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Woohoo.....I'm now a fully qualified Open Water certified diver!!!!
Yip, decided to give Laos a miss and do my diving course instead on the idealic Island of Koh Phangan. Never have i made a wiser choice.
Yeah i thought Ko Phi Phi was paradise....i thought wrong!! Thong Nai Pan Noi is beyond words & photographs. You'll never quite comprehend this beautiful, almost untouched village, unless you've experienced it yourself!
Everyone arrives in Koh Phangan by boat from either Koh Samui or Surat Thani on the mainland. Some stay in Thong Sala where all boats dock, most head for Haad Rin on the SE of the island.....why...because this is where the infamous Full Moon Party's take place. Unfortunately due to this, this part of the island is more than touristy, beach not really up to scratch and where you'l find a bit of trouble if you'r looking for it! Not my kind of scene AT ALL!! So i headed straight for Thong Nai Pan which is about an hour away in a taxi (sorry pick uptruck) through the mountains on dirt track, bumpy roads. Remind me to take a cushion next time! Don't need to learn to drive here...as long as you have 2 legs, 2 arms & a head you'r qualified to drive a vehicle....whether thats a scooter, motorbike, truck or longtail boat!
I arrived from Surat Thani (on ANOTHER overnight train...should be getting a frequent train traveller discount i think) early Sunday morning...5.30am to be precise! As always when you step off the train,if you look western and carrying a backpack, you'r bombarded with the woman who run the cafes across the road to have breakfast in their establishment and book your boat tickets. I knew where i was heading...Wots!! Went straight over, rushing through the hectic heapof people just wanting to be left alone, and bought my express ticket to Koh Phangan. Up until this very point i was actually heading to Koh Tao to do my diving course. Purely because they're renound for diving. It's the only reason people go to the island. But Wot wasn't having any of it....only tickets to Koh Samui or Phangnan....so my mind was made up....Phangnan for one night then boat over to Tao the next morning! Would book my diving course and boat ticket when i arrived in Thong Nai Pan later that morning......
See... thats the good thing about travelling alone.... if you decide to change your mind about what you're doing or where you're going, you've only got yourself to answer to....and just as well, cause my plan for that morning pretty much changed within an hour of reaching my new found paradise!
After a sore bum ride and reaching what looked like a tiny under developed village on a narrow dirt track road, i checked into Star Hut Bungalows. It was too hot to walk up the beach and find something more adequate so i took it...after all it was only for one night....or so i thought. Had some lunch in the beach side cafe which was really good. Sat and gazed out at the white sands & blue sea. At this point, i was only getting a glimpse of the beach so wasn't quite taken in yet. Decided to go find a telephone in the village and call a diving co in Koh Tao to book in for the following day! As i walked through the village, dogs rolled about barking playfully, locals sat on the steps of their shops, everyone offering a wave, a smile and a hello and about 10 metres on i was at the end of the village! From the beach walking in a straight line you have Star Hut Bungalows beach cafe on the left, the backs of Bann Pamburi Bungalows on your right, next up on your left is a small internet cafe with 3 computers charging a fortune per minute, next door is H20 Diving (where i fell in the love with the ocean), a sort of small convenience store on the right that sold absolutely everything you could every need, next door is a tattoo & jewellery studio and across the 2 metre road is a thai massage place. A bit further up is a few restuarants, another convenience store and a phone box! And thats about it! All other accomodation (which is basically bungalows sitting on the beach) run all the way along Noi beach with a few bars and restuarants in between.
So found the phone box, called Koh Tao and booked myself into Crystal Dive resort for the next 4 days to do my course! After walking along the beach, catching up with Amy who i met on my previous travels, we walked round to H20 to catch up with one of her friends....... and within 10mins i decided to stay on the island and domy course with them. How glad was I about my decision. So i would start on Tue for my 3 day intense tution into the wonderful world that lies beneath sea. But for the remainder of the day, it was time to lie n the beach and let the waves lap over my body! Ah bliss. (was burnt within 20minutes)
Sunday night was kind of a right off....ended up out for dinner with Amy and met up with a few peeps she knew from the island! It seems that when you come here you just don't leave! Anyway, went for a few drinks in Flip-Flop, a really cool bar on the beach front then headed up to the opening night of Luna Bar. Aw this place was pretty impressive. By far the classiest bar i've been to on my travels. Apart from the no roof and 100 degree heat, this funky little joint could have been right in the heart of chic Soho! Would go into more detail but after a few glasses of wine the rest of the night was a bit of a blur. The last time i remember looking at my watch it was half 10...next thing i know the sun's coming up as i'm walking back to Star Hut. Remember setting my alarm for 9am to check out of star huts and at this time it was 5:45am....not good! Oh, i do remember at one point calling my cuz Jen back home in the UK saying "this is our song, this is our song" about 5 times! Don't think she could quite hear what song it was but i was later reminded the following day that at one point i had my phone away from my ear telling Amy & Caz that this was me and my cuz's fave song...yip this all apparently recorded on Jens voicemail....Nice!!! Don't even know what the songs were now!!
Next morning...wasn't a pretty sight. Vaguely remember handing key into Star Hut and walking straight over to Sandee Bungalows and taking the first room she showed me. Slept there for the remainder of the day. Thank goodness no diving was involved on monday! About 5pm wandered down the beach to get a big greasy cheeseburger & chips and low and behold...found Amy doing the same! This was the first hangover of my travels and in this heat its not good! Really making an effort never to drink wine on tap again! The fact i was getting everything free wasn't helping!
