An Island Interlude: Advanced Adventurer

I left off last time having explained which dives we had decided to do (deep water, navigation, buoyancy  night, and wreck).  Our first two dives took place that same afternoon (Day 6) and we started with our buoyancy and navigation dives.  Our buoyancy dive was first and took place at Japanese Gardens.  The entire dive (49 minutes) we just worked on controlling our breathing and skills.  It took me a while to find my buoyancy (the point where I was just floating - not moving my arms or legs to stay in one basic position).  Part of the problem was that I resisted inflating my BC even a little bit because of how buoyant I am naturally but eventually I remembered that that is the point of wearing a weight belt with 6 - 1 Kg weights.  Eventually we all got it (more or less) but it definitely took patience.  The time really flew by and we didn't really see anything because we were concentrating so hard on just floating.  All that being said the dive was still fun and definitely left me feeling like I was a better diver.

Frankie, before we leave - giving the "all OK"

the other AA group after our first dive

complimentary picture of Thai flag and some divers

Our next dive was our navigation dive.  For this dive we went back to Twins.  For this dive we were each given a computer and a compass which we wore on our wrists.

Diver compass  Source

Diver computer Source

First we practiced using our compass underwater.  In buddy pairs we went 10 kicks (I forget the official term) in a straight line and then turned around and came back.  One buddy was in charge of direction (reading the compass) and the other buddy was responsible for counting our kicks.  Then we switched responsibilities and went in a square.  After successfully completing both skills we were allowed to go off in buddy pairs.  Ant had drawn a map of twins for us and he pointed us in the direction of the boat before he left us to our own devices!  It was incredibly cool.  Frankie and I were a buddy team and we essentially just went slowly in the direction of the boat.  At one point we saw Ant, got momentarily distracted, and nearly ran into a school of barracuda!  It was incredibly awesome.  When we started our ascent we made sure to stop for our 3 minute safety stop at 5 meters during which I was supposed to raise a buoy thing letting boats and other divers know that there were ascending divers below.  

Diver buoy  Source

To inflate the buoy you simply add a little air from your back up regulator and it floats to the top.  Ant warned us ahead of time not to fill it up all the way because as it ascended it would expand (different level of pressure).  Unfortunately I took this a little too far - or maybe not far enough.  Anyway, I put a little air in but not enough for it to be standing upright when it reached the surface.  For a few seconds I left it but then decided I wanted it to have some more air and we had some time left in our safety stop so I started pulling at the lanyard attached to it.  I'm sure some of you see where this is going...  So as I pulled on the lanyard I started pulling myself up instead of pulling the buoy down.  Now, with the computers, they calculate the safety stop and will count down the three minutes as long as you are in a 3-6 meter range from the surface.  If you go out of range they stop counting and have to start over when you get back into range.  So I'm pulling on the lanyard, completely unaware that I am slowly pulling myself up to the surface (I really thought it just wasn't moving).  Eventually Frankie is able to get my attention and alert me to the fact that I have been slowly pulling myself up.  Of course at this point I'm at 2.7 meters (or something like that) and so my computer has stopped calculating my safety stop.  Frankie's computer says she still has 30 seconds left so I go back down to where she is for the last 30 seconds and we both make our final ascension.

The lesson to be learned from this?  Diver buoys are brightly colored so even if they aren't standing upright, if they've made it to the surface stop worrying about it.  Don't try pulling it down because you will only end up pulling yourself up.

That said, the navigation dives was definitely one of my favorite dives.  I loved the independence of just being in a buddy team and when we surfaced (right next to our boat, I might add) it felt like a huge accomplishment.  Having the computer was really interesting.  It was fun to watch the depth go down as well as surprising to see what our actual depths were sometimes.  Underwater, depth perception is completely off so having an instrument that told you how far you actually were from the surface was really enlightening.  Also, seeing the huge school of barracuda was pretty spectacular.

school of barracuda

After the dive we got back on the boat and headed back to Big Blue.  We only had about an hour and a half before we had to leave again for the night dive.  Happily we didn't have to rinse any of our equipment because we were able to leave it on the big boat.  So we had a light dinner and then just hung out till it was time for the night dive.

