Posted by: Jenn
Our main mission in Koh Tao, Thailand was to get me certified for scuba diving. Koh Tao is the second cheapest place in the world to get certified next to Honduras. It worked out well for us because not only were we planning to go there for the beautiful beaches and cheap diving, but the diving is spectacular off of Koh Tao. We checked into our muggy guesthouse room (as soon as you walked into the room you instantly felt sticky from the lack of air flow and salty sea air), and set off to find a reputable dive shop checking out some island scenery on the way.
Our main mission in Koh Tao, Thailand was to get me certified for scuba diving. Koh Tao is the second cheapest place in the world to get certified next to Honduras. It worked out well for us because not only were we planning to go there for the beautiful beaches and cheap diving, but the diving is spectacular off of Koh Tao. We checked into our muggy guesthouse room (as soon as you walked into the room you instantly felt sticky from the lack of air flow and salty sea air), and set off to find a reputable dive shop checking out some island scenery on the way.
A short note from Jonathan:
I visited Koh Tao two and a half years ago with Pudd, a college room mate at NC State, shortly after graduation. Stepping off the ferry I was agasp at the difference of my memories and what lay, or in this case, was erected before me. Once upon a time, Koh Tao boasted undeveloped patches of palm trees and budget bungalows. Now, every inch of shoreline is backed by pricey hotels and restaraunts. A tear drop wet the sand as I strolled up to the bungalows we previously stayed in, only to find them missing with an all inclusive resort in their place. As sad as it is to see a gem like Koh Tao change so quickly for the worst, it has only fueled my desire to find more of them before they fall victim to mass terrorism - uh, I mean mass tourism.
Back to me:
Jonathan was set on a place called Phoenix Divers and we booked the open water course for me and the advanced course for Jonathan. That afternoon I watched the first couple of DVDs to introduce me to the world of diving: a mask allows you to see underwater, fins propel you through water faster than your normal feet, and the diving tank is filled with compressed air...overall it was a very informative DVD - I'm not sure I would have known what my mask was for. We caught a beautiful sunset afterwards and then hit the sack so I could be well rested for my first dive the next day.
I visited Koh Tao two and a half years ago with Pudd, a college room mate at NC State, shortly after graduation. Stepping off the ferry I was agasp at the difference of my memories and what lay, or in this case, was erected before me. Once upon a time, Koh Tao boasted undeveloped patches of palm trees and budget bungalows. Now, every inch of shoreline is backed by pricey hotels and restaraunts. A tear drop wet the sand as I strolled up to the bungalows we previously stayed in, only to find them missing with an all inclusive resort in their place. As sad as it is to see a gem like Koh Tao change so quickly for the worst, it has only fueled my desire to find more of them before they fall victim to mass terrorism - uh, I mean mass tourism.
Back to me:
Jonathan was set on a place called Phoenix Divers and we booked the open water course for me and the advanced course for Jonathan. That afternoon I watched the first couple of DVDs to introduce me to the world of diving: a mask allows you to see underwater, fins propel you through water faster than your normal feet, and the diving tank is filled with compressed air...overall it was a very informative DVD - I'm not sure I would have known what my mask was for. We caught a beautiful sunset afterwards and then hit the sack so I could be well rested for my first dive the next day.
Worried that the Hollywood portrayal of "going on your honeymoon and falling in love with your scuba instructor" might actually be true, Jonathan walked me to the dive shop to meet my instructor. Fortunately for Jonathan, Terry was mad cool but he wasn't someone I could see myself falling for in two days. Jonathan and I held each other for a few minutes, as this was going to be the longest we'd been away from each other in about six months, and after wishing me luck he disappeared in the crowd of people on the beach. Fortunately for me, no one else had signed up for the class that day so I had Terry all to myself. To say I was a little nervous about diving would be an understatement and to have five other people in my class would have been a little stressful for me. I was happy to have his full attention for the whole class.
Terry and I hit up the swimming pool first. I think the hardest part of the class for me was swimming 18 laps and then treading water for 10 minutes immediately after for my swim test. But I passed with ease and he continued to show me the equipment and how to put it all together. We jumped in the pool and my first underwater breath was glorious. The feeling of being under and not having to come up for air is unexplainable - I couldn't wait to get in the ocean! He had me complete several tasks underwater in the pool such as taking out my regulator and putting it back in or removing my vest, tank and weight belt and then putting them back on. One that I really liked was removing my mask, putting it back on then blowing the water out of the mask with my nose. You put pressure on the top of the mask, blow out through your nose and slowly lean your head back. By the time your head is all the way back, the water should be replaced by air. It took a while for me to master it but once I did I was amazed that you could clear your mask of water while underwater. The following video shows me doing this in the ocean (we didn't have a camera man in the pool - plus it looks cooler in the ocean).
Once we completed the two hours of pool training I met Jonathan for lunch and we went back to the dive shop together for my first ocean dive and his first advanced dive. For your advanced certification you get to pick five dive specialties that you want to learn about. Jonathan chose underwater navigation, buoyancy perfection (you control your buoyancy underwater by breathing and you can hover a certain height above the reef without changing elevation at all), night diving, deep diving, and computer diving (you use a small computer that looks like a big wrist watch to monitor your depth and how long you've been there, along with some other things that you wouldn't understand unless you are familiar with diving so I'll leave it at that). Although he was completing a different class we got to go out on the same boat and dive around the same reef, which was really nice. I was a little worked up about my first ocean dive...eeeek!
