Koh Tao

Tuesday 23rd December 2008

Arrive in Koh Tao after a very rough crossing on the Catamaran, again people are getting sick all over the place...myself & Jane manage to hold out...just about! We have no accommodation booked when we get to Koh Tao but we arrive early enough to be able to try and find something. Luckily there are a couple of people from Cambridge that we know who are already on the Island so we drop our bags with them while we look for a place to stay. We struggle to find much but in the end we get something, it costs about double what we've been paying so far but we don't seem to have much choice as most places are already booked up for Christmas
Koh Tao itself is a really small island, you could probably get from end to end in about 20mins. The beach front on Sai Ree is minimal when the tide is in (early morning) but opens up nicely as the day goes on. The main activity on the island is either Scuba diving or just relaxing on one of the many beach front Bars & Restaurants.
Our first morning on Koh Tao we decide to book up a Scuba Diving Course for the 27th. For Paddy who struggles to swim its a DSD(Discover Scuba Diving) and the experienced Jane, who's got about 12 dives under her belt, its a Scuba Diving Refresher. As most of you know I'm probably not the worlds best swimmer so I'm a little nervous to say the least...anyway its days away yet so I can relax! Time for some last minute Christmas shopping...

Christmas Eve is spent with the lads from Cambridge on Sai Ree beach. It seems that they celebrate Christmas Eve more so than Christmas Day over here so we book in for a big Christmas Buffet. Its a typical Christmas, we are stuffed to the eyes balls at the end of it...but sure enough there is always room for a beer or two!
Christmas day we decide to hire a Mo-Ped to check out the island and before we know it we are at the other end in about 15 mins. This end is even more chilled out than Sai Ree, which is hard to imagine, also there are very few people and it kind of reminds us of Koh Phangan. From here we venture back up North of the Island where we come across what are probably the coolest beach huts/villa's on the island...they over look Nang Yuan islands (these are three tiny island just off the coast of Koh Tao). The place has only just opened and we stop off to have a drink and take in the scenery. Well Christmas day won't be complete without a mammoth of a meal...we come across a restaurant called Papa's Tapa's which supposedly has the best food on the island. They have a set menu on offer all for ???, well its Christmas so why not, plus dinner was on Jane so lets got all out ;-)
On St Stephens Day (Boxing day for some of you) we get a long tail boat over to the Nang Yuan islands. These are private islands so we all have to pay 100baht when we arrive. Its 100baht well spent! The three islands are all linked to one another via a little strip of coast line and you can walk from one to the other in about 2 mins. They are well worth the vist, even just to get away from the main land for a day.
So this is the big day...my first Scuba dive!!! :-()We meetup for our introduction about 10am and they go through the basics of what you should and shouldn't do while diving...it all seems pretty natural stuff...but it always does when someone is telling you its only when you have to do it yourself it becomes tricky! We stop for lunch for about 20 mins and after which we start the dive. We get kitted out and I'm starting to think what have I let myself in for. We venture into the sea until we are about neck deep. At this point we start going through what they thought us earlier...all going grand so far. Once we get the basics over with we swim out to where we will commence the dive. Once we reach that point we realise the air from our jackets and start to sink to the sea bed...its only about 5 meters deep. On the sea bed they regulate your buoyancy so that you just float above the bed...this is where I seem to have trouble. We start off quiet well but then I seem to start to sink to the bed again, we control the airflow so as I start to float but this time its a little too much and I start to rise to the surface...luckily the instructor grabs me and pulls me back down! This goes on for another few minutes until finally we get it right. After that it was pretty much plain sailing but it still takes a little getting used to moving in the right direction and been able to make your way over coral without touching it. The dive last for about 40 minutes, its been fantastic and something I'd definitely do again. In the morning we depart for Bangkok...10hr journey but the route is pretty good so it sounds a little worse than it actually is.