The night dive was definitely one of the dives I was most excited for.  Before we jumped off the boat one of the dive instructors gave us a mini fish lesson talking about all the different fishes you see at night.  She definitely had an impressive depth of knowledge and it was cool to get a little more detail about the fishes we had been seeing in the day and what we might see at night.  We were then all given a mini torch and Ant showed us how to use hand signals underwater.

Diving torch  Source

Once we got underwater I was kind of terrified.  It was pitch black in the water and the only things that were visible were the things you aimed your torch at.  Since our torches were aimed in front of us the whole time this left the majority of your body in darkness and of course you couldn't see the things swimming beside or under or above you.  So basically it was fear of the unknown.  Now, I didn't ever panic but we were kind of on top of each other trying to stay within view of Ant and each other.  It would be only too easy to get lost or separated from your group on a night dive but luckily that didn't happen for any of us.  On the plus side, we did get to see a few cool things - a blue spotted ribbontail ray, spot-fin porcupine fish, and red squirrel fish were the special ones I wrote down.

blue spotted ribbontail ray  

red squirrel fish

spotfin porcupine fish

I was relieved when we got to the surface and full of adrenaline from the experience.  Of course by the time we got back to Big Blue I was ready to crash.  Three dives in one day after partying the night before is a recipe for exhaustion.  So we cleaned our equipment and then I went back to my room and fell asleep reading.

The next morning we were up for our 6:30 am dives.  I pretty much slept like a log the night before so I felt well-rested and excited about the deep water dive and wreck dive.  For our deep dive we went back to Chumpon which I was very happy about.  You may remember that last time we dove at Chumpon I had wanted to go deeper and here was our chance!  Another thing I was excited about was the possibility of feeling nitrogen narcosis.  Deeper than about 25 m you are experiencing being "narced" whether you are aware of it or not.  Ant told us some really great stories about people who were narced and said it was a very light, happy feeling.  He also said people tend to get kind of giggly.  To prove that we were narced we played a little game both on the surface and then again when we were at the bottom (about 30 m).  Ant gave us a clipboard with the numbers 1-20, some written in a triangle and some written in a square.  We were supposed to count consecutively, touching our nose if the number was in a triangle and touching our mouth if the number was in a square.  While we were doing this he timed us and then at the end of the dive we could compare our two times.  So we took the test on the boat and then jumped in and started descending to the sand.  When we got to the bottom I wasn't really feeling the narcosis in the way he had described but it was still fun being down there.  Then Ant passed out the clipboard and each of us took a turn playing the game while he timed us.  When it was my turn, I was ready.  I started looking for the numbers and touching my nose and mouth but I'm was having trouble concentrating because I kept floating around and was also trying to concentrate on controlling my breathing.  All of a sudden Ant grabs me by the arm and pulls me upwards! I looked down and there is a spiny sea urchin that I was about to crash into!

Ouch!

 At this point I'm not even half-way through the game but I look at Ant and since he's still keeping a hold of my arm I decide to continue.  Eventually I finish and I motion to Ant that I'm done and we all move over a little.  I make sure I am far away from any spiny sea urchins and then pay attention to where he is motioning.  Behind E there is a huge school of yellowtail fusiliers and Ant keeps motioning for her to turn around and swim right through them.  Its almost too late by the time we all understand what he wants but suddenly it clicks and we're all rushing towards the fish and letting them completely surround us.  It was magical.  As you move they move around you so it feels like an envelope of beauty surrounding you.

