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Hello everyone! It's okay, no need to panic, despite the rumours we ARE still alive!
We decided not to write another blog entry until now for two reasons. One, we have been rather busy, and two, as each day has been filled with pretty much the same thing (diving, eating, socialising and sleeping) we weren't quite sure what we could write.
However, we leave Koh Tao in a couple of hours and we are now fully qualified PADI Divemasters! After 80 dives, 12 exams and 56 hours spent under the water we have seen so many amazing things and learnt a lot too! We can both safely say it has been worth every minute and if we weren't before, we are certainly both water babies now. The last entry left off with us about to start our Rescue Course. It was a demanding one, with people flinging themselves into the water and us having to stop, think and act. This basically entailed putting on our fins and mask, grabbing something that floats and then jumping in ourselves to save them. Suffice to say our victims did not make it easy, and their instructions are to try and dunk us and 'drown' us as much as possible! But, we made it through unscathed and learnt lots of new skills such as resuscitation breathing and CPR so it was definitely worthwhile.
Then the Divemaster Internship began! With this, we had several lectures and exams on subjects from Physics to Physiology to Dive Skills. We also had to complete a skills circuit in the pool of various things that need to be taught to new students on an open water course, such as what to do if your regulator falls out. Aside from this the main portion of the course consisted of us assisting on the courses we had just completed - Open Water, Advanced Open Water and Rescue. We went from students to teaching assistant in a matter of days! Although we were still relatively new to diving, it was really nice to be able to pass on some knowledge and reassure new divers, and gave us a confidence boost ourselves.
There is far too much to mention but some of the things we have seen during our dives include: Turtles, Giant Groupers, Giant Barracuda hunting at night (where you are diving in pitch black so they suddenly appear in the light of your torch!), Pufferfish, Blue Spotted Stingrays, Lionfish and Nikki was lucky enough to see the largest fish in our oceans, a Whale Shark!
All in all our time on Koh Tao has been an amazing experience, and has definitely been the easy part of our 'travelling' simply because we have been living in the same place for two months! The island is very laid back, nobody is in a hurry and all the locals are very friendly. It's the first time we have really experienced the feeling of never knowing what day it is, as a Saturday here is no different to a Monday - but in a good way!
So the real travelling adventure now begins, no more luxury of living out of a wardrobe, everything is back in the rucksacks! Since we have been away we have met so many new friends from all corners of the planet, many of which I'm sure we will keep in contact with for many years to come. With all the different stories people have, we decided we wanted to add something else to our itinerary - a whole new country in fact! Yes, we are heading to Indonesia, specifically the islands of Sumatra, Java and Bali. We will be diving in Sumatra (a place called Pulau Weh), see a semi-active volcano in Java, and we will be meeting Phillip (Andy's cousin) in Bali. This happens a little later on though. The following is what happens next...
First on the list is the mainland where we are headed on the night boat this evening. We will be making our way to a place called Khao Sok which is a large national park. We are staying for three nights where we will be going on walks to waterfalls, and watching watering holes and clearings to try and spot some wildlife! From there we head to Krabi, and then continue further south where will eventually cross the border into Malaysia. We will continue heading south until we arrive in Kular Lumpur, and from there we fly to Sumatra on September the 17th. After travelling through the islands of Indonesia and meeting Phillip in Bali, we fly from there to Singapore on the 14th of October and then on to Australia on October 18th.
We aren't sure how often we will be able to get online in the near future so we can't say when this will be updated next, but if and when we manage to get online we will be sure to contact everyone whether it is via Facebook or Skype or good old fashioned telephone!
Hope everyone is well, and once we get more pictures of Koh Tao and our diving online be sure to have a look and comment on them!
Let the real adventure begin!
- comments
Arvind This is where the adventure begins... *jealous* :D