Under the Koh Tao Sea
Trip Start
Aug 31, 2008
1
17
27
Trip End
??? ??, 2009
Ko Tao,
Thailand
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
a ferry, a taxi, a restaurant wait, a taxi, a 4 hour bus ride, a restaurant wait, a mini bus (the most done up mini bus I have ever seen...plasma, leather, flashing lights...The Eagles Live!) a wait at the port for 2 hours (which included watching some young Thai boys break dance...very cool) and then a 9 hour overnight boat ride to the island of Ko Tao, which sounds normal enough until I mention that the trip during the day is usually 1 1/2 hours long and on a fancy catamaran. Butt no in Thailand all boats leaving after 3 pm are sloooowwww cargo ships. So we piled on the boat along with produce, electronic equipment, some scooters, and god knows what else. Ride was actually quite decent and most of us slept except for Smallz who had to shut all the windows when the storm hit in the middle of the night.... but we made it and were quickly approached by Bans Diving at the pier and taxied to their resort. We got a great deal with Chris, Smallz and myself signing up for dive courses and getting free accommodation of which Nadia could also utilize. Resort was super nice with beautiful pools. First day was sunny and clear....not so much for the next four, but hey we were under the water so no matter.
Diving was absolutely amazing. My favourite activity of this trip. I just fell in love with it right away and cannot wait to get out there again. Pretty much we spent the next 4 days checking out the underwater world of Ko Tao. Bed early every night and up early every morning. It was honestly like swimming in a salt water aquarium. Everything went great. Our instructors were awesome and hilarious and our group was lots of fun. Some highlights....
- me finally being able to equalize properly
- doing skills under water. One of which is when your "buddy" pretends to run out of air and you must share your alternate air source. Well things were going smoothly with Smallz and I during this skill, he was using my air source ...that was until the instructor and I realized what I was standing on was not a rock but a damn spiky rock fish. Well I freaked and pushed Smallz away (remember at this point he would have no air). But he recovered and some "buddy" trust building had to commence...
-learning the James Bond entry off of the boat...love it, I mean it is the only way to look cool in the uber dorky scuba gear
-watching a mom and dad clown fish protect their baby and their home (a large anemone)
-diving with bat man(who I was convinced was going to be Christian Bale...)
-the last day party with the group....and the fattest dog alive. period. Oh Chum Chum
So while we were frolicking around the ocean floor, Nadz met up with our old friends Daryl and Mike and proceeded to start their own Ko Tao scooter gang. They even got me on one with them. Big step I know. No major incidents, except Daryls attempt to fly around a sandy corner and consequent attempt to barter with the crying Thai women for how much he should pay for her now damaged scooter. Another highlight from our stay was Ali, our very enthusiastic street pancake man. Daryl fell in love and continues to talk about him and the Bangkok frog lady to this day.
In the end we loved Ko Tao. A great laid back island with a good vibe. I would definitely suggest checking into Bans if you want to dive. We had such a great time with them there and saw some unreal underwater sceneries. Although it rained pretty much the entire time we were there, I would go back in a second.
Now onto Full Moon #2.... oh god.