So monday night was time to look over my diving manual and make sure i knew the basics for Tues quiz. Had been told my instructors name was Don and that it would be a one on one course. Was freaking out at this point. What if i couldn't do it, what if i couldn't remeber anything, what if i was crap in the pool....
Walked over to H20 for 8am on Tue morning. And there waiting for me was Don. Definately wasn't as scary as i expected. He's canadian and was such a good laugh. Really good guy who know so much about not only diving, but what goes on under the sea, all the different species etc etc. He made the whole course so much more than just learning to breathe underwater. I guess you need to be passionate about something like diving or you could get yourself into so much trouble under the sea.
Aced my confined dive and my theory so next step was into the big bad ocean. It's quite scary how much you have to remember between breathing, equalising (popping your ears), safety, emergency procedures and stuff. What you have to dobefore you go under, what you have to do before coming back to the surface. The effects Nitrogen will have on your body if you don't breathe properly or ascend or descend to fast or to slow.... my head was buzzing and thought by the time Wednesday camearound i would have forgotten everything and end up puncturing a lung or something!
Wednesday - Destination: Anthong National Marine Park. Today was the day i would do my first 2 real dives. Realy peeing my pants with fear. Was told there could be a chance ofseeing a whale shark. I was freaking out about seeing fish never mind anything remotely like a shark! Left at half 7 that morning. Took 2 hours to get there. I was pretty quiet the whole way, thought at one point Don was going to throw me over board! Was trying to remember everything from the confined dive in the pool...wasn't happening...between getting thrown about on the boat & getting soaked by waves, i was oretty distracted. We had set up all ourequipment, tanks,scuba gear etc just as we had boarded the boat so meant as soon as we stopped it was time to dive. I could see the rocks coming into view in the distance and Don wanted to have our little prep talk. He was pretty confident that i'd be fine...i wasn't!
Suits on, air on, BCD inflated, regulator in....it was time to step of the boat.........
WOW....this was like escaping to new world full of new colours, new shapes, new sounds, new textures and new creatures. The world as i knew it had just taken a new dimension! I was in a world so new that i could explore new places, historic coral and mysterious pristine reefs. I had opened a door to experience a connection with nature, feeling of freedom, and a transformation. It immerses you in new sensations and experiences. My perceptions had been completely transformed. Never could i have imagined having such a rush from diving! I truly am speechless about the creatures i seen, touched, admired. The cracking of the coral is such a refreshing sound, and the distant tapping on someones tank who may have just seen a shark or a whale! I honestly took to it like a fish to water....literally!!
Anthong was such an amazing place to have my first dives. Visabilty was at an all time high of 20m which apparently is quite unusual. So i was definately lucky on day 1.
Day 2 - Destination: Sail Rock. This is one of Don's favourite dive sites due to the vast amount of different species. And he was right....before we had even started our descend you could see straight to the bottom at 30m...unbelievable. I wanted to see a shark....yip...me of all people! Chances were, i would. Apparantly whale sharks had been prime in this area over the past week. So we were definately excited to get down there. Even more so than at Anthong, I was mesmerised at the masses of Barracuda, King Mackeral, Trigger Fish, Eels, Herbit Crabs.... They were swimming in schools and schools of thousands. The colours and sounds were like nothing you've ever heard before. Through my mask, it was like watching a David Attenborough documentry.
After the first dive, just as we surfaced, another boat of divers were calling oput to us........they had just seen a whale! Yeah right, we thought. Sure enough, there was a whale on the prowl. So second dive, it was mission "find the goddamn whale"....... and we did! We went off track slightly and decided to move away from the reef.... as we swam out to the deep blue of nothing, in the distance was a shaded movement. It was silent though. No sound of the coral, no sound of the fish....just silence...our bubbles being the only noise to break the calm. This vision ahead could actually be a school of barracuda moving back to the coral but we keep at it...keeping an eye on our compass as not to get to lost........
And there it was..... about 10 metres infront of us, a grey pike whale. Was about 7 metres in length but at a distance this was still an unbelievable sight. Don has never seen a whale in all his years of diving and today after only my 4th I had!! What an awesome sight. It felt like such an achievement. Now its time to bring on the sharks!
As we headed back to Chaluklum on the diving boat, i was pretty sad i was leaving Koh Phagan the next day and wouldn't be diving for a while. I know it sounds weird but i think i may have found my calling in life. Its always been well known that i'm more than a water baby but i never quite compensated howmuch i could feel at home 20m under the sea!
So Friday was a sad day. Dragged myself out of bed. Packed up my stuff and said my goodbyes to the awesome people i met diving the past 3 days. Sat on the beach and watched the sun peak in the sky over the white sands and blue sea again for the final time until my pick up arrived. The whole way to Thong Sala i just wanted to jump off and go back. Even at the pier i was thinking "just go back"!
But i didn't. It was time to experience Vietnam & Cambodia because I may never get the chance again. I have decided though, that this is my trip & my travels and i can pretty much do what i want and right now i want to dive. So after my next 17 days travelling through Vietnam & Cambodia I will be heading back to Koh Phangan to dive. I would like to acheive my Advanced Open Water before i get to New Zealand at the end of Oct, so my plan is to go back for a few more dives and do so before then. If i happen to miss out Malaysia on the way down to singapore then i'm not to bothered. Malaysia is much more accessable now than most others in SE Asia and it's somewhere i can travel later. Just now, my happiest times have been in koh phangan diving and I really want to get everything i can out of it. Not once since i've been here have i felt as settled and at home as i did at Thong Nai Pan so i guess i should embrace this while i have the chance!
Cxxxx
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