ANDY AND ANA, KOH TAO, THAILAND. 10 MAY 2014.

Koh Tao

After leaving Dee and Nicole at the bus stop in Khao Lak we had a pretty uneventful bus ride across the country to a city called Surathani. This is the departure point for many islands including the popular Ko Samui, Ko Phan Nang and Ko Tau which re linked by a ferry route that stops at each in turn.

We had decided to skip the full moon party on Ko Pangnan as I am now far too old for glow sticks and being vomited on by teenagers – besides, I had a date with Ko Tao and the Big Blue diving school to tick learning to scuba dive off my bucket list!

We arrived at the pier on Ko Tao just after dark and hopped into the back of a pickup truck-taxi to take us to our accommodation ‘Asia Divers Resort’. After checking in to a nice room with a balcony, we headed out on a dinner hunt and well fed and with a new favourite dish to add to the list (Massaman Curry), and crashed after the long days travel.

Riding in the back of a jeep like a local, a very tired local!

Ana smiling through the jerky journey

The following morning I headed into the Big Blue Diving school to confirm timings for the PADI open water qualification I was due to start later in the evening, Big Blue is a very large diving school staffed with young cool foreigners who have made their lives on Ko Tao as diving instructors...I can see the temptation!

Admin sorted, Ana and I headed out to do some exploring of the local area, Ko Tao has some lovely beauty spots and forests to explore. Not that you would know if you stayed around Sairee Village. As one of the few town centres on the island the little place is almost completely devoted to the diving industry. If you want to learn to dive – this is the island to come to!

We headed up one of the local hills to a Buddhist Temple and shrine at the top, the small concrete road leading up was good but so steep I was slipping back out of my flip flops! It was pretty hard going but worth it, we saw a local team renovating the shrine at the top of the hill (I assume these guys ride up on mopeds) and took a walk through some of the forest trails.

Out for a stroll exploring the island

Koh Tao is a small island but it has some very steep hills, short but steeeeep.

30 mins in - do I still look like I am enjoying it?

We actually spotted a live Cicada by one of the forest trails making a huge din all on his own. It is pretty hard to spot a live Cicada – usually you just see their shed husks still clinging to trees and walls so I was quite pleased with myself, not only did I spot one – I also managed to capture a photo. Have a look and let me know if you can see the little blighter hiding here – it’s like a game of where’s Wally. I promise, he’s in there somewhere.

The empty shell of a Cicada - but we did see a live one and boy, are they loud.

OK, one for those with keen eyes. Can you see the cicada on this tree trunk, try zooming in - he is these I promise. Will point him out at the end if you still can't see him!

If you still can’t see him scoot to the pic at the bottom where he is pointed out! Caught some great views of the Island from the top and headed back to town for a rest.

I selected the least sweaty photo from the top!

Good views though

Ana, the intrepid explorer!

Ta Da!

My turn - I obviously had to go a little further and explore some more rocks....

...and got stuck for a few mins - doh!

It wouldn't be our our blog if there was not mention of a stupa would it? This was at the top of the uber steep hill so maybe a Steep-a?

Or a large Buddha statue. Your Buddah is Buddh-ilicious...

In the afternoon, we explored a little more along the beach front. Ko Tao, like all of the islands in this area , has some amazing beaches and commands pretty spectacular views.

Ana exploring the rocky coastline of koh Tao

Apparently we're quite a long way from anywhere here - including home!

Looks pretty cool at sunset!

Those storm clouds look quite dramatic - oh, they're coming this way...

That evening I headed along to the introduction session for my course, all pretty straight forward. The only slight hitch was that there are 2 open water courses that Big Blue run accredited by 2 different bodies. I know that I turned up wanting to take the PADI course as this seems to be recognised everywhere but the school pushed the alternate course pretty hard, accredited by SSI.

As this activity costs a few quid and I hadn’t heard of them I still wanted to take the PADI version. It turns out that a number of people were a little uncertain but they were persuaded to take the SSI course.

