Finding Nemo

Well, not Nemo exactly...but his equivalent Thai counterpart - Nemu

We left Myanmar and headed into the sticky heat of Bangkok where we spent two days enjoying street food, English movies, normal Internet, and consistent electricity. We also did some necessity shopping and it is with regret that I must tell you, the Hongger sunglasses have been replaced. They did me proud for over six months but the abuse of travelling has taken it's toll and honestly, I couldn't see through the lenses anymore. It's sad I know but the Dior's are now on the scene and giving me a new look.

We skipped out of the Kok and headed straight to the island of Koh Tao on the Eastern coast to jump right into the diving scene. Koh Tao is world famous for its fantastic dive sites so we signed up for the four day Open Water PADI course to certify ourselves to do some diving. The first two days were spent in the classroom and in the pool learning about all the gear and how to stay safe under extreme depths then the next days were spent on the boat and in the water with four open water dives. Our original group was slightly dysfunctional. It included
three "Brits abroad" (they're everywhere), a Dutch girl (who we nicknamed Titties...because, well...), a chain smoker from Montreal, and an Israeli girl... who I did not like so much. Our instructor was a character also from Israel but not particularly Israeli as he has been living and teaching on Koh Tao for the past four years which led me to check off one more item on Lifa's "to do" list. His name was Liran, he was hilarious and made the whole experience of diving stress free and relaxing. Anyway, after the first long classroom session the Brits abroad decided to booze it with their other buddy's and dropped our group to pick up with the next the following day. Down to five. We hit the pool and the Gods (if they exist) smiled upon me when Miss Israel couldn't handle the three meters of water pressure and had to stop diving. Down to four. Titties and Terry and me and Aaron. Our little group was great and because it was so small we got particular attention and spotted some not often seen marine life. We needed to pass a written test and then complete some skills in the ocean to complete the course and all that was no problem so in no time we were PADI certified and of course, wanted more.

After a day off to relax and catch up on some zzz's we started the Advanced Open Water course which involved a lot less classroom stuff and underwater skills and a lot more diving. We completed five more dives including a night dive, a navigation dive, and a deep dive to 30m. All good and the underwater world was just great. Some neat spots included a sea snake, a giant potato grouper, a baby puffer fish (and some big ones), a barracuda on the night dive, giant hermit crabs, and my favorite - Nemu and his family. It was all very exciting, exhilarating, and totally exhausting. While doing all the dive stuff we learned about the effects of nitrogen narcosis and decompression sickness both serious conditions that can happen when diving. Using tables and wheels we learned to calculate and plan our dives so that we are now certified to dive independently anywhere around the world.

It's hard to describe what it's like to be 30m underwater swimming amoung schools of fish and fending off the feisty triggers. I can see how it's addicting but like most super fun stuff - expensive! So alas, after nine dives we'll probably stick with the snorkeling for the rest of the time, although we've been told now that we're divers we'll end up unsatisfied. Tomorrow we're leaving for a neighboring island to just spend some time chilling out and having a few beers. Peace!