So it was my birthday the other day and we had a ridiculously awesome day on Koh Tao. Took the day off from diving and we did the following. Ate breakfast… Overlooking this… Chilled at Chalok beach until the sun got too much. Napped for two hours. ZZZZZ Hung out at the dive shop with beers for the sunset. Ate a giant calzone for dinner with some friends. Went dancing. Ate another epic English breakfast post-hangover! All in all, a wonderful day of birth.
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Cost of Living on Koh Tao
Accommodation Cost on Koh Tao Accommodation cost on Koh Tao will depend on what is available and what kind of luxuries you need. The cheapest per night rate you can find is about 400 baht (excluding dorms). If you are planning to stay longer, there are quite a lot of “long term” accommodation options available. They are usually charged to you on a monthly basis. The basic accommodation in the form of a bungalow starts from about 7000 baht per month which will most likely have a cold water shower and fan only. If you would like a hot water shower, air conditioning and a fridge, you would be looking…
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Mapping A Dive Site
Lionel and I went to ‘map’ a dive site a few weeks ago. We were given a dive site called ‘Twins,’ so called because there is a shallow and a deep pinnacle, and it’s also bordered by two small islands connected by a sandbar!
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A Stressful Day
Today we were being assessed on our rescue skills as part of our Divemaster training. Stress levels were already elevated as rescue always brings some unexpected surprises with it. We triple checked all of our gear and each others gear to make sure we are ready for the rescue scenario we would face. Matt, our friend from university in Melbourne arrived on the island today to visit us, and just as we were wading into the water, he greeted us from the restaurant. He’ll get the front row seat to watch us struggle as we drag each other onto the beach. Once we hit the water, we were split into…
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The ‘She Can’t Swim’ Chronicles: Assisting on an Open Water course
We got a call the night before and were told that as we now have 40 dives (whoo!!), we were to start assisting on two Open Water courses the following morning. Assisting on a course may involve logistics such as packing the students’ dive bags to running the boat briefing, watching students underwater
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Christmas Has Come Early!
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The ‘She Can’t Swim’ Chronicles: Day 1
I have decided to document my journey into becoming a ‘DiveMaster’ here in Koh Tao, Thailand. I am extremely apprehensive, scared, nervous, going to be sick, and this is mostly due to one thing. I cannot swim. I took swimming lessons in primary school but remained in the ‘Octopus’ group, the lowest, easiest group for four years, never once passing a swim test. I panic in water where I can’t feel the ground, and I feel my arms and legs are too weak to keep kicking or pushing forward, thereby sinking completely. I don’t know how or why I’m doing this diving business, but here is my journey… DAY 1…
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Bangkok to Koh Tao by Bus and Ferry
Despite the many confusing ideas TripAdvisor might put in your head, the cheapest way to get from Bangkok to Koh Tao is using the Lomprayah service. The ticket costs 1050baht per person and includes the bus and high speed ferry.
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Diving to join the under water world in Koh Tao
Our main reason for coming to Koh Tao was to do some diving. I’ve wanted to learn how to dive for a while now. After our epic journey to Koh Tao, we were tired and a bit discouraged. However, after speaking to Robin at Sairee Cottage Diving, we signed up to start the course that night with some theory and 3 chapters of homework! The next morning we began our classroom theory with Robin and then got taught on the equipment by Neil. After lunch we jumped into the water with our gear at Mango Bay to do our confined dive with all our mask and emergency skills. We had…
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My Fear of Water, and then I went Diving
I’d been apprehensive about diving ever since we had planned this trip. I knew it would be cost effective to take a course in South East Asia, but there was but one problem. I can’t swim. For months I’ve been trying to work out whether I could dive, whether I would drown, or whether I would even enjoy it (I’m certainly not a dare devil). And after hearing from others that you need to take a ‘SWIM TEST’ before you could dive, I had been dreading it. But considering we’re on this once in a lifetime adventure, and my main ambition traveling was to try new things and challenge myself,…
