Koh Tao

I'm just going to talk you through this journey for further emphasis of how exhausting (mentally and physically) travelling is sometimes. It started with a complete palava in Bangkok, which was basically 2 guys trying to sort out who was on what bus. There were people headed to lots of different places in the south but they put us all on the same buses because they are on the same route. It took a good couple of hours to sort out and was both hilarious and frustrating to watch at the same time. I ended up being taken on a half-mile walk to one bus, only to be walked back to the initial meeting point and further in the opposite direction to get to the other bus. They also have a rather annoying trick of asking for your ticket, giving it to their mate, forgetting who gave them tickets and asking for them again later. It's quite painful really, considering they do this every day.

After finally setting off, we got dropped by the side of the road near to the crossing for Koh Tao. About 4 of us got off the bus, including a nice girl called Charlotte who I met, and we then had to wait for whatever happened next. It was about 2am and my prediction was that we were close enough to walk to the crossing but would have to wait until morning to do so.

At 4am, a mini-bus picked us up and took us on the 45 minute trip to get to the crossing point (so much for my prediction). Had a good chat with Charlotte, who has spent a lot of time in South America and gave my some great tips for when I go there. We arrived at the crossing just before 5am (had no sleep) and then had to wait there until 7am for the boat to depart. The lack of sleep of everyone in the room didn't deter the hotel managers from Koh Tao though, who were already hassling us on where to stay and trying to sell us a diving deal. Koh Tao is essentially a Scuba Diving island, which was the main reason I was going there. I wasn't really in the mood for negotiation with them at this point though.

The boat departed at 7am and we were then hassled some more by the managers once we started heading to Koh Tao. Everyone on the boat was completely exhausted so had little time for them. We arrived at the island at about 10am. Knackered.

Day 1: I tagged along with Charlotte and managed to check into the same hostel she had booked at (not before they had tried to sell me a dive package though). Very basic again but also cheap so I was happy enough.

I'd gone through tiredness somehow so after breakfast, I decided to have a walk around and start comparing some dive deals for myself. I wanted to get my PADI Open Water Dive Licence and Koh Tao is littered with places that offer the course. After comparing about 5 different companies and discovering that the deals were pretty much identical, I decided to go with Seashell Divers. I liked the manager who told me about the package, the group sizes were small (no more than 4 people), which was something I was looking for and the package included 4 nights free accomodation in some nice Bungalows on the beach. It sounded good to me so I signed up and paid. My course would be starting in a couple of days.

That afternoon, I hit the beach and met three really cool canadians - Jordan, Lindsay and Yessica. They were just chilling on the beach and playing some frisbee so I joined in and we got on really well. I also managed to prove the accuracy of my nickname ''Buttsy'', which comes from our time playing Ultimate Frisbee when back at school. ''Butterfingers Bowyer'' has gradually been shortened down to ''Buttsy/Butts'' (and other variations). I can assure you lads that my catching skills are just as woeful now as they were back then and the nickname is definately still appropriate. Just as well because I don't think I'll be shaking it any time soon!

And to prove that my football addiction has not really changed either, I got up at 2.30am the following day to find a bar and watch the Liverpool - Man City Semi Final. Bit of a challenge finding somewhere, made more frustrating by the first place turning it off at half time, despite my pleas. But I found somewhere else and was celebrating with this other thai guy come final whistle. Get in! He was also dishing out some good banter to these United fans in the bar trying to rain on our parade. He did well too, I didn't need to add anything. Bring on the final.

Day 2: I met up with the canadians late morning and we hired a longboat to take us on the short trip to Nangyuan Island, off the coast of Koh Tao. This place is absolute paradise - 3 islands you can walk between because the water is so shallow and also crystal clear. It was nice and hot too so we had a really cool day. Sunbathing, more Frisbee and walking around one of the islands, which resulted in Yessica getting quite scared that the path was going to collapse - pretty funny. The longboat picked us up again at 4pm and took us back to Koh Tao, where we spent another couple of hours having a few beers and playing cards.

That evening, the 4 of us headed out for some local food and a few more beers. Nothing too heavy for me though - my dive course was starting the following afternoon. Good laugh though, really cool people and some of the nicest I've met on the trip so far.