I wasn’t happy to do that and stuck to my guns about the PADI qualification and as a result I ended up being the only one on my intake who wanted to take this route. As such I ended up in a room on my own watching a different video and taking different tests. Maybe not such a good call – this was supposed to be a social event too! However when we got back together for the wrap up that evening it transpired that I also needed my own instructor! Result, a 1-to-1 course for me then!

Next morning required a really early start so headed down to the beach for a 6am breakfast and then headed along to the Dive School

The view from my early morning breakfast before getting in the pool to start diving!

And the view strolling along the beach

Next morning I turned up at the centre to meet Tristan, a sub-30 year old guy who had moved to Thailand many moons ago and stayed with no plans to move on any time soon. As we were one-on-one we got through the basic skills in the pool in a morning instead of the full day it took the remainder of the group. I flew through all of the tests first time with only one exception.

You are required to show that you can remove your BCD and tank assembly (like an inflatable life jacket with your air cylinder attached), with this floating in the water I was shown how to ‘mount it’ like getting on a horse and slip back into it and do it back up again. Now, I am quite comfortable breathing underwater, flooding and clearing my mask, simulating running out of air and trying to manage buoyancy etc but can I sit on what is essentially a floating raft in a swimming pool? Can I buggery!

I displayed balance and finesse of a drunken bucking bronco and proceeded to make a complete tit of myself repeatedly being tipped into the water off the top of this floating apparatus. After several less than successful attempts Tristan suggested a slightly different method which seemed much more sensible to me and easy to do straight off – I reckon he was just having me on….

Given the rapid progress, Tristan managed to book us onto the afternoon dive boat the same day which would make the course shorter than scheduled by a full day. That afternoon we headed out into open water (exciting times) and repeated pretty much all of the skills from the morning pool session only at a depth of about 10 metres in balmy 30 degree waters – again, no issues here and really enjoyed the sessions and after the skills we toured the dive sites and I saw all sorts of amazing wildlife. It felt a little like I was in a David Attenborough documentary and it was exactly how I imagined diving would be. Very, very cool. I spotted a giant Grouper, blue spotted rays, parrot and trigger fish amongst many others and learnt quite a few new hand signals for the fish too.

When we got back we got straight into the remainder of the theory stuff – took us through until quite late to complete as we were trying to cram 3 days into 2.

Must remember these things, something about looking out for strong currents and what nitrogen narcosis is.

Session finished for the day, I was sent back to the hotel with an exam to complete, mostly common sense stuff and pretty simple to complete.

Whilst I was enjoying myself underwater today, Ana was indulging in her favourite hobby - that's right, walking! She had explored the south of the island in an afternoon!

I (Ana) had stopped here as my suncream had decided to explode over my bag and therefore me..

Beach-y

Boat-y

Hmm - Ana had to look twice at this statue, creepy.

Monestary

Sweaty walk number 2

But worth it for the views, great explore of the island on foot.  Scooters on the island are driven by teenagers and idiots!

Ana's exploring selfie. Looks like Lara Croft I think...

Next morning I made an uber early start (up at 5:30ish) for the last open water dives of the course, buoyancy control and emergency ascent practices amongst other skills. Also diving down to the maximum 18m allowed by the open water certification.

This was an awesome experience and when I got back, I was discussing the Advanced course with Tristan and decided to sign up for it there and then. Completed the last of the admin and done – PADI open water certified.

The following day I started the advanced course which lasted another 2 days, consisting of 5 dives and introducing dive computers and compasses. The 5 sessions covered Wreck diving, Deep Diving, Night Diving, Navigation diving and an introduction to better buoyancy control and more efficient finning techniques.

Back out on the boat again, I am getting an old hand at this!

People chilling out waiting to kit up.

Me kitted up - T- Shirt shot Opportunity!

