Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
After nearly over 2 weeks the time has come for another blog.
Once upon a time in land not so far away(depending where you live) a boy named Rowland was in an A level drama classroom towards end of yr 13 exams asked about his plans for the future. He replied in a drowsy manner ''teaching''. this did come to pass in Kuwait as a part time job with tutoring for 4 months and then as more time passed he found himself in a place asking ''How did I go from two back to back teaching jobs and writing a novel to one of the best and first ever 3 month internships ever on a tropical paradise?''
That question definetly brings a smile :)
After nearly a month my psychological playlist involves music of the Jurassic Pak theme from the film of the same name brilliantly composed by John Williams and the theme from the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy to sum up my adventures on Koh Tao.
Following the conclusion of my last blog the next few days at the end of March became a blur as track of time became confusing on the island with so much going on. what i am about to recount are true events which were written down in a diary in the event they also became a blur.
After my last blog i took up a day on an Adventure tour with two people organised by Good time Adventures, a compnay on the island. the day started out in the morning with abseiling and climbing in the jungle at 30 metres in over 30 degrees weather(like every other day) then the afternoon was snorkeling around the island with an added bonus of Cliff jumping at 3 and 9 metres!
there was an option to do a 12 meter but as it was late afternoon with the rocks being very hot and the effort to reach the 12 meter i backed down with intentions to do the 12 meter another time. I enjoyed the afternoon of more underwater photography with cliff jumping which gave me the best rush of adrenaline ever and of course poses and pictures followed suit with the jumps. Another hightlight of this organised day was a free beer at the end as the sun set, this was truely the most active and best day off training for me :)
in the two weeks I carried out a total of 16 training dives with the last 8 being with Meaghan on her first 8 to sharpen my filming skills, the more days of free diving was a delight so no complaints. such sights were not limited the least to Coral reefs, Butterfly fish, angel fish, Baracudas, eels and many other jaw dropping sights. These divers were afternoon dives with Phoenix divers, after two afternoon dives on one day I took my second ever night dive......a UV night dive!.
a UV night dive is where ina florescent manner with special torches and glasses the coral and fish lighten up at night(a similar enhanced viewing experience through 3D glasses where if you remove them you have headaches and if you keep them on you are amazed at the surroudnings) this was the best ever dive and was one where i was informed that teh sport was only a year old and was only avaliable in very few parts of the world. this was a truley special experience in diving that I shall revisit soon before I leave.
As the 25th of March was upon the island it was the full moon party and thus loads of people went off to Koh Phangan. However instead South African James organised a Braai(south african barbecu) for the Ace Marine videographers and the divers of Phoenix divers which was very good and a night of buying beers, being bought beers, bonding, pool, and nicknames. this was a great night where i truly had a great time bonding with the divers and videographers over shots, drinks and pool, and became part of the gang with a nickname. The nickname Jeeves was chosen based on a loose conection to my voice being similar to Hugh Laurie playing a fictional charcter called Jeeves in his early career.
Even though i missed the full moon party the next day i woke up to one of those hangovers where i knew i had a good time and was happy......but......the hangover woke me up at 6am to find my fan on a very low setting from the whol evening-worst hangover on the island where i couldn't get back to sleep and needed some serious recovery time, but it was worth the night.
Another ocasion involved supporting Andy Djaying at a Gig on a beach club with the videographers to celebrate the end of the month and wish Prat a good-bye(one of our long standing videographers and a great friend, who was returning to India after over a year of work with ACE marine Images)Thus more pool and drinks were involved with the phoenix dive instructors present.
Another ocassion was the Extreem Gap barbecus, this was a good-bye present for 20 people on a two week package of open water diving, thai boxing and climbing. this was hosted by Miss Jai and with many of us together we witnessed another great sunset on Koh Tao and some delicious chicken for food and chilaxed by the beach by our delight.
Amongst all these fun events I took up Chris(Andy's cousin) assigbnment and developed a pitch for a short ten minute docu-film about the value of Coral reefs beyond their use in medicine, shelter for fish, and sighseeing for tourism but their function to protect use from shoreline erosion and climate change. A truly fascinating idea that gripped me. the pitch was well recieved and green lit with currently a prelude, introduction and an epilogue scripted and more scripting to come and shooting to come along. Hopefully in another blog I will be able to discuss more behind the scenes stuff as progress continues.
As for a more up to date moment of Trvia all traing is finished as April begins, currently I am editing over 2 hours of footage from training into a half an hour film from 16 dives on Adobe Premiere and very soon i shall begin the internship by shadowing other videographers and then when the time is right i shall begin work with an aim to complete the docu-film by end of April. after nearly a month on the island i can say Koh Tao has truly been the best decision i have made for fun, experience and work, i have a little under two months left and a lot of work ahead so therefore my blog count will be limited to longer gaps but hopefully with more info on work as by now I have, been there, done that, seen that with all you can do on the island and must crack down on work.
My time at School, working life in Kuwait and book writing feels a lifetime away with all I am experienceing. currently Prat and the 20 Extreme gappers have let and the island feels not the same without them but with plenty of friends made after a month and there alway behind something to do but not limited to sunbathing, snorkeling, editing, drinking and other experiences on the island.
Deep down inside I feel so much for underwater videography and that Koh Tao will be a very special time in my life where I was open to things I could have never done in either England or Kuwait and to a world of diving everyday for free and being a film-maker in clear vissability.
I end on a note of excitment for what lies ahead, hope you have enjoyed reading is as much as i am enjoying Koh Tao, the next blog won't be for a while so keep a sharp eye out!
- comments