Day 3: After switching to my Bungalow first thing, the 4 of us spent the morning on the beach. Jordan and I endulged in several hours sports chat - Football vs Ice Hockey. He said he needed it after spending so much time travelling with 2 girls! Haha - happy to oblige. Lindsay and Yessica fell asleep at one point and were amazed we were STILL talking sports when they woke up. They just don't realise. After the sports chat, I managed to get some preparatory reading of my divers manual done ready for the start of the course.

That afternoon, my Open Water course began. Also on the course were Josh (New Zealand) and Koen (Holland) who had been travelling together for the past couple of weeks. We were introduced to our instructor Julien (France), who seemed really cool and VERY laid back. I didn't know if this was a good thing or not considering I was a bit apprehensive about the course. Never dived before and the thought of breathing underwater that deep was a bit nerve-wracking. I was looking forward to it at the same time though.

The afternoon was filled up with classroom stuff, which basically involved 3 hours DVD watching to give us the basics. Was quite a lot to take in and we were each set homework questions for the following morning - like being back at school. After we had finished, I went to meet my canadian friends for dinner as they were heading to Malaysia that evening. We went to an indian place they highly recommended so we could try a Mussaman Curry, which is popular around here. I can honestly say, it's one of the nicest curry's I've ever had and certainly won't be my last in Koh Tao. Out for a drink afterwards and then we said our goodbyes as they had a boat to catch. Was great to meet them and I had a really fun few days hanging out with them. We think our paths will cross in Australia and I'm hoping so because it will be great to see them again. Back to the Bungalow for me - homework to do.

Day 4: 8am meet in the classroom for some knowledge review with Julien and a quiz to see what we had learnt. Like I say, a lot to take in but I was definately getting to grips with the basics and essential safety aspects. We then had some more DVD watching to do before starting the practical stuff that afternoon.

After the DVD, Julian took the 3 of us to the equipment room to get measured up for wet-suits, fins and BCDs (Buoyancy Control Device - an inflatable jacket you wear to help control your depth underwater). We then had an army-style drill of putting on all the equipment and then repeating it over and over again. Sounds tedious but it was the best way for us to learn to procedure so it becomes second nature.

Then it was into the pool for our first experience breathing underwater. This consisted of numerous different exercises such as: mask removal, BCD removal, switching air supply, mask clearing etc. I have to admit, I didn't like it at first and felt quite uncomfortable breathing underwater. It feels very weird the first time you do it and I wanted to get my head back above water asap. I soon got used to it though and started to enjoy it. Julien went round to us one-by-one so we could do all the exercises until he was satisfied. All-in-all, we spent about 3 hours in the pool doing everything. Feeling a lot more confident now.

We then switched to a deeper (and clearer) pool so we could work on our buoyancy (level in the water) and learn to equalize (make your ears pop as the depth and pressure change). I found all this pretty easy and the breathing becomes quite natural after a while. We had good fun.

We finished in the pool, removed all the gear for Sergeant Julian and then took it all back to the equipment room. He then set us further homework for that night in preparation for knowledge review and our final written exam in the morning. If we all passed, that would be the end of the classroom stuff and it would be straight open dives (in the sea) from then on. Excited rather than nervous at this point. I was really enjoying it. More homework for that evening. I'd made the decision to lay off the booze until the course was done.

Day 5: Knowledge review and Final exam in the morning. Thankfully, we all passed pretty comfortably - 92% for me, 84% for Josh, 100% for Koen (git). The pass rate was 75% though so we were all pretty safe. The exam was harder than I thought it would be but we all clearly knew our stuff. Reassuring ahead of our first 2 open water dives.

Dive 1: First time diving in the sea for us so I think we were all a bit nervous, I certainly was. Like the pool dives, it felt weird being down there at first but we weren't going to be coming back up for a while so it was time to get used to it. The dive took place at a site called Japanese Garden and we went down to 12m for just over half an hour. After the initial trepidation, I absolutely loved it. The site was good with lots of marine life to see and a cool underwater landscape. We saw lots of Clownfish (otherwise known as Nemo). Quite funny because Julien saw them first and was trying to word 'NE...MO' to us underwater. I was close to him so knew what he was saying but Koen and Josh were a bit further away and looked totally confused. We also saw a Stingray -  Not bad for a first dive!

