat... sleep for the afternoon as Pierre and april were afternoon diving and hit the water again for a night dive!! Canneeee wait!!! So off for food i went with the gang including a gorgeous little Californian called Lucy (hehehe hey gorgeous) Everyone nackered apart from me it now seems i went back to the room to begin my swatting up taking in some revision for the dives already completed!
At 5.30 pm i was back on board and back out to sea! On the fall of the sun i was back in the water this time with a torch in the pitch black.... how scary! I
loved it!! Before entering we were briefed up on what to expect and no sooner than we were taught the stuff i was down at 15 metres watching Hunting Barracuda and Dodging Sea urchings in force! The Night dives are an experience!! With no Tasks to Complete we simply swim around getting a feel for diving by torch light! Gotta say given the chance ill be doing alot more!!
What a long Day so after drinking on the boat afterwards i went straight back to meet the guys to get a little pissed and get some ZZZZZZZzzzzzzz's for tomorrows dives!!! Gotta say im Nackered and dont know how ill cope!
Well Day two of my course was Scary!! It was deep dive day!!! They say im gonna see sharks. Ahhh shit!!! They aint beautiful! So up and down to the dock on the way to Chumpon Pinacle and kitted up for 8am Im briefed and in the water with no land in any direction!!! OOOOOOOhh shite! So with a free Decsent we begin to go down slowly enough awaiting Nitrogen Narcosis which is basicly feeling pissed under the water due to the depth and other factors!! At 20
Metres and still decsending i was shitting bricks!! My heart was racing as the thought of how far down i was got to me some!! Anyway down and down we go until we hit our limit of 30 Metres (thank god) where we would complete a few tasks before going for a swim!! The tasks were simply to see if Narcosis had set in so playing a maths game we had to give the instructer the amount of fingers that would make 11 from the amount he had put up!! (eg if he put up 7 i would put up 4) The problem with Narcosis is this!! you feel irrational and your senses are dazed like when being drunk!! you can have laughing fits to which sounds grand when sucking you air through a regulator at 30 Metres down!
Well every one has a go and concentrating on my heart rate and breathing i wasnt really looking at him! when he finally got my attention he began and up went 8! so looking at how many fingers were missing i put up 3! Again he did 8 so again i did 3! AGAIN 8 so Again 3 and im
thinking hes taking the piss! All of a sudden he changed it to 6 but putting up all sorts of fingers in a crazy fashion!! Well me making sure i got it right began to count with my eyes which must have looked like i was pratting about and with a little grin and a giggle i put up 5! After swimming up to 18 metres and then taking a rest stop at 5 we surfaced and hit the boat! No sharks by the way!!!
On the boat the instructer Informed us that only one was suspected of having Narcosis and that it was me hahahahah the joker he set me right up!! I swear i was fine yeah yeah blar di blar!!
After a surface interval we went to our last site where we would practice diving with Navigation using compasses and a Familiar site to us all!! i was loving it!! Down we went and out came the tasks!! ill have to name the site later but its the one with Trevor the trigger and the Finding Nemo Fish We were informed that we would have to swim for 50 metres in one direction on a
line following the compass for direction! on the pont the line runs out we were to let go wait one minute and swim back!! So off i went heading east swimming away and at around 20 metres away i saw Trevor! Ahh shit!! he was exactly and i reckon the instructer planned this, Exactly 50 Metres away from our initial position! I cacked my pants cos this fish is massive and alone i was dinner hahahaha! So i cheakily stopped at 45 pulled the line till it ran out as i didnt wanna keep swimming in a dodgy direction and swam back as soon as the line began to pull in!! Task one complete!! the Bastard!
Task two Was simply to swim around the central circle in a big square then on return find our way back to the boat!! Easy peasy so back at the boat we were all informed the Advanced was passed and all dives whilst there at Buddha View are now discounted to us for life!! 15% or something!! Wacked!!!
So back at the scuba School later on in the afternoon myself pierre and april all went down to Sairee Beach where i stayed
last time to get some food!! it was so nice to be back there!! More developed than last time but personally i think was good to see there were many little restaurants up and down giving the once really quiet beach a cool kind of atmosphere! Was a shame to see though that a bar i sat at with Han many nights that served some wicked Lasagne had closed! Nice memories there but never the less i was happy to show P and April the beach which also made me realise that being in a new place was a good thing!! Our cove was very nice indeed!
So the guys having one more day left and me feeling very sleep deprived i stayed in bed til 12 whilst the guys were out diving! The afternoon i spent filling in my scuba reviews to get my qualification finalised then on return and after there exam we all celebrated with poo loads of beers and a real good night!!! Out came the Henna owned by Aprils bezzy mate who happened to love India and we all got Tattood!! Mad heads!
We arranged to stay an extra night so we could
Last shot at the climb!!!
Pierre trying to get up the hillget out on the bikes to see some of Koh Tao so up and showered later than normal we all went out in search of Shark Bay... and a monkey reserve!! Typically we got lost and ended up severely dirt tracking it up and down some piss pore conditioned roads that were that steep we eventually had to get off and walk!! going down was easy enough but on return to the bikes after a splash about in the water the fun really began!!
Pierre it seemed needed to be trained in the art of walking in Flip Flops!! hahaha so funny he was sliding out of them falling to the floor.... shimmeeing on his ass along the floor up the hill which was too hot to bare on any arse hahaha i very nearly peed a little!! the hill was so steep walking in flip flops was a joke!! Hahahaha what a crack!!
On this night we got some drinks in from the 7/11 and chilled on the porch before heading down to the local bar where i saw Kitty from Laos with the girls!! Was great to see them! We Continued to drink until late before
hitting the sack wakeing early ish and packing up our belongings for a mad trip over to Au Nang to get Pierre an elephant!! Not a bad way to spend your time travelling i must say!!!
Well guys this was a lengthy one i hope you are not bored to tears! We are off to Krabi now so more to you from the Back of an Elephant!!!!
I LOVE YOU ALL LOADS AT HOME
Love from a brummy
Niki xx
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anonymous
non-member comment
Hey you eventually got to dive then! wicked. I'll call Ron up later on today and tell him you made it. He may be coming back to Thailand in a bit - i'll keep ya posted. No dive master better than that Israeli! All good here got me bike with me so I'm happy. Take care and watch out for the baraccuda! xxxxx