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19 October - 23 October
KIM: "Arrived in Koh Tao after a very very long journey on the bus & boat. All went smoothly, and although I know that Thailand was advanced and catered for the tourists, I had no idea it would run this smoothly! The only thing tough so far is deciding between all the millions of amazing places to stay. After speaking to about 4 different ones, we decided on Ban's Diving Resort. Initially we weren't going to go with Ban's as their diving classes seemed large and impersonal, but after some haggling (by me) we bargained with them to give us private Padi lessons, coupled with a free upgrade to an air con room. Bonus!!"
"After sleeping all afternoon in an attempt to recover from the long bus ride down, we headed to meet our instructor Charlie - an Essex boy from the UK! Meet and greet, he switched on a dvd about diving and left Mark and I to watch and answer some chapter review questions. 3 hours later (even though it only takes most people 1.5 hours - we are very studious) Mark and I emerged and went to grab some dinner at the Fishbowl. The restaurant run by Ban's. In fact, as we looked around it seemed Ban's was a pretty big establishment owning all the shops in the area (which naturally meant inflated prices, but we only learnt this a few days in)."
"Day 2 we met up with Charlie again for more exciting (read: completely corny and boring) Padi dvd. I guess all necessary, but having still not even been in the water, we were itching. After lunch though, that all changed. We learnt how to get our kit all ready (tanks, regulators, BCD's) and we hit the water (that is, in the swimming pool). Breathing underwater wasn't as weird as I thought it was going to be, although the safety of the swimming pool shallow end probably is what made it easier. We learnt a bunch of skills and I'm proud to say that after a few attempts I managed the mask clearing skill! Happy days! (this is the one I had been dreading since Natalie told me about it!) After 4 hours in the pool we were wrinkly and tired but hopefully prepared for tomorrow!"
"Day 3 started bright and early with loads of other divers swimming around the dive shop. The air was filled with anticipation, and I felt nauseous with nerves. We did two dives between 10 - 12 metres. The first dive was at Mango Bay. It didn't start as well as I'd like because as soon as I'd jumped into the water, my O-ring burst and my tank started releasing all the air! I panicked, and as a result now have a fear of O-rings. Following that, Charlie had to do a bit of convincing that all was going to be ok. I just couldn't descend! Eventually I did, but I can honestly say I haven't a clue what it was like under the water. I really couldn't stop thinking about everything we had been taught, so I barely looked around and just focused on breathing and swimming. Hmm…
Second dive was at twin peaks, and again - I wasn't great at the whole descent thing followed by making sure I didn't hold my breath, while practicing mask clearing etc etc. I wasn't loving diving after dive 1 and 2.
Mark (the man was born in the water, and walked onto land to exist) tells a completely different story. Fearless and bold... he took to it immediately completing all skills without a hitch.
After our dives we came back to do our Padi theory exam. I got 98% (haha… what did you all expect from the little nerd?) and Mark got a sneaky 86%. Luckily pass mark is 75%!"
"Day 4 - another early start and I wasn't keen! I felt sick at the idea and was contemplating just calling it a day. Who wants to breathe underwater anyway!?
After a terrible attempt at descent again - I realized that without it, I wouldn't get signed off so I pulled myself towards myself and did it! We did that damn mask clearing thing again and then… I opened my eyes to discover the most beautiful world! It was like being in an aquarium. The fish were gorgeous, the coral was outstanding. We saw a blue spotted sting ray, jelly fish, angel fish, parrot fish and a banded sea snake (the most venomous there are!) I loved diving, and this dive site - White Rock - was amazing!"
Our last dive, again at twin peaks started well. We did the descent and some compass skills and then we set off! Again, absolutely gorgeous underwater scenery. We saw a Titan Triggerfish (which was probably of the most impressive thing I saw - this thing was massive!!) and 3 lovely little guys called Nemo (well actually called Clownfish but you know who Nemo is!) It was incredible and I came up all smiles and qualified! That night we celebrated with Charlie in style, drinking a tasty local concoction that is: 1 x Bucket of ice; 1 x 1l bottle of Hong Thong whiskey; 1x Red Bull; 2 x Cokes = BIG party! The red bull here is different to back home and is probably not legal to be honest - definitely something dodgy in there!!
We had one more free nights accommodation, and then the rates were going to shoot up to THB 1,000 a night - that's only about £20, but above our budget. So we rented a scooter and went on a mission to find a new place to stay as we're not ready to leave Koh Tao yet. In fact, I reckon we would happily stay here for the next two months! What we soon discovered is that Koh Tao has a lot of huuuuuuge mountains that aren't that much fun to go up on a bike with two people. I was soon doing a lot of walking. We found some gorgeous and remote places for cheap cheap. But the real issue was - how would we get our stuff there. After a big night that night, the next day the search continued. We found the most gorgeous bay, just opposite Shark Island and lunched there. The resort was called New Heaven huts (recommended by the trusty travel guide) and we were set to be coming back with our backpacks. On the bike ride back to Ban's however we reconsidered - it was just too much hard work to get back there (taxi plus boat!) so instead we opted for Bow Thong resort in Sairee beach. We have a sweet little wooden hut here - with a fan. We're missing our luxuries of air con, but one night down already - we'll be fine.
A gorgeous grilled calamari on the beach for dinner - we blew the budget a fair bit (this backpacking budget thing is taking longer to get into than I thought!) and a nice long walk on the beach. Loving this lifestyle!"
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