Being our first open water dive, we also had to do a number of exercises. These included a lot of surface skills (such as me dragging Julien to the boat as if he was injured), cramp removal etc. We also did a controlled emergency swimming ascent - an exercise required to end the dive in certain situations. Felt better doing all these in the sea as it's obviously far more realistic than the pool.

Dive 2: After a short break on the boat, we were back in the water for our second dive. Again, this went to 12m deep and included more exercises before we could swim around looking at the fish. We did things like: mask removal and replace, use of buddy's alternate air source etc. All feeling quite confident by this point and doing all the drills with relative ease. Obviously, the hope is that they will never be required but it felt good to know that we were comfortable with them all. Julien seemed happy with us (it sometimes seemed easier to understand him underwater than above) so we spent the rest of our 42min dive looking around the site. Lots of Bannerfish and Angelfish and a really funny tiny 'dunnofish' that kept attacking a graze I had on my leg. I could feel the small bite and when I looked, he was going for me every couple of seconds. It was seriously tiny though so I had a laugh into my regulator. The dive finished with an alternate air source ascent, done in our buddy teams.

All in all, a really enjoyable day's diving. The nerves quickly went away (amazing how that happens when you don't have a choice) and I loved every minute from then on. Lots of wildlife, considering it was our first couple of dives and we were all feeling really confident with the exercises. Myself and Koen were both using quite a lot of air, which was cutting the dives a bit short but I'm not too worried about that at this point. I'm sure better breathing efficiency will come with experience. Feels great being down there though and surprisingly normal after a while - a feeling I didn't think I'd get. Itching for some more tomorrow, when we go down to 18m. Also giving some serious thought to the Advanced Open Water Course, which would allow me to dive anywhere in the world up to 30m deep. Will see how I feel after tomorrow's dives.

Day 6: Really early start - 6.20am.

Dive 3: We went out to a site called Chumphon Pinnacle, a site that had already been recommended to me by Andreas in Hanoi. The Divemasters at Seashell were all raving about it as well so I was looking forward to what we might see and it didn't disappoint.

This dive went down to 18m and was absolutely brilliant. Not so many exercises this time because Julien seemed quite happy with our previous day's efforts and was more keen for us to appreciate the greater depth of the dive. We saw so much - more Angelfish and Bannerfish and also loads of Barracuda and a couple of Moray Eels. The site was class as well with loads of weird rock formations to swim around and in-between. We all got to really appreciate the dive this time and all loved it. It was cut a bit short unfortunately because Koen was low on air and had to switch to Julien's alternate (I wasn't far behind either, Josh, on the other hand, doesn't seem to breathe anything!). So it was a 30min dive instead of the predicted 40min. Again, I'm not bothered about that though. Great dive, want to get back in!

Dive 4: The last dive of our Open Water Course. This one took us to a site called White Rock, which was quite a trek from Chumphon Pinnacle. The water was very choppy getting to the site, leaving myself and Koen feeling quite seasick whilst listening to Julien's briefing. Itching to get back in the water so we could feel better to be honest!

The dive went to 15m this time and, in my opinion, this site was better than Chumphon. Saw absolutely loads that we had seen on previous dives but also some massive Grouper, more Stingrays and a couple of Titan Triggerfish, which are really nice. Julien had warned us that these are prone to getting quite aggressive if you enter their territory but thankfully, these two seemed happy enough with us being there. A really nice underwater landscape and beautiful corals at White Rock too.

Had to do some more exercises to finish the course, including some work with a compass and practicing neutral buoyancy (moving around underwater without rising up or sinking down all the time) and the dive lasted almost 40mins.

Back to base and that was it!- all now qualified Open Water Divers. I'd also firmly made my mind up that I wanted to do the Advanced Course so I signed up, paid for that (2 more free nights in the Bungalow as well) and we got our new manuals so we could start researching for the next day. After the early morning, I spent the rest of the afternoon chilling on the beach. We then met up with Julien in the evening for the official certification process and so he could give us our homework for the advanced course. Back to school again!

