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Published: September 2nd 2007
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We left Ao Nang as the weather had turned, and the room started leaking....what a classy hostel! We booked 2 tickets to get to Ko Samui by the infamous Minibus...... a journey that should have taken 5 1/2 hours! To cut a long story short..... it took alot longer...... we waited around in Krabi for 2 hours changing buses 3 times, before departing and then stopping in the minibus companys own restaurant for lunch, before heading off to Ko Samui....arriving after dark!
We managed to find somewhere to stay for the night, but decided very quickly that we'd head up to Ko Tao, which is a 2 hour boat ride away! This was a great decision as Ko Tao is simply gorgeous........ and is our favourite place so far in Thailand (beating Ko Chang just!). We stayed at Bans Resort in Sairee, which is one of the biggest dive schools on the island - after a day of chilling out on the beach we were going to learn how to dive, and do the PADI open water course!!!
Our first day/night involved watching a video, and heading down to the pool with all the scuba gear to practice in
a safe ish environment. Here we learnt how to assemble and check all the equipment, and of course how to use it all underwater!! First things first.....breathing underwater is weird.......i cant describe why, it just is! They began going through a range of skills including the dreaded fill your mask up with water and clear it, all whilst underwater. Then they made us take the mask off completely, and then putting it back on and clearing the mask. This is quite tricky although you get used to it - poor Bex was stuggling to cope with this task although she could do it fine.
The next day involved our first 2 dives of the course - diving at a depth of 12 metres. Its very different from the safety of the pool, and going underwater for the first time is very strange. You descend down one of the ropes on the buoys, so that you have an idea of how deep your going and also to control your descent. The first bit is where the pressure on your ears is greatest and you have to keep equalising them (bit like when your on a plane) so that you dont
feel pain! The first dive was great as we just swam around and saw loads of fish and coral - something you dont see back in the UK!! The 2nd dive was slightly more testing, with the instructors going through a range of skills including with filling up half your mask with water and then clearing it (this time at 12m). I had managed to do mine although wasnt loving it - it was then Bex's turn!! She filled the mask up with water, and cleared it, but took up a nose full of water at the same time. Your natural response to swallowing water is to get to the surface although we were 12m down, so she panicked a little and tried to swim upwards. After 30 seconds of hand signals to reassure her things were okay again..... she went on to the next skill, although i dont think diving was going to be one of favourite things and she didnt really enjoy the 2nd dive!
After a classroom lesson and a test (which we passed with 96%) it was time for the final days dive - down to 18m and the dreaded take your mask off exercise!
This was too much for Bex and she decided not to do the 2 final dives. I went on the 3rd dive down to 18m where we would then take off our masks. Id had a few issues with my mask beofre jumping in, and quickly realised it was faulty and kept leaking water, filling up every minute or so! Then when trying to fix it on the surface the straps came off and took ages to get it back on (i was hoping this wouldnt happen on the dive). With this in mind, when trying to get the mask on underwater i struggled and couldnt - THEN i took up a big nosefull of water! Now i knew how Bex had felt the day before.......although now i had an underwater video camera on me! GREAT! I got it back on and cleared it, but wanted to go back to the surface and drink something with less salt than my previous drink through my nose a few minutes ago. On dives 3 & 4 we saw loads more fish, coral, eels, trigger fish (they try and bite you if you get too close) and a jelly fish!! I had now
passed the open water course and could Scuba Dive!! Bex also qualified as a Scuba Diver, although needs to do the 3rd and 4th dive along our trip before she is allowed out on her own!!
We headed out on the nite to celebrate.....with Bex not that keen as everyone knew she had bottled it on the last 2 dives!! We soon got down to business drinking the most lethal vodka and oranges ive ever had......basically.....there was no orange juice!! After moving down the beach to a popular haunt.....we saw some guy start climbing this palm tree that was horizontal over the bar....although 10 metres high! Yep....he was pished...... and what a couple of drinks does for your confidence....the fool must have had trouble climbing up the stairs to the bar let alone climbing a palm tree! Youve guessed it....with the whole bar watching he fell off the tree and luckily landed feet first into the thatched roof and into the middle of the dancefloor! It was really funny as he was completely unhurt and perhaps should have been making his way to hospital......and the whole bar was laughing at him! It looked like he was having to fork
out to mend the roof....with the owner of the bar not impressed at all.
After recovering from a heavy nite....... we headed down to Ko Phangan to get ready for the biggest beach party in the world..............
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Louise
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Diving!
YO! FANTASTIC - soo pleased you've learnt to dive - it's just fab isn't it. You MUST go to Perentian Besar - the watercolours dive place is BRILLIANT - you know how i raved on when you were here. The diving is just breathtaking and they're really professional. There's loads less people, and it's much more relaxed than in Koa Toa so they can give you more time and support. If you need to finish you're PADI Tirx, i'd recommend doing it there. The snorkelling is also top-notch. lots of love xxx