BECOMING AN ADVANCED SCUBA DIVER, KOH TAO
Since I visited Australia in 2011 I have heard great things about Thailand but more so Koh Tao so I’m glad to finally be here. Dusty got me booked in to do my advanced diving cert but since it was over 6 months since I last completed a dive I needed to do a refresher. I’m glad I did as I hadn’t dived since 2011.
Nangyuan Island, swimming with Whale Sharks
The refresher course is just in the resorts swimming pool which is full of people learning how to dive before they going into the open sea. My instructor looked ridiculous in his full scuba gear but opted to wear the smallest pair of speedos instead of a wetsuit.
THE WHALE SHARK JUST SWAM STRAIGHT THROUGH US
SHIPWRECK DIVE
Next morning was spent doing paperwork for my advanced and then we took to the boat for a few dives. The first was a deep shipwreck dive so we were straight in although unfortunately due to the current the viz wasn’t ideal. Got another few dives tomorrow including a night dive which I’m looking forward to. Dusty just finished his and he’s been trying to freak me out but Mike ruined it for him when he said they held hands when they first went down.
THE WHALE SHARK
Before our night dive we had 2 more dives during the day to complete. The first was a normal, follow the dive master, stay together check all the apparatus and return to the surface. During the dive we heard a flurry of knocking sounds, usually to alert other divers there was something of interest.
Our Dive Master was soon on the case and within seconds we were met with a huge Whale Shark. To get an idea of how rare this is in Thailand the other dive master had over 100 dives and never seen one, I was on my 7th!
DIVING ALONE
The next dive had to be planned and co-ordinated by yourself and your dive partner. There were only a few Dive-masters on-board and not enough for each pair so fortunately for myself and John we were the ones selected to go on our own. There were too many arseholes on the boat that considered themselves good divers and all seemed a bit gutted not to be the ones going down alone so as you could guess I was looking smug.
Using a small board and pencil you were required to draw the route using an image supplied by the dive team. Once under water you had to try and determine where you are on the hand drawn map and then to navigate your way to the extraction point. A challenging task but enjoyable task.
THE NIGHT DIVE
The night dive was interesting, we had torches which were obviously essential but then we were all asked to turn them off once we reached the bottom. The feeling was incredible, we could see nothing, not even your hand in front of you only the little bits of plankton which glow in the dark were visible.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I can’t complain about the experience and have really been spoilt with coming across a Whale Shark, something so rare. There is really nothing quite like scuba diving and it remains as one of the best activities I’ve ever done!
NEXT UP
Heading out for the pub crawl tonight, known as the biggest in South East Asia, looking forward to it. Click here to read it.
SAFE TRAVELS, DS x
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This post is part of The South East Asia Series, for the next article click here.
