"Mai Pen Rai," My Pen Writes: Expedition Thailand Part 1: Koh Tao Scuba

Several weeks ago I started off on my adventure. The first step was to get to "nearby" Udon Thani, about a 5 hour bus ride (somehow last week that number doubled) to catch a plane to Phuket. Arriving in Phuket was quite the culture shock. As soon as the baggage claim doors opened, we were bombarded with offers of taxis/buses/hotels all in English. White people were the majority. As soon as we exited the airport my traveling companions, Rita and Michelle, and I had to stop and just take a moment to breath before navigating the onslaught. Luckily we found a taxi driver who was very intrigued we could speak Thai and we (mostly I - as I had been nominated/forced to sit in the front during all taxi rides) chatted during the ride to our hotel, helping us to remember that yes, we were still in Thailand.
We spent the next morning on the beach and enjoying the sun, planning the next step to our journey - traveling across the southern peninsula and meeting friends on Koh Tao for our scuba certification. That afternoon we hopped on a saawng tao and headed to the bus station. We had heard some stories of scams if you travel through agencies, so thankfully we were already well versed in public transportation. Magically, our timing was impeccable and we made all of our connections with just moments to spare or wait. On the way to Surat Thani, where we were to hop on a ferry) we met some really awkward German guys who were also traveling to Koh Tao. Suffice it to say, they had no idea what they were doing, so we took them under our wings and helped them along, including their first tastes of som tam, which 2 were too scared to try. The ferry was an overnight trip, but it had small mattresses on the floor as berths. On this ferry our fate was sealed for the rest of the week...

We met the first of our travel buddies, TJ, as soon as we pulled out Skip-Bo to play. TJ is best described as the Anthony Black of Thailand - he just sat right down, introduced himself and started playing along. He shared details of his time with Teach for America in Chicago as well as months spent picking apples and apricots in New Zealand and Australia. As we were chatting about our plans, a nearby guy trying to sleep, spoke up and told us we needed to go to his favorite dive shop. He was a man of few words and promptly decided to try to ignore our chatting and giggling late into the night. As the sun was rising we decided it might be a good idea to find the mystery guy who knew the island. Rita and I found Tom at the back of the boat watching the sunrise. He told us that he was working on his divemaster cert at New Way Diving, and could maybe help hook us up with then. Best. advice. ever. Tom called the shop who sent a truck to pick us up from the port. Within the hour we were set up with our course and an awesome place to crash not far from the shop. He even managed to score us a discount and the rooms for 2 extra nights.

We had the day to hang out and gather other WT friends Zach, Sarah, Ben, and Ben's ferry friend Ranada. TJ was already certified, but he crashed with us for the week too and planned dives with New Way Diving. We also had the day to explore Koh Tao, a tiny gorgeous island that was basically University of Diving. Everyone was in their 20s. Everyone had incredible travel stories. And everyone was there to dive. It was just an awesome atmosphere to be in.

That very night we started our course with the required paperwork and video stuff. The next day was rainy so we spent the entire day in class learning all the things we'd need to know for our first dives. The next morning we suited up in all our gear and hit the pool for a few hours, learning about controlling buoyancy and breathing underwater. Scuba diving is a weird sensation, and I wanted to just swim around the pool and test things out during breaks, but apparently it wasn’t allowed. Finally, that afternoon, we hit the boat and headed out into the ocean.

Because of the rain the day before, we were prepared for the fact that our dive would include very low visibility. I will admit it, I was pretty scared for that first dive. I had no idea if my ears would equalize or if I would freak out underwater and breath funny (the biggest no-no to scuba diving). As we descended down the rope and my ears slowly but surely equalized I calmed down and enjoyed the feeling. Rita’s older brother Teddy convinced her to try scuba diving by describing it as “the closest you’ll ever get to flying.” Boy, was he right. Having snorkeled a number of times and enjoying the underwater world, (not to mention my fascination with becoming a marine biologist) scuba diving turned out to be just about the coolest thing ever. While we could barely the people only feet away from us, we all were amazed at the feeling and so enthralled with all the life we were able to see.

We came up from that first dive with shouts of “that was freaking awesome,”; “did you see that fish?”; “so cool!” ; and “when can we go back down?” Let’s just say Dave, our island-renowned instructor, could barely help contain our excitement. He wouldn’t admit it to us, but we know that he loved our wildly enthusiastic group.

The second dive of the afternoon included skills that we had practiced in the pool, like removing/replacing your mask at the bottom of the ocean (scary), and throwing your respirator away and retrieving it (double scary). It was on this dive, however, that disaster struck:

It was late in the afternoon on a cloudy and drizzly day. It had rained the day before mixing up the sand and other watery silts. We could barely see our hands 15 meters deep. Michelle, my buddy, and I were told to buddy up, and I had to move a little away from the group to get close to her. As I moved away, Dave gave the signal to follow him – but neither Michelle nor I had seen it. Before we knew it, we were alone at the bottom of the ocean. Not daring to move and try to find our friends, we just stayed put and swayed with the current. We figured that the group was right next to us and Dave had placed us in pairs preparing for our skills test. Knowing Michelle has the propensity to freak out, I did my best to keep signing to her and make sure she was still ok. We hung out at the bottom of the ocean for a while, not sure what to do. After a few minutes with no sign of anything whatsoever in the cloudy water, we decided it would be best to surface and head back to the boat. Following PADI rules, we surfaced slowly but surely. When we reached the surface we were met with a frantic Tom, who had left the rest of the group to search for us. I know he and Dave were probably nervous and perturbed, but I felt like a pro! I had reviewed in my head all the protocol for a safe ascent at our depth and nitrogen levels, double and triple checked our depth and air gauges, and lead us up safely.

Later that evening, Ben and I payed our beer-fines (for putting our masks on our foreheads instead of around our necks) and we hung out in the dive shop for a while. The next morning we were to be at the shop by 6 am for our final 2 dives, so we packed it in early.

The next two dives were relatively uneventful, finishing the skills we hadn’t had time for the day before, and just exploring the underwater world. We did have a videographer divemaster with us, so there’s even video proof of our adventure!

We finished our open water diver course by noon on Saturday, but because of our fortunate encounter with Tom, we could stay in our cozy bungalows until Monday. The sun came out and we enjoyed the next two days on the beach and with our new friends from the dive shop.

Because of the atmosphere of Koh Tao, this was probably my favorite destination overall. There was adventure, relaxation, and whole lot of fun. We left sadly on Monday’s overnight ferry, vowing to come back if we couldn’t find a place we liked more than Koh Tao. Little did we know where our expedition would take us next…