Certified Divers

Mally and I have given up our cooking careers and are now headed on a path to the underwater world. We left the hectic citylife of Bangkok and Chiang Mai for the tropical island of Koh Tao. A scenic, laid back vacation island with beautiful beaches, quiet resorts, and some good thai restaurants. The island is also a mecca for diving with more dive operators than anywhere else in Thailand. Mally and I came here for just that.

Today we became certified Divers! We spent our first two days of certification in the classroom... a reminder of our past and a glimpse into my future... only dive class is not too demanding. We watched a few videos, had some discussions, and took multiple choice tests (which luckily we passed - phew!). After learning all the ways in which diving can cause drowning, "the bends", or even ruptured lungs, we were finally allowed to get into the water (if we still wanted to). We spent the first session in a swimming pool where drowning is pretty difficult - here we learned to breath properly underwater, clear our masks, and rescue a buddy or be rescued in dangerous situations. John, our instructer, guaranteed us that only stupid people have problems... apparently diving is as safe as 10-pin bowling so no worries moms and dads.

On day three, we finally got to test our new skills in the ocean! A big boat took us out to sea to the Aow Leuk site where we strapped on weight belts, loaded air tanks on our backs, held on to our masks, and weeeeeeeeeeeeeee.... jumped into the water. John then led us down down down into the murky green bay (ewwww... where are all the beautiful fish?) We swam around and learned how to control our buoyancy, but we didn't see very many colors or lifeforms of any sort. We all came out of the water wondering why we chose to dive at Koh Tao. How could a place this barren be so popular? Luckily, John agreed that it was a terrible dive and promised better (phew).

John certainly kept his promise. Our next dive at Pottery Pinnacles was full of wildlife - coral, sea cucumbers, and puffer fish. We even saw one giant puffer fish taking a nap... this is why I learned to dive! Today, the diving continued to improve. We woke up early and travelled to South West Pinnacles where we dove down 18 meters and swam around several underwater rock formations covered in plantlife and teeming with fish. By our final dive at White Rock, swimming under the sea was becoming second nature - we even learned how to do somersaults! With the added comfort under water, we were able to focus on all the spectacular wildlife. The colors here compare with the rainbows of different fish up on the barrier reef - purple angel fish, rainbow fish, black spiky fish... not to mention the myriad of colors from the coral. At the end of our course, we all watched a video that captured our dive experience (It's amazing what a videographer can put together in a day). There is certainly a whole new world underwater - one too beautiful to miss.

Outside of diving, we have been testing out an assortment of thai restaurants to see how the local's cooking compares to our own newfound culinary skills. We also read a lot on our balcony when we come home tired at night (I recommend the book Five People You Meet in Heaven). Next door, we had some more british lads as neighbors (which is good because we miss our cycle buddies!) They also took the open water dive course and end up reading on their balconies after a long day out at sea. They are kind enough to provide us with some good music while we read and give us wake up calls for our early morning dives.

Now that our course is complete, we have become hooked on diving. So for our last two days on the island, we signed up for some more underwater adventure... soon we will be advanced divers - Oh Boy!!