KOH TAO

Spent the past 4 days soaking up the sun (and a couple of thunderstorms) on this gorgeous island. We spent the first day doing scuba orientation...basically signing our lives away incase of lung embolisms, decompression sickness, etc. Day 2 we spent the morning in the resort pool with full scuba gear learning how to breathe underwater. The rookies all have an awkward rearly morning mandatory pool session. After spending all afternoon in the scuba classroom, Megan and I had a chance to check out the Koh Tao nightlife. Lots of very chill places just metres from the water. They throw beanbag chairs out on the beach with tables and dig holes in the sand for candles and little fires to create a mood. Very cool. Koh Tao is an island made up of tons of scuba resorts...They just started letting non-divers on the island a couple of years ago! Days 3 and 4 we piled on the boat with our scuba group for 4 open water dives (2 per day). Its not all fun and games underwater--we were tested on some unplesant skills we learned in the pool (such as filling up your mask with water at a depth of 18 metres then clearing it by breathing through your nose--scarier than it sounds). It was amazing though, the visibility was 15-20m. We saw some fabulous coral, a huge turtle, a mor eel (spelling?), a stingray, a school of squids and billions of fish. Our last night we went out to the resort restaurant (which was right on the water of course) with our scuba grad class and instructors. After a fabulous meal the younger members of the class headed down to another part of the village to a huge beach party being put on by one of the clubs. They gave out free buckets of Sangsom (Thai Whiskey, coke, vodka, and redbull) for half an hour at one point of the night...Needless to say we had a really good time. Sad to leave this island, I've had a taste of diving and I can't get enough! But alas, we have to get back to Bangkok to meet Christine and start our Cambodia adventure.