school of yellowtail fusiliers  

close-up   Source

As the fish moved off we started swimming up towards the coral just looking for cool fish to point out to each other.  At one point Frankie points towards a fish and as I go to look closer I see an eel!  Frankie and Ant have started swimming away so I get Ant's attention and make the hand signal for an eel.  It seems to take a while for him to find it (which made me think I might have imagined the whole thing) but then he gets H and E's attention and points it out to them so I know I found something cool.  After we've all seen the eel we keep swimming, eyes peeled for other fish.  We see a harlequin sweetlips which is cool because it looks like a completely different fish in its youth and then as an adult.  See?

adult harlequin sweetlips  Source

juvenile harlequin sweetlips  Source

Those are some "Sweet lips!"  Source

Unfortunately, going to deeper depths also means a shorter dive time.  So before we knew it we doing our 5 m safety stop and then breaking the surface.  Even though the dive was only 30 minutes, it was probably the most exciting dive I did.  Between the sea urchin, the school of fish, and then spotting the eel I felt like there would be stories to tell!

Now, I need to back up for a quick minute to say that all of the dives I went on to this point had been done from Banzi - Big Blue's big boat.  However, on this morning we were on a smaller boat because we wanted to do the wreck dive and the OWD course doesn't do that dive (they were on Banzi).  So we all climb up onto the smaller boat (it was just the two AA courses and two fun divers - 11 people total) and the boat won't start!

picture of the smaller boat

We try and we try (and by we, I mean the boat captain and one other guy) but the engine seems to have died.  Luckily Banzi is also at the Chumpon dive site so we call them over and throw a rope.  No sooner do we start to get a tow than the engine starts!  So we have them toss back the rope and we start going towards the wreck.  We gone for about 5 minutes when the engine gives a little sputter and dies again. Poop.  If our engine is dead then we can't do the wreck dive and all of us really want to do the wreck dive.  So we call up Banzi again and this time as they get closer our engine starts and keeps going!  Happily we make it to the wreck!

the ship!  before it was sunk...

The wreck we went to was sunk in the 1970s.  Unfortunately that's the extent of the history I remember and my notes aren't that detailed.  The ship was named Sattakut #742.  As we went down there was very little visibility and we couldn't really see the ship when suddenly there was a cannon right in front of my face.  That was kind of the cool thing about low visibility was that the wreck kind of snuck up on you.  The bad thing about visibility was that, well, it was hard to see.  There weren't a lot of fish and you couldn't really see inside the wreck.  Ant said we had probably about 2m of visibility which really meant we were right up next to the boat for the whole dive.  That all being said, it was still a cool dive and a little surreal to be diving at a shipwreck.  Its the kind of thing you read about in books or see in movies - not the kind of thing you actually get to do!

When we finished we all climbed back onto the boat and thankfully it started and we were able to get back to Big Blue.  We cleaned our equipment, updated our Dive Logs and then I went to shower and pack because I had only about 2 hours until my taxi was to take me to the pier.  After I checked out and had lunch and said goodbye to everyone, I started making my way over to the taxi.  Leaving Big Blue I felt totally miserable.  I was headed to Ko Samui but I had no idea what I was going to do there and I knew there wasn't going to be a hostel situation (its more family oriented and there weren't any hostels listed in Lonely Planet).  Before I had even gotten off Big Blue's property I was feeling lonely and wondering what the heck I was doing.  I knew Lieke and Kimsha were going to Ko Samui in 2 days and I kept thinking how much more fun it would be to travel with them.  I make it to the travel agency and they tell me the taxi is going to meet me at the end of the road.  So I start walking towards the end of the road and about half way there I just stop.  Lieke and Kimsha are probably two of the friendliest people I know - they would probably let me travel with them.  Why am I leaving?  But I have a ticket.  So?  You changed it once, maybe you can change it again.  Turn around.

