Ko Tao Open Water Dive

Upon arrival this small island reminds me of the beaches in Mexico or Colombia.  All the long boats are anchored along the shore with palm trees everywhere and the small village atmosphere.  I already knew it was going to be a nice relaxing environment and the perfect place to get dive certified......

Sunset on Ko Tao

I am now a certified open water diver.  The course was three and a half days of movies, basic theory and practical diving.  The course was both fun and interesting.  I shacked up at the dive school Big Blue and was put in a class of four with an English guy, Ian (also my dive partner) and a couple living in Dublin from Poland and France.  Our instructor Nick was patient and friendly.  At the hostel they have an outdoor bar and restaurant right on the beach with a beautiful view. 

The first time in the water was good fun and we learned all of our skills on a sandy island beach off the coast.  Here we learned to empty our masks, what to do if you run out of air and how to control our buoyancy.  Most of this I found simple and basic and found myself growing impatient with the other partner group.  Things took a long time in the water and by the end I had blue lips and was freezing.  The cold made the end not enjoyable and all I could think about was getting out.

The next day we had basic theory in the morning and our first two proper dives.  Again I found that some of the other students struggled at times which could have been very funny if I was not freezing again.  As I complained to my boyfriend he quoted it perfectly, "idiots are annoying, but at least they remind you that life is tough, but it's a whole lot tougher if you're stupid."  Although I am sure they are not completely daft it took them a bit longer to catch on, and I am not sure they mastered any of it.  On this dive we swam in close to shore and did a gradual swim deeper and deeper.  I found it pretty basic and we didn't see a whole lot. 

By the second dive of the afternoon I was given two wetsuits and a pep talk to get me back in the water...I really was cold!  The two suits helped and the second dive was really enjoyable. We started at the surface and lowed ourselves along the anchor line.  This was a far more interesting decent and the overall dive went much smoother.  My partner and I were the first group (right behind the instructor) and the other two became the second group, behind us!  YES!  Following them was like following a 6 year old trying to drive a car, fast, stall, stop, go, up, down, stop, slow, foot in face, kick Sucks!!  Now we had a much smoother swim with a steady pace which allowed us to play with our buoyancy more.

Today was our final day and we had our final two dives.  We woke up and left before 7am and were the first boat on the water.  It was, by far, the best day diving as every ones skills slowly improved, though some faster than others.  For both dives I had on two wetsuits and we descended down the anchor line.  The first dive was at an underwater pinnacle and the second was on a coral reef.  Both were great fun and relaxing when I wasn't cold.  I found the buoyancy and breathing techniques fun to play with and relaxing.  Overall I am really excited to do some more diving and am ready to get my advance. 

With open water you can only dive down to 18 meters with the advanced course it allows you to go down to 30 meters.  Not this trip but next time I will move on to get my advanced certification.  What next????  We get to watch a film of our final dive day tonight, have some drinks to celebrate, a couple more days here then headed south.

Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/linseypaddock/KoTao?authkey=Gv1sRgCN6Z_JSq-cnCgAE&feat=directlink