Koh Tao, Thailand

Well, today was pretty eventful. I completed my SCUBA course and now I am Open Water Certified. That means I am deemed competent by PADI to dive up to 18m on my own in open water.

Today on my last day we did two dives early in the morning. The deepest was about 20m even though our instructor can only technically take us to 18m. We got to see some pretty cool stuff some Stingray, an Octopus, an Eel, a couple of blowfish, some Christmas tree worms, a Box fish, and some other interesting aquatic specimens and coral. We also got to see a wreck on our second dive. That was less deep probably about 15m, but was just as exciting. The wreck was an old catameran and a motorbike someone drove into the water. The catermeran was pretty exciting Im not gonna lie. All the fish in the area were drawn to it so there were a bunch of small schools of fish just hanging around and were acting like they were guarding it. I got to get in the old Captains chair and act like I was driving it.

The SCUBA was fun and I am glad I did it, but I dont think Ill be taking the next level of diving classes, the Advanced Open Water Training Course, any time soon. I mean I enjoyed being in the water and seeing all the different things you cant see from the surface. And it definitely instilling in me a sense of peace while I was down in the water but still it was lacking something. The name of the game really is moving slowing and observing to conserve as much air as possible so you can stay down there the longest possible amount of time. And while I enjoyed being down there, I really just wanted to zip around and move quickly. The whole time you had to move slowly and just follow the instructor which kind of left something to be desired. I think I am a snorkel man where I can set my own pace and just dive down to the things I see that are cool. OR even a cliff diver, I think jumping from large rocks is more exciting then SCUBA diving. But still I am grateful I took the class and if the course only made me a better snorkeler then so be it.

If the opportunity presents itself for some world class diving in say Australia on the Great Barrier Reef then I may portake, which is why I am glad I got certified cheaply. But until then I think my SCUBA experiences will be on hold. Personally, I thought the best part of the dives were just riding on the boat and diving in the water. I dont get sea sick easily and have a pretty tough stomach. I find the bobbing of the boat exciting and I enjoy scuffling around the deck and watching the water go by. At some point on my trip, I am definitely going to pursue an extended stay on a boat/ship if possible. Fortunately, the ferry from Italy did not completely kill my Nautical aspirations.

I also looked at another course they have here called APNEA. Not the sleeping disorder. Its a course where they teach you how to dive unassisted down to 20 m or even 40 m in the advanced course. It seemed like a lot of fun. I would have signed up but the course starts the 25th and my visa ends the 27th. And while I think the repercussions of violating my visa would be minimal, I dont want to risk pissing off the Thai, because they are going to be my home base while Im in SE Asia.

The course starts off with them teaching you how to hold your breath for an extended period of time. They guarantee you will be able to hold your breath for at least 3 minutes by the end of the course. Think about how cool it would be to whip that out at a pool or in the ocean.

"Hold Crap, Where's Doug? He's been gone for at least 2 minutes and 59 second!"

"BAM! Im right here. No Big Deal. Its just something I picked up in Thailand."

Personally, I think that would be pretty cool.

. . . . .

But now Im off to bed. I think the fish I had for dinner. The one served with the tail and the head and eyeballs didnt agree with me. Tomorrow I leave for Ko Samoi where I will relax for 4 days and then head out of the country, south.