So I turned around.  As I passed the travel agency again the woman stuck out her head and told me the taxi was the other way.  I asked if I could change my ticket again.  She said no.  At this point, I started walking towards the taxi again but then decided that it was totally worth losing the money (about 20 bucks) to have travelling companions for the next 2 weeks.  So I turned around again.  Actually, I kept changing my mind and essentially pacing in the street.  I am sure I looked like a crazy person.  I finally decide that I'm not ready to leave and I start walking back towards Big Blue.  The travel agent sees me again and asks if I'm going to leave and I tell her that I know she can't change my ticket but I'm just going to take the loss.  At that, she gives a big sigh and tells me to come into the office and she'll change my ticket.  I thank her profusely and switch my ticket to Saturday afternoon. After that I practically skip back to Big Blue, ask if I can have my bed back (a hesitant yes - which in retrospect I don't really understand.  Its not like I wasn't paying for the bed...), and go to ask Lieke and Kimsha if I could travel with them. They said yes (!) and so I settled down to celebrate with Frankie, E, and H who were still sitting at the restaurant, happy as a clam.

Yup.  I just inserted a picture of a "happy clam" haha

There is a moral to this story - when backpacking, don't buy local travel tickets in advanced if there is even the slightest possibility of changing your mind (if you have the time and freedom to do so).  There are many adventures to be had and friends to be made and really, the best stories come from adventures unplanned. ;)

An Island Interlude: In that which I am Indecisive

I don't think this title makes sense grammatically.  Forgive me - Hopefully you'll understand the idea by the end of the post.

Also, I talk a lot about a video in this post.  I am working on getting either some or all of it on the blog - I am not super computer savvy so we'll see how it goes.  No promises.

Day 5 of my vacation began at 6:30 am.  Our final day of diving for the OWD course.  I was so excited to go diving again, not nervous at all.  Especially because on our final day our group was filmed!  By now getting our stuff on the boat and the routine once we were on the boat was old hat.  I took a motion sickness pill for good measure and off we went!  Once we were on the boat our videographer took video of our planning session (in which we all mimicked dolphins - though I can't remember why), us putting our gear together, doing buddy checks, getting "punched" into the water (I'll explain in a sec), and then once we were in the water he filmed us a few times swimming by and playing games and such.  We also filmed the intro to our film (in which we did an embarrassing catwalk).  Once we were at Chumpon and ready to get in the water, Ant told us he wanted us to fall in backwards and he would "punch" us in.  Everyone else had done this entry yesterday but I had decided that feeling sick and going backwards were just not for me.  Usually I hate going backwards on anything but entering the water backwards was really fun!  The oxygen tank kind of cushions your fall and it felt like landing on a pillow.  Once we were in the water we dived down.  All of us were more successful at equalizing and descending took much less time.  Chumpon reef was beautiful.  We saw a much wider variety of fish, including bearded scorpion fish, trigger fish, snapper, damsels, anemones  and yellow tailed barracuda.  The only problem was that as OWD divers we could only go down to 18 m and you can see that there is more cool stuff deeper than that.  However, overall the dive was awesome.

Bearded Scorpion Fish       Source

Triggerfish      Source

Yellowtail Barracuda       Source

After we got back on the boat we took care of our equipment and then ran up to the second deck where we all took turns jumping off the top of the boat.  So jumping off high things isn't really my thing.  I'm not afraid of heights per say but its one thing to be up high on something solid and another to willingly jump off said height.  That all being said, I'm in Thailand and I was learning to dive and jumping off a boat just seemed like something I would regret not doing.  So I got up there and almost everyone else had jumped at that point - some people had already come back up for a second jump - and I stepped back a few steps so I could get a running start.  I started running and as soon as I got to the edge I looked down, saw the water, realized it was too late for a do-over and over the side I went!  I didn't hurt myself at all - but the pause I took at the top is not only visible on the video but it made for a rather ungraceful jump.  Oh well!