And the back

 I was on this course with 2 Dutch girls and they were pretty good company for the 2 days and I really enjoyed the advanced course, in particular the night and wreck dives, the night dive was an incredibly surreal experience particularly as my diving career was 2 days old.

As we descended the buoy line from the bow of the ship to the sea floor with very little visibility even with the powerful torches we had, we passed through an area of strong current which really tried to tear you from the rope. About 10 metres down in the dark, trying to keep an eye on your buddy and cling on to a rope for dear life was a sobering experience! As we descended the current lessened a great deal and we parted from the line and were pushed gently away from the boat.

Letting go of the rope and letting yourself be pulled into the darkness was an interesting experience! We saw some really interesting fish and sealife during the night dive including a little juvenile box fish with its comedy tiny fins trying like crazy to propel its relatively large black and white box-shaped body around.

This is a picture of the night sky from the dive boat after we surfaced - honest. Or it could be Blackpool or Mount Everest for all you can see here... 

This day we also completed a deep dive to 30m and the next day we again went down to close on 30m again to explore an old WWII gunboat. Time to feel like I was in a documentary or movie again, drifting up and over the length of the sunken ship and finning past the large gun turrets and taking in all of the marine life that have made this wreck their home. Again – this was an awesome experience!

I won’t bore you any more with these dives, they were everything I had imagined and more and I would happily bore anyone who wants to know more to tears when I get back, also no photos and my powers of narrative are somewhat limited so not as interesting as a blog ramble! Suffice to say, I passed and now want to do a lot more diving as soon as I can. A great experience.

My free oversize T-shirt - worn with pride

That night we were planning to leave. I had a bit of a funny turn, I think due to the heat and long days – it has been pretty intense through this week so we decided to stay on for that evening in air-conditioned bliss instead of moving straight on to the mainland and Ana played nurse to a self-pitying Andy for a couple of days, she’s the best!

We made the most of the extra time frequenting our new favourite spot to eat on the island – a little café called ‘through the looking glass’ Amazing fresh brewed coffee and great cakes, pastries and light lunches. I knew I was on to a good thing when they apologised for not having cos lettuce, just iceberg for the Caesar salad wrap! Given we were only here for a few days I think we must have visited 4 or 5 times – it made a good impression and was run by really friendly ladies, we met them and had a chat (or Ana did), turns out one of them is from Salford and has now made her life on Ko Tao with her precocious 5 year old son who wants to be a marine biologist (of course, not a bad place to be one!)

Relaxing on the balcony of our luxurious room (well, not bad anyway).

Enjoying a quiet moment in the pool at Asia Divers Resort, usually packed with people learning to dive, not so relaxing! 

We chilled out in the evening and watch the sunsets on the beach and messed around taking daft photos.

Ana and I spotted some people taking these photos so we thought we'd give it a go. This was take 10! I am feeling better now - can you tell??

And this was my attempt to capture Ana - looks like she has been stuck on to a beach background!

A better one!

More cool storms clouds at sunset

Really, the views are quite cool - not sure if I mentioned that?

Really cool...

And even cooler ;) I am just creeping and hoping for brownie points now.

When we chose to move on a couple of nights later, we booked on to the slow overnight ferry back to the mainland. This ferry worked better for our onward travel planning and also it was a smidge cheaper. A little unsure what to expect from the on-board accommodations. When we arrived, the boat essentially had been turned into a dorm room with thin mattresses laid right next to one another all the way down the boat.

Finally on our way back to the mainland.

Fortunately not many people on this trip - other wise this 8 hour night ferry could have been a little cosy. Not to be done in high season!

As it happens there were very few passengers and we all had loads of room to spread out – I can imagine that at busy times, this journey would be a hell of a lot less comfortable – lucky us! Back to the mainland and a bus across to the other coast again for a quiet island getaway on Koh Lanta…keeping an eye on the news too as it looks like the political situation is hotting up a little in Bangkok.