We jumped off the boat and started the decent. At first I was scared. I felt a little claustrophobic and was not sure if I wanted to continue going down. It was such a weird feeling to have so much ocean all around me and not have to find my way up for air. It was also a strange sensation to have to breath out of my mouth. I never breath through my mouth -always my nose. So I had to think about breathing in and out through my mouth. But I tried not to let Terry see my fear and I kept telling myself that I have air and that I can breath. Breath in, breath out, breath in, breath...fishy!!! And that was it. I was diving and it was incredible.
We did another dive that afternoon and I never felt scared again. Once that initial fear of being so deep in the ocean was overcome and I saw some incredible marine life, I was stoked on diving.
That night we set off to find a good local meal. Starving after a day in the water we were hoping to come across something good and cheap quickly. But being on an island, prices can be a little steep. We wandered for about an hour and found the perfect place. Jonathan ordered a red curry (one of the spicy-est you can get) and not being a fan of spicy, I ordered a yellow curry (the least spicy you can get). I made sure to stress to the cook that I did not want any spice. About an hour later our food arrived. Starving by this point we both started scarfing down the curries and instantly my mouth caught on fire. Frustrated with my hunger level and the cooks inability to understand English, I started crying knowing that I would not be able to eat another bite. I looked over at Jonathan and I could see immediately that he was in pain. Beads of sweat were dripping down his face and he was chugging water. Of course he didn't want our meals to go to waste so he finished his and then mine. (Yes, he was regretting this decision the next morning...luckily toilets in SEA have a bidet like feature with ice cold water spraying out.) We stopped at 7/11 on the way to the hotel and I settled for a hot dog with ketchup and mayo.
The next day we went out again for another two dives, which completed my open water course - apart from taking the written exam. Once back at the dive shop, Terry gave me a quick last lesson and handed me the test. After 30 minutes of bubbling in a scan-tron sheet, I turned it in and it was graded. Missing only one question, I got a 98% out of 100. Yay!! Scuba certified!!
That night Jonathan completed his final dive which was a night dive. He said that he loved it. Always after a good thrill, he said it was an eerie feeling when in the deep ocean at night. Your flash light reflects off of something as it jets passed and you are not sure if it was a tiny fish or a huge shark and you are constantly whipping around to try and shine the light on whatever it was. But once you get accustomed to swimming in darkness it's a whole new world at night and the ocean comes alive with so much more than when diving during the day.
That night we set off to find a good local meal. Starving after a day in the water we were hoping to come across something good and cheap quickly. But being on an island, prices can be a little steep. We wandered for about an hour and found the perfect place. Jonathan ordered a red curry (one of the spicy-est you can get) and not being a fan of spicy, I ordered a yellow curry (the least spicy you can get). I made sure to stress to the cook that I did not want any spice. About an hour later our food arrived. Starving by this point we both started scarfing down the curries and instantly my mouth caught on fire. Frustrated with my hunger level and the cooks inability to understand English, I started crying knowing that I would not be able to eat another bite. I looked over at Jonathan and I could see immediately that he was in pain. Beads of sweat were dripping down his face and he was chugging water. Of course he didn't want our meals to go to waste so he finished his and then mine. (Yes, he was regretting this decision the next morning...luckily toilets in SEA have a bidet like feature with ice cold water spraying out.) We stopped at 7/11 on the way to the hotel and I settled for a hot dog with ketchup and mayo.
The next day we went out again for another two dives, which completed my open water course - apart from taking the written exam. Once back at the dive shop, Terry gave me a quick last lesson and handed me the test. After 30 minutes of bubbling in a scan-tron sheet, I turned it in and it was graded. Missing only one question, I got a 98% out of 100. Yay!! Scuba certified!!
That night Jonathan completed his final dive which was a night dive. He said that he loved it. Always after a good thrill, he said it was an eerie feeling when in the deep ocean at night. Your flash light reflects off of something as it jets passed and you are not sure if it was a tiny fish or a huge shark and you are constantly whipping around to try and shine the light on whatever it was. But once you get accustomed to swimming in darkness it's a whole new world at night and the ocean comes alive with so much more than when diving during the day.
For our final day on Koh Tao we decided to rent a kayak and some snorkel gear so we could explore some of the surrounding waters and islands on our own. The kayak we rented was not in great shape and if you stopped paddling it would immediately spin around to face a different direction - never the way we wanted to go. Frustrated with how hard I was paddling and how little we were moving, I turned the kayak ride into a snorkel adventure. (I love you Jonathan...) :-)
We finally arrived at Koh Nang Yuan Island where we gave our arms a rest and hiked up to a breathtaking viewpoint.
We took in the views for a good while before making our way to each of the three glistening beaches to snorkel.
The water temperature was amazing, the sun was shining and the fishies were everywhere. I had the best time floating on the salty sea watching parrot fish, nemos, and soft reef swaying with the ocean tide.
We snorkeled until our bodies were prunes then we loaded back into the faulty kayak to head back to Koh Tao. After we showered and packed we made our way to the dock so we could catch the night ferry to Phuket (pronounced Poo - ket) where we will meet Mr. Williams and Mary Beth so they can explore some of Thailand with us!!!
We snorkeled until our bodies were prunes then we loaded back into the faulty kayak to head back to Koh Tao. After we showered and packed we made our way to the dock so we could catch the night ferry to Phuket (pronounced Poo - ket) where we will meet Mr. Williams and Mary Beth so they can explore some of Thailand with us!!!