Our second dive was at Green Rock.  This time, for our dive off the boat Ant told us to try doing a 007.  That meant we were essentially supposed to flip off the boat - so you start facing forward, head first, tuck under and hopefully end up landing on your tank.  Well, for those who have ever seen me a) try to do gymnastics and/or b) dive, I'm sure you can imagine the results of me trying to do a 007.  However, I did try (again, I thought I might regret not trying) and the results were an epic fail.  It was pretty funny and luckily it was all caught on video!  (Actually, when the video was screened that night I got quite a few high-fives for my 007 but I think its safe to say that I will never be a successful gymnast or diver :) After we got in the water we had to do some skills - just buoyancy and taking our masks off and putting them back on.  After we performed our skills to Ant's satisfaction we just messed around.  We tried doing flips in the water but I'm guessing you can guess how successful I was at that given my previous attempt at a flip.  I was successful at taking my fins off and putting them on my hands which looks kind of cool on the video.  All in all it was a really fun last dive.

After we got back to the resort we updated our dive logs and then we all went to lunch together.  After lunch Megan, Taye, and Jeff were booking ferry tickets because they were flying to Bali on Friday.  While I was with them I thought I'd book a ferry ticket too since I didn't plan on spending more than 4 or 5 days in Ko Tao.  After that, I'm pretty sure all of us took a little nap, I certainly did, and then around 6 we all met up again at the restaurant to watch the other groups' video before watching our own. For a while after that we just hung out at the restaurant with the other dive instructors and divers.  Every night at Big Blue is celebratory because almost every night a new group of divers gets certified but its definitely more interesting/fun when its you who's getting certified.  At around 10 Frankie and I rounded up anyone who wanted to go to the Ladyboy show with us.  What is a Ladyboy show?  Thailand's version of a drag show.  They are pretty popular in the south and it was a lot of fun to go to one.  But I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

The other OWD group at the honorary "Watch your DVD" table

Dinner that night - BBQ, Yum!

View from the restaurant

Ant and Mikey (one of the other instructors)

Now its our turn to watch our DVD!

LB show

LB show

This was a really excellent rendition of "Halo"

Look!  A picture of me!

Frankie 

Fabian and Jeff

During the video and afterwards, talking to Frankie and Ant and other dive instructors I was a little sad that I had booked my ferry ticket.  Frankie had decided to do the Advanced Diver course and the way everyone was talking about it I definitely wished that I could too.  During the LB show we were talking with another person at the resort and again, talking about the Advanced course made me wish I was staying in Ko Tao just a little bit longer.  It wasn't too long after this that I realized there was absolutely no reason, save for the previously bought ferry ticket, that I shouldn't stay a few extra days and do the Advanced Diver course.  I had a vague idea of what I wanted this trip to be and one of the reasons I "planned" it that way was because I was hoping to meet some great people and maybe do a little traveling with someone else.  So here was my opportunity to do just that and I was letting a (relatively) cheap ferry ticket stop me?  I think not!  I decided that first thing in the morning I would make sure there was still space in the Advanced Diver course and then I would try and change my ferry ticket (but if I couldn't it wouldn't be a huge deal).  Especially because doing the AD course meant staying ONE extra day.  That's right - just one.  Once the decision was made I felt much better - more relaxed and really happy that I was being so flexible with my plans.

Anyway, after the LB show we went out to some of the bars.  I didn't drink very much but I did go dancing. I even taught some people the Waka Waka dance I learned in Zumba at BMC!  Don't believe me?  Proof:

Add caption

Freestyle ladies!  I've forgotten the moves!

It was a really fun night and it made me even happier that I wasn't leaving the next day.

Proof of our fun night

Further proof :)

The next day I woke up relatively early (it was supposed to be a vacation after all) and reserved my spot in the AD course.  Then I went to the travel office and the lady graciously agreed to change my ticket for the next afternoon.  So now I was all set to stay and do 5 more dives!  I went back to the resort, reading and eating breakfast until it was time to meet up for the AD course.  We had a meeting in the morning where we met up with Ant and decided which dives we wanted to do.  My group for the AD course was only 4 people - me, Frankie, E and H.  There are 2 required dives to get the AD certification, a deep water dive and a navigation dive, and then we got to choose the other 3 from a list of 8 or so.  The three all of us agreed on were a buoyancy dive, a night dive, and a wreck (like ship wreck) dive.  However, in an effort to actually get this blog post out today I am going to save the stories from those dives for another day.

