The Thai
people have a lot of respect for their elders and while I don’t personally
consider my self an “elder” I suspect that I’ve been given some advantageous
treatment lately. [I consider myself a
27 year old trapped in a 47 year old body]
While queuing
for the overnight bus from Bangkok
to Chumphon I was hanging around outside with the rest of the twenty-something
backpackers and the lady arranging the tickets took my receipt from me and told
me to sit where I was. I didn’t realise, but seating was on a first-come first-served
basis and when she returned I was presented with the prime seat on the bus. I
hope that she didn’t think I was too old to queue.
Prime seat
or not I still only managed about two hours sleep on the eight hour overnight
trip. For the first two hours the TV above my head was blearing with the last
Batman movie with the sound turned up so loud that the people at the rear of
the bus could hear it even if they couldn’t see. I manage to sleep in cars when
I’m a passenger, why not busses?
We arrived
in Chumphon at 5am for the 7am ferry crossing to Koh Tao. Watching the sunrise
was quite special. The islands emerged from the gloom and formed a background
to an idyllic Thai beach scene with fishing boats, coconut palms and white
sands. It unfortunately didn’t help the tiredness. The ferry crossing is by
fast catamaran and took about 2 hours.
I’d
pre-booked a three day two night PADI Advanced Open Water Divers course from Bangkok. This consists of
5 dives which I’d expected to be spread over the three days. When I arrived I
was old that I’d be doing two dives that afternoon, one that evening and two
the next morning. I’d complete the entire course in less than 24 hours. I
wasn’t too thrilled seeing I was absolutely knackered from the lack of sleep
the night before.
I checked
into my dive school bungalow and was pleasantly surprised to discover it had an
air conditioner when I’d only paid for a fan room. Was this another act of
kindness to the old and decrepit?
The first
three dives on the first day went well. The corals and the fish here are quite
stunning. The visibility was good - about 10m
The water temperature is warm (29 degrees), though not hot (35 degrees)
like in Dubai.
The boat ride back from the night dive was a bit rough and I wasn’t feeling
that great. I’d never been seasick before and considered myself pretty
bulletproof when it comes to rough seas, air turbulence etc. I usually like the
excitement.
Day two
morning dives consists of deep dives to about 30m and 22m. For the first dive
we went quite far out to sea to a pinnacle rock. The visibility was brilliant
and the massive shoals of fish were incredible to see. We saw a large shoal of
barracuda, mussels about a foot long, stunning corals and all manner of big and
small fish. It was like swimming in a tropical fish tank. I’m now a qualified
PADI Advanced Open Water diver. Now I
need to log up some fun dives.
The only
downside of the second days diving was that the sea was quite rough. Moments
before going down for the second dive I was sea sick for the first time ever. I
decided that the best course of action was to get off the boat and into the
water. That was a great plan except I eventually had to get back onto the boat
again. Sure as nuts shortly after getting back on board I was sick again and
felt unwell until the boat started moving again. I hope this is a one off as I
do enjoy boating and I don’t enjoy being seasick. As divers we aren’t supposed
to feed the fish, however the fish sure cleaned up quickly after me.
The accommodation
that I have on Koh Tao is basic but comfortable. Water is only on three times a
day for about 3 hours at a time and electricity is off in the afternoons. There
is a bucket filled with water to use for flushing when the water is off. There
are all manner of accommodation types here and you pretty much get what you pay
for. I’m going to spend one more night here and then head off on the ferry to Ko Sumai for
some of the famous Thai beaches..
