Blowing bubbles.
Well, I took a bus from Bangkok to some city and then a catamaran speedboat to the island of Ko Tao (Turtle island). The cat goes at 50km/hour and is pretty steady in rough water. The waves are a little choppy and the sky is a wee bit cloudy due to the Typhoon approaching Taiwan. The bus sucked the big one, there was no armrest between me and the next guy and whatever, so sleep wasn't that great. Then we took the catamaran, it was cool, but at 7am, I didn't care.
I arrived on the island at 9AM, ditched my backpack in my hut and proceded to the scuba training classroom thingy. I wached a movie on scuba (slightly boring, watching the guy juggle golf balls under water was cool, but why do I need to watch this on my vacation?) and then did some worksheets and stuff. I wanted to do the 4 day course in 3 days, so I had some catching up to do. We went out in the afternoon diving, well not really, we only went to 3 meters (12 feet) but we did a whole lot of excercises. I now know how to swap masks, tanks, hoses, fins, doohickeys, doodads, and stuff under water, swim without my mask, adjust my buoyancy as well as a bunch of rescue techniques. So, it was less fun but I think I know what I'm doing as opposed to other times I have gone diving where the dive master pushes my buttons and reads my needles for me. The whole time we were there, angel fish, bigger than my open hand were swimming all around us.
My $3CAN a night hut consists of a double bed, fan and a cold water only shower with toilet. It is located about 100 meters from the boat and 10 meters from the beach... it's all you really need. Oh, and this island makes the whole vacation commercials on TV look crappy. It's beautiful here.
The island is far different form Bangkok and Chang Mai, the people here are easy going flower children cool people. I had to downgrade my buckle-up sandals to straw woven flip flops just to fit in. Most people don't even bother with shoes as I have yet to find a building or hut that will let you wear your shoues inside. Even the 7-11 asks you to leave them outside. The island is populated by 400 people and it 22km the whole way around... or long, I don't know. The roads in the hamlet are cemented with a layer of dust on top, perfect for walking.
Anyways, I will find it very hard to get on the boat to Bangkok on Friday. I will be spending much more time here in the future.
I arrived on the island at 9AM, ditched my backpack in my hut and proceded to the scuba training classroom thingy. I wached a movie on scuba (slightly boring, watching the guy juggle golf balls under water was cool, but why do I need to watch this on my vacation?) and then did some worksheets and stuff. I wanted to do the 4 day course in 3 days, so I had some catching up to do. We went out in the afternoon diving, well not really, we only went to 3 meters (12 feet) but we did a whole lot of excercises. I now know how to swap masks, tanks, hoses, fins, doohickeys, doodads, and stuff under water, swim without my mask, adjust my buoyancy as well as a bunch of rescue techniques. So, it was less fun but I think I know what I'm doing as opposed to other times I have gone diving where the dive master pushes my buttons and reads my needles for me. The whole time we were there, angel fish, bigger than my open hand were swimming all around us.
My $3CAN a night hut consists of a double bed, fan and a cold water only shower with toilet. It is located about 100 meters from the boat and 10 meters from the beach... it's all you really need. Oh, and this island makes the whole vacation commercials on TV look crappy. It's beautiful here.
The island is far different form Bangkok and Chang Mai, the people here are easy going flower children cool people. I had to downgrade my buckle-up sandals to straw woven flip flops just to fit in. Most people don't even bother with shoes as I have yet to find a building or hut that will let you wear your shoues inside. Even the 7-11 asks you to leave them outside. The island is populated by 400 people and it 22km the whole way around... or long, I don't know. The roads in the hamlet are cemented with a layer of dust on top, perfect for walking.
Anyways, I will find it very hard to get on the boat to Bangkok on Friday. I will be spending much more time here in the future.
posted by Colin at 10:54 PM
2 Comments:
Sounds wonderful!! you lucky fellow!! Sounds like you are getting very good training...Enjoy the bubbles! and the fish!love Breta
... and your Dad says, "Hi!" Sounds like you're having a good time. Take care ... looking forward to hearing from you when you are back from vacation!
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