The last thing I want to mention though is that this weekend (and until Tuesday) Lieke and Kimsha came to visit me in Chaiyaphum!!!  Tomorrow (Tuesday) they are going to do a presentation in my classes about Europe and Holland and I am so excited!  It is so nice to be able to share Chaiyaphum and where I'm living and where I'm teaching with people who are visiting.  I feel so lucky that they took the time and trouble to come up here.  Anyway, if I don't get a post up tomorrow its because I'm too busy being happy and having fun with my new Dutch friends :)

Just sitting at the pool on a Saturday afternoon :)

An Island Interlude: Learning to Dive

Day three of my vacation started with a lovely breakfast with Lieke and Kimsha before starting our OWD course.  We were visited by the instructor, Ant, who told us that we would be split into two groups so that each diving instructor had no more than 6 people.  Unfortunately we were placed in different groups - I stayed in the group with Ant and they went with Petra.  Also in my group were Frankie and Fabian, Jeff (American), and Taye and Megan (Canadian).  My group started out in the pool learning how to use the dive equipment while the other group started with some classroom work.

From left to right: Frankie, Taye, Megan, Jeff, Fabian

Ant, our instructor (in the middle)

So after breakfast my group trouped off to the gazebo by the pool, introduced ourselves, took a quick swim test (all of us passed!) and then went and got our equipment.  We were provided fins (the flippers you wear on your feet), a BC (flotation device vest), mask and snorkel, regulator, depth measurement instrument, weights, and oxygen tank.  We were also offered wet suits but none of us thought that we would need them (and we didn't - the pool was warm and the sun was out).

This picture gives a general idea Source

Here you can better see how the regulators attach to the oxygen tank which is all attached to the BC (the vest thing) Source

 We learned how to put all the equipment together (attaching the regulator to the oxygen tank, putting our weights on a weight belt, strapping everything on, etc) and then we jumped in the pool.  Basically, everything we did in the pool were skills we were required to learn to get our certification.  This included clearing our masks of water, taking our masks on and off, putting on the BC while in the water, taking off and putting on our weight belts in the water, "losing" and getting back our regulators, clearing our regulators, telling our buddy we were out of oxygen and using their back-up regulators, among other things.  There are two things worth telling about from this morning in the pool.  One is that I found out I am naturally very buoyant (as in I float).  We were all given 4 - 8 gram weights to put on our weight belts and a lot of the time we spent in the pool we spent kneeling on a shallow shelf.  I, however, was not able to successfully kneel because I kept floating upwards!  Eventually Ant added two more weights which helped a lot and I was able to stay under water instead of floating to the top!  The other story happened when we were working with our regulators.  We were instructed to throw our regulators over our shoulders and then retrieve them, put them back in our mouths, purge them of water, and breathe.  When it was my turn to complete the skill, I successfully threw my regulator over my shoulder, retrieved it, and put it back in my mouth.  Then I purged and breathed in and suddenly I had a mouth full of pool water!  Now, there are two ways to purge your regulator; one is to press a button on the front which forces all the water out and the other is to give an explosive breath out.  My first time I believe I was using the second method but after it didn't work I started to panic.  I tried it again and after taking another breath of pool water I was really panicked.  I held my breath as I started shaking my head and nodding towards the surface showing my instructor that I was scared and wanted to go up.  Fortunately for me, he didn't let me.  Instead he motioned for me to breathe out and then try purging again.  I know it sounds crazy but keeping me underwater forced me to take a deep breath (metaphorically - though it did kind of feel like my mind was taking a deep breath) and calm down.  Well, calming down did the trick.  I purged again and this time, as I took a very tentative breath in, I got nothing but oxygen.  Needless to say, my heart was still racing and Ant stayed in front of me while I took a few more breaths making sure that I was OK.  Afterwards I felt triumphant and that's why I was so glad he didn't let me give in to panic.  He never would have let me actually get hurt or be in any danger (which will be further confirmed in future stories - stay tuned!) and pushing past the panic once meant that even when I was nervous I knew I could stay calm.  So all in all, pool diving was a great success.

