Yup, that is exactly what has consumed our days on the island of Koh Tao so far! Our friends ended up talking us into taking our scuba certification with them so we did and it was the best decision of the trip. I'm getting a little ahead of myelf though because our first day on the island was an adventure in itself.
Aspen and I decided to rent ATV's to explore the island. We were going to rent scooters but there are dirt roads all over the place here and a scooter probably wouldn't be the best idea on a dirt road. After picking up our ATV's we hit up a 7-11 and got a map of the island. On the map we noticed there was a site that had a whale skeleton inland and we wanted to see that. Our first try to find the whale was a fail because we took off in the totally wrong direction. Whoops. After we got our location figured out we took off and were driving for about 15 minute when we got to the north end of the island and the road ended. We pulled out our map and checked our new location only to find we somehow passed the turn and had to back track. This is where things get interesting. When we rented our ATV's the sale lady told us we both had enough gas to go for awhile so we didn't fill up. The ATV's don't have gas gauges either. When we had stopped to find out where the whale skeleton was, both Aspen and I turned our ATV' off. When we went to start them back up again, Aspens didn't start. We tried and tried to get it to turn on but it wouldn't and the only solution to the problem we figured would be to find more gas. I had seen some gas on our way so I went back to find it. I was a little worried I would run out of gas too so I kept my fingers crossed that I would make it. I did and I saved the day by returning and giving Aspen the gas. But after she filled up her tank with this little water bottle full of gas I bought, her ATV still didn't start!
We had to go meet up with the other girls to book our diving too and now we were stuck way at the north end of the island with only one ATV. We ended up ditching the broken one and took of to book diving. When we stopped at the place where we rented the ATV from we informed them it was not starting and we didn't do anything to it. Luckly they said they would send someone up there to check it out. We ended up getting diving booked and had to start class that night as well! After booking diving we went back to the ATV and were told it wasn't starting because it was out of gas. Which was stupid because we had already put gas in but we put more in and it started fine. I thought I had seen the turn when I was looking for gas so we went back and went up this random road which wasn't the right one again. It just happened to be the most steep and twisty road ever. We stopped halfway to get directions and once again Aspen's ATV wouldn't start. A nice guy pulled up and helped her try and start it and when that didn't work he helped her turn it around so she could coast down the hill. I hate going down steep hills and I had the breaks pumped the entire way down this puppy. When we got to the bottom the guy helped Aspen start it and we realized it wasn't out of gas, it just wouldn't start if it was on a hill because the gas would all go to one side. The man also informed us of where to go to find the whale skeleton. I noticed the clouds were looking pretty mean that were coming in our direction but we continued on, determined to find this site we had been searching for all day. We were halfway up the right road when the down pour began. We were so close to our destination! But the rain was coming down too hard so we turned around and went back to town. I was soaked right to the bone and freezing. The rain wan't letting up anytime soon and we didn't want our rented ATV's to go to waste so we drove around in the rain for awhile but I couldn't handle how cold I was so I went back to take a hot shower. On the way to the room I bumped into one of the girls we were diving with and she said my lip were blue! So needless to say the hot shower felt like the best thing ever.
After the craziness of the ATV's we just took it easy until the scuba course started. It was pretty interesting, we watched some videos introducing us to diving and had to sign some forms. After we finished that stuff we had to take the ATV's back. and when we did they inspected them to see if we crashed them or anything. Luckly all the jumps and backflips I was doing didn't wreck it. We hit the sack pretty early because scuba school started at 8 the next morning.
In the am we started with more classroom stuff to help prepare us for a written exam we had to take the following day. I am on summer break and not in test mode anymore so that was intimidating! After going through the gear and how to wear it and what it was for we jumped on a boat and went to a little cove to start learning skills. It was an awesome day and our group aced all the skills. Some of the skills included clearing your mask, taking your mask off completely underwater and putting it back on, taking your scuba gear off and putting it back on underwater, emergency ascents, and a couple other important things to know how to do under the water. It was awesome because our group consisted of Aspen and I and then our three friends from Vancouver. Our instructor was awesome too and I'm going to have to say the best one we could have gotten.
We were in the water all afternoon and by the end of the day I was exhausted. We swam to the boat and we had to practice one more skill before we could get on. As we were floating there someone on the boat yelled shark!! I nearly died, I was trying to scramble up the side of the boat and other people were jumping off and trying to swim toward them! It turned out they were just baby black tip sharks and completely harmless to people. But really anytime someone says shark all I can picture is a big great white in my head!
So that was day one of scuba and then day two we did more classroom stuff and finished the morning with the test, which I aced. We were totally stressing out for the test too and it was super easy. After the classroom stuff we had our first dive to 12 m. It is absolutly beautiful under the water. So much life and the colors are vibrant. It's a lot of fun just swimming around and checking everything out.
We were under for about 50 minutes for our first dive and then we hit up a second dive site and practised some more skills and then explored a bit. Diving really takes a lot out of you though and when we got back to the hotel we went straight to bed.
Day three started bright and early at 6 am for our big 18 m dive. It was insane! The waters were really rough though so when you were on the surface you were just being tossed around but under the water its a completely different world. We ended up seeing a large school of barracuda! We saw plenty of fish and after a dive we wrote everything we saw in a log book. On our 18 m dive we also had someone following us around taking a video! After the big dive we did another shallower dive and then came back and I took a long power nap all afternoon. In the evening we got to watch our video which turned out awesome! Both Aspen and I got copies of it to show everyone back home.
We went out to celebrate being fully certified and we ended up making it to a lady boy show. Apparently they still have male parts and then most of them get implants. It was insane though, they just dance around and lip sang to music and the entire time I was trying to figure out how they could wear such tiny costumes while still being a dude. It blew my mind! And they were all so gorgeous too! It was a great experience though and it was funny. The night was a ton of fun with everyone from diving including our instructor.
Today is a sad day because our friend from Vancouver are leaving and continuing their travels outside Thailand so its goodbye. So I better go now so I don't miss out on seeing them before they leave! More to come soon though!
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