Ruben, If You Do the Scuba... I am Happy
Trip Start
Sep 20, 2007
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62
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Trip End
Sep 20, 2008
Ko tao,
Thailand
Sunday, July 20, 2008
The usual attack of touts occurred when we arrived but we found a good deal with a company called Easy Divers who offered a good rate which included the open water course, accommodation for four nights and food.. Sorted. That evening Conor, Craig and Clive took a three man kayak out and a few bits of snorkeling gear to get ourselves in the mood for the dives ahead (the nature boy is always in the mood/nude in the wild) He especially loved it when Craig threw a sea cucumber from the sea floor on his lap. We chose to delay the course until the following evening so we could (go on the piss) surprise but a good night was had by all, albeit a bit more low key then Koh Pha Ngan.
The next day was spent lounging around our seafront garden throwing sea cucumbers at each other. Getting hit by one of these black phallic slime sticks was quite humiliating and not very eco friendly, but fuck it was funny.
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That evening we watched our PADI intro video and met our future dive instructor, the one and only CHRIS innit. An absolute geezer of the highest order but a decent lad and a very professional instructor who would turn out to have a few aces up his sleeve.The next day we continued our theory in the classroom with a couple videos and question sessions i.e. neutral buoyancy, refraction and all that jazz. It was fairly boring stuff but it was a requirement of the PADI course so best to just get amongst it. That afternoon we started our skills session which was much more fun. We headed out on the Easy Divers boat to the Japanese Gardens which was a nice shallow bay with good coral. At first putting the tank and equipment felt very alien but after a few seconds in the water it was amazing how quickly it becomes second nature.
At this point in time, its important to mention TEAM SLEVO! Our scuba group consisted of 6 people in total and the other three in the group turned out to be some fine fellow micks from the bog somewhere. David, Mairead and think it was Ciaran turned out to be sound as a pound but jesus did they make us look good underwater. Team Slevo would turn out to be the funniest and most incapable group of people South East Asia had ever seen. Its fair to say that a giraffe would have had a better chance underwater than these rehabs. They were enjoying themselves though and we were definitely entertained so no complaints on that front.
Some of the skills included things like taking of your mask underwater and putting it back on or using the alternate regulator to breathe.
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One skill in particular phased the Team Slevo. This was where the instructor turned off the oxygen at your source and you had to signal when you were out of air so he could turn it back on. For this trick, Eoin decided to remain silent and use his hands in some sort of underwater silent disco when the air ran out. If the instructor hadn't seen the guy turn blue it could have been sketchy to say the least. Ah good old team slevo, always making us look good. At the end of the skills session we did our first fun dive back to the boat and were amazed by both the clarity and array of tropical fish and coral. It might not have been up to the Barrier Reefs standard but the fact that we were face to face with the wildlife as opposed to snorkeling on the surface easily made up for it.Next day was theory again in the classroom and then a skills and fun dive session in the afternoon. A storm whipped into town that morning so that made for an interesting change in sea conditions. The boat was literally pitching and rising 5 or 6ft in the air to every oncoming wave, great banter! Unfortunatley, this affected the visibility as the sea floor was churned up but the scuba was just too much fun to care, we were becoming pros at this stage with little cave swims now added to our repertoire. How team slevo didn't get lost down a black hole that day was testament to Chris' teaching talents.
Arriving back to the dive shop that evening we were faced with the prospect of being homeless as our place was overbooked as was most resorts on the island.
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You What?? Says the geezer Chris as he over hears our conversation. "Why don't you move into the Hefner pad for a few days innit, its got a Jacuzzi on the roof!" Sold... we moved in that evening and literally had a three story mansion at our disposal for a very good price. Nice one Bruv, he even sorted us out with some local fruit and veg, sound.The last days diving was the culmination of all our blood sweat and tears and we hired a videographer to record the last two fun dives of the course. After an awkward and nervous into we all soon became camera whores and couldn't get enough of it.
The dives turned out brilliantly and included some flips off the boat, lots of first rate underwater footage among shipwrecks and caves and even a Honda 50. Yeah, we stumbled across the wreck of an old motorbike 18m below the surface and the three of us wasted no time hoping on board and taking that bad boy for a spin, SCIUPA. We hope to have a edited version of the video up soon so stay tuned.
That night we all met up in the local Irish pub and were treated to a movie size screening of the video. It really lived up to its reputation and even Team Slevo made a good appearance, bless em.
That night we all went hell for leather due to our abstinence over the past few days and a very good night was had by all the Irish and the Northern Irish too. The Hefner crib remained mostly intact too which was welcomed by Chris' cleaner the next morning.
The next day was spent recovering sorting out our future trip. There was also a failed fun dove by Craigo as the weather took a drastic turn for the worse, bloody monsoon. We set off for an epic journey towards Northern Thailand and across into Laos... up and at em