In the afternoon we had class and then watched some videos  (which essentially said the exact same things Ant had been telling us just a few minutes before).  We were all tired from the morning and sitting on these cushions on the ground listening to a (boring) movie induced some people into sleep!  After the movies were done we all sat and did our homework together and then wandered off.  Frankie and I had dinner but we didn't stay up late because the next day was our first dive!!!

Day four started with a test in the morning.  As Ant told us over and over, the test was designed so that a 12 year old could pass (12 is the youngest you can be certified to dive) and he was right that the test was pretty easy.  After we all passed the test we just hung out until our first dive in the afternoon!  For our first dive we went to a site called Laemthian Bay and went down to 11.2 m.  I was so nervous going in but once we were underwater all my nerves disappeared.  Well, that's not exactly true.  I think my mask was a little too loose and when it started fogging up and filling up with water I didn't know what to do.  I had to take my mask off and put it back on again and remember how to empty it of water (breathe out through your nose while lifting your head back).  Once I remembered how to get the water out it was much better and it even helped me equalize my ears as we descended.  I found that breathing underwater while moving was much easier for me than breathing while sitting still in the pool and once I had dealt with the initial mask and equalizing problems I started to really enjoy myself.  It was so relaxing and so beautiful.  We stayed underwater for about 40 min but the time absolutely flew by.  By the time we broke to the surface I couldn't wait to do another dive and thankfully I didn't have to wait long as we were scheduled to do a second dive at a different location that same afternoon!

Our boat! Source

Unfortunately, as we were waiting to get back on the boat the water started to get kind of rough.  Before we were even out of the water I started to feel seasick and I knew that getting on the boat was only going to make it worse.  No sooner are we on the boat and I am aware that I am going to get sick - it was only a matter of when.  Ant called us all over and instructed us to take our equipment off our oxygen tanks and move it to a new oxygen tank, test everything, and then go to the upper deck of the boat so that we could debrief.  So I started taking my equipment apart, hurled over the boat until there was nothing left in my stomach, finished putting my equipment back together and then went upstairs.  I was still feeling sick but I was also feeling a lot better.  Thankfully it wasn't too long before we arrived at the next dive site and I was able to get off the boat and into the water where I instantly felt better.

Our second dive was at a location called Twins and this dive was when we did a lot of the skills we had learned the day before in the pool.  This dive was easier than the first (practice makes perfect) and more fun.  I was able to better equalize the entire dive which meant less pressure on my ears and less pain.  We were also diving on pinnacles which was cool.  I guess there isn't much more to say about that dive or about that day really.  After the dive we went back to the resort restaurant and Ant gave us our Dive Log books and we logged our first two dives.  After that we just relaxed, ordered some dinner, and watched the videos for the OWD courses that had finished that day.  But more on that tomorrow :)

You can't really read the depths here but as you go left it gets deeper so we stayed near the first pinnacle (we only went to 11.6 m) Source

Pinnacles!  Source

Celebrating after our first dives!  Also, this is a lousy picture of me but its the best one overall from the 3 that were taken so...

The resort restaurant at night - I loved the lanterns!

P.S. All the pictures that have no "Source" linked are personal pictures - just covering my bases!

An Island Interlude: My arrival

Well I am back in Chaiyaphum after a fabulous holiday in the south of Thailand.  Unfortunately, 2.5 weeks of vacation cannot really be summed up in one blog post so I'm breaking it up and titling the whole series "An Island Interlude*."


