Rob and Anna's travel adventure

Ko Tao Island, Gulf of Thailand

Anna's entry:

Located off the East coast, in the Gulf of Thailand, this beautiful island (except for annoying western travelers looking to party that we unfortunately encountered again) is surrounded by crystal clear waters and coral reefs. We came to Ko Tao for a purpose of a refresher scuba diving training - we have not dived in about two years after our certification in Roatan Island, Honduras. We planned a diving adventure to the uninhabited Similan Islands afterwards, so we felt that a refresher dive would be handy before then.
Well, Rob's refresher dive went just fine, mine deserves a special mention.

Let's see... We were assigned to a laid-back diving master James who was originally from New York. We went out on the boat, prepared our scuba equipment, put our tanks on with the rest of scuba equipment, started walking to the edge of the boat to prepare for a jump, and then BOOM! One of the hoses supplying air from the tank exploded, causing the loud escaping air noise, and turning the heads towards me from everyone on the boat. Our instructor James ran towards me, and took the tank off me. He gave me a new tank, we jumped off the boat, and began submerging. A couple of minutes later I realized that I can not submerge, this time a hose of my BCD (buoyancy control device) came off, and my BCD jacket was completely out of order. James, the instructor, and I ascended and swam back to the boat. This time, with more of a concern on his face, James handed me a different BCD, probably in hopes that that would be the end of mishaps. Or, so both of us hoped... I submerged without any issues, but during the dive, I pulled out yet another hose from my new BCD, and had no choice but finish my dive early. Luckily, I am a professionally trained swimmer, so I managed to swim to the boat without any air in my BCD, with a heavy loaded air tank and weights around my waist. This time James was not looking as calm - he could not believe that three consecutive equipment failures could happen to the same person within the first 30 minutes of the dive, or at least he had not had witnessed anything like it for all his diving career. This time, another instructor put a heavy duty seal-ring over my hose, two guys pulled the hose opposite directions and told me "see, you can't break it even if you wanted to!". "OK," I said. "Let's hope so". Fortunately for me, that was the end of the mishaps, and I must say how grateful I am that it was James who was my instructor. His sense of calm, and nurturing nature helped me to get a great refresher course. We continued diving with James, I think he knew that I needed to regain my diving confidence, so he included some special challenges during the dives - like going through narrow cave tunnels. His training helped me a lot with my sense of improved buoyancy, which later on came in handy during deeper and more advanced dives at the Similan Islands. James, if you happen to read this blog - Thank You!

Besides fun dives, Rob and I decided to explore Ko Tao island for some snorkeling opportunities. We found a bay that we heard had some reef sharks. We also got a great suggestion what time of the day to go there. One early morning, we finally found that bay. We got there early, put our wet suits and snorkeling gear on, and shortly after exploring the water we saw them. Several black-tip and white-tip sharks, about ten of them, maybe more. They were shy elegant creatures, it was the first time we saw them in the wild. Later on that morning several tour boats showed up in the bay, dozens of loud people jumped of the boat, which naturally scared the sharks away. This is one of the reasons that Rob and I carry our own equipment, and try to snorkel independently, it gives us a lot better chance to avoid the crowds, and most importantly have an undisturbed encounter with the aquatic life and nature.

I also would like to dedicate a part of the Ko Tao blog to a local lady who we purchased ALL our meals from. You see, having too many westerners on the island, creates too many over-priced restaurants, lots of which are not authentic. Rob and I decided to find something different, away from the crowds. We wondered around the village, and stumbled upon a grocery store that also had a table with several steaming pots. We approached a lady behind the table and asked if we could sample the pots contents. She told us "its hot, very hot, you eat hot?" We tried her creations, some we really liked, some were a little too authentic - curious internal body parts of pork, or beef, or chicken (I am not sure which animal) were swimming in the solution of numerous chili heads, intestines, and poignant bamboo shoots (I-know-it-all westerners - do not tell me how much you love Thai food, until you try the real thing, your opinion does not count, or at least not until then). Anyway, that old cookin' lady became our main food source for the entire stay on the island. As soon as we would appear, she would wait for us with a sampling spoon, telling us which dish she has just made, she would have us sample for free her new creations, and once in a while spill a secret, which dish was older so we would not buy it. Her husband got to like us too, and they both would discount food for us, or add a couple of mangoes as a free food gift. On our last night on the island, we came to say good-buy to the lady loaded up with our big backpacks. The lady was sad to see us go, that night she ran out of our favorite spring rolls, so she put some oranges and big carrots for us (for free) to take with on our night boat in case we get hungry.

posted by Rob and Anna @ 3:28 AM