I left Chaiyaphum on the 12th, took a bus to Bangkok and then the train to Chumphon.  I didn't bother booking any tickets before I left because the entire point of the trip was to remain flexible and I didn't know when I was going to be leaving.  Unfortunately this meant that by the time I got to the train station in Bangkok there were only a few seats available on the train to Chumphon and they were all in 3rd class Air Con.  I, of course saw no problem with this.  I figured I rode 3rd class No Air Con in India and I was totally fine- there is no way Thailand can be worse!  Yeah right Caroline.  The train was a sleeper (unlike the day trains I had taken in India) and third class Air Con looks a bit like this:  

Gratuitous, albeit horrible picture of me

If you're thinking "wow, those seats look comfortable!" then you are wrong.  Those seats are not comfortable and with 4 people to a berth, well, lets just say it was a long 12 hours.  It did give people the opportunity to be very creative with their sleeping arrangements though.  I saw families where they had kind of layered themselves so that a parent was sitting almost upright against the window and then a child would lay their head on the parent's lap and curl up on the seat and then another child would take the remaining space on the seat for their head while their body lay on the floor.  Other people just stretched out on the floor so that the person they were sharing a bench with could have the whole bench.  Then there were the people who just sat upright the whole night or put one leg up so that their head could rest on their knee.  I was very lucky that I got a whole bench to myself so I had a little more space.  The other part of the train was that in this situation Air Con was not wanted.  It was freezing.  I had a scarf that I wrapped myself up in and I was wearing a maxi dress so all in all I was better off than most.  The poor sisters sitting across from me hadn't prepared at all and at one point I opened my eyes to them using a wash cloth to cover part of themselves.  Anyway, it was quite the experience (but my recommendation would be to skip it if you are ever faced with the choice).  

After I got off the train I waited for an hour for the bus that would take me to the pier so that I could take the ferry to Ko Tao.  When I got off the bus, this is the view that awaited me:

Beautiful, no?

My ferry (the bigger one in the back)

First view of Ko Tao

After getting on the ferry I was approached by a man who asked if I already had a reservation on Ko Tao.  I didn't so I took the pamphlet he was offering and told him I would let him know if I would stay at the resort he was advertising.  As it turned out, he was advertising for one of the two places I was considering (based on Lonely Planet's recommendation) and since he was conveniently offering me a free taxi from the pier to the resort I took him up on the offer!  So I got on the taxi to Big Blue Diving Resort, met with one of the diving instructors who explained all my diving and accommodation options and booked myself a bed in the dorm room and a spot in the open water diving certification course.  I should also mention that with my course my accommodation was free, so that was pretty excellent.  I then had the rest of the day (I arrived in Ko Tao about 10:00 and the course didn't start until 17:00) to get settled, eat something, shower, and start feeling like I was on a beach vacation!


Picture of my room:

Dorm Room - We were pretty comfortable with each other and leaving our things out

Lockers for valuables

bathroom

my bed is the one in the bottom right corner

Fabian on the left

Frankie

That night I had dinner with two of the people also doing the open water course (OWD) and we worked on a study packet that we had for homework.  Both Frankie and Fabian were also travelling alone and it was one of the things that I loved about Ko Tao was that there were so many people staying at Big Blue who arrived alone.  It made for a very friendly and open atmosphere and definitely made the overall experience better since it was so easy to make friends!  Then, when I got back to my dorm I met two girls from Holland who were also doing the OWD.  I couldn't believe that in my very first night I already felt like I was part of a group.  Travelling alone is not a problem for me but it does come with added stress and tension and is not always easy.  Being around a group of people who I knew I was going to be with for at least 3 days (the length of the course) meant that I always had someone to eat meals with and someone to take pictures of and with and in general its just more fun!

Lieke and Kimsha (Dutch girls)

So I think that's where I'll leave off for today since school is over and its time to go home!

By the way, school is going just swimmingly.  We have a new teacher, Ray, who is from New Zealand and very nice.  She's also quite and experienced TESOL teacher so I'm pretty happy about that.  So all is well here in Chaiyaphum.