Day 7: Koen and Josh had also decided to do the Advanced course and the three of us were joined by a nice German girl called Anna, who would be my dive buddy for the next two days.

After getting our homework checked, it was back in the water for our first 2 dives. These were to work on our underwater navigation and buoyancy. The buoyancy dive had a number of different exercises, designed to help you control your position in the water and help to conserve energy and air. Quite difficult though and takes a lot of practice. The drills included a couple of obstacle courses (going through hoops etc) and also holding Buddha poses underwater (pretty funny). The hardest drill was Julien's speciality though - 4 teaspoons stuck in the sand and we had to knock them over one-by-one using just our regulator and without touching the floor. Julien did a perfect demo, approaching each one vertically. Then it was my turn - not quite as graceful. I basically piled horizontally into all 4 spoons, removing a lot of sand in the process. I did knock all 4 over but it wasn't quite what Julien had in mind and he gave me a funny disapproving French look through his mask. Haha. All had a few attempts at this but it was really hard. Good practice though. My buoyancy still needs some work, although it seems to be ok when I'm just swimming around. All comes with experience I guess.

The navigation dive allowed us to use a compass underwater and we had to do drills such as mapping out a square and counting how many fin kicks to cover a certain distance. A lot easier than the buoyancy dive and my square was near perfect even if I do say so myself. Anna's, on the other hand...not so much (more like a triangle!). Good fun though. The dive was meant to finish with us navigating our way to a specific part of the dive site but we didn't have time because somebody was out of air (no prizes for guessing who). Probably just as well though because I didn't have a clue where he was asking us to go and I'm pretty sure the others didn't either! Had a good laugh about that when we returned to the surface.

That evening, it was time for a night dive and we were all really looking forward to it (as well as being quite sceptical). Got in the water about 6.30pm and it was pretty damn dark - didn't feel quite right to be heading underwater. Slight delay with Julien forgetting his weight belt - highly amusing for us considering some of the jibes we have had to take off him.

The dive itself was incredible, if also, quite scary. We didn't see a lot of wildlife but it was amazing being down there in those conditions. I spent more time constantly looking for Anna than looking for fish as you could easily lose someone down there. I was grateful for her long blonde hair so I could recognise her. We saw a couple of Stingrays and a few other fish but not much. The highlight was us sitting on the bottom with our torches against our chests, revealing hundreds of plankton, which we could move around with our free arm. Hard to describe but it was quite mystical. A really enjoyable dive but I was very glad not to be in Julien's position - hard enough keeping track of Anna, let alone the 4 of us.

Day 8: Final day of diving. Met at 6.20am again and set off to do our deep dive - 30 metres. Anna had real trouble equalising (making her ears pop) on the way down so us lads had quite a long wait for her. Thankfully, I manage to equalise really easily on my dives, which I'm very grateful for. When she did join us, the visibility at that depth was really bad. Julien took a plastic bottle and a bag of maltesers down to show us the pressure change. Both were pretty crushed as we passed them around underwater. The rest of the dive was spent checking out a ship wreck but the visibility was so bad that we couldn't see much.

Short break back on the boat before our final dive. This one was a fun dive thankfully - Koen and Josh using their cameras for underwater photography, myself and Anna were given little plastic pads to try and record what fish we saw. Julien showed us a book but there is a lot to remember.

This was one of my favourite dives in Koh Tao. We were joined by an American guy called Taylor and his instructor. We also had the video guy (Jacob) with us (at my request). We all spent the dive swimming around and messing around for the camera doing various tricks and dances - my moves are pretty good down there. Anna and I didn't bother noting anything down and we just enjoyed the dive instead, Julien didn't care. A really great dive and we saw lots. Also got to jump off the boat for the camera as well. Good fun.

Diving over, back to base as Advanced Open Water Divers. Spent the afternoon chilling on the beach and we met up with Julien that evening for the certification process and to watch the DVD. I bought a copy and will be happy to show you all when I'm back. Jacob has done a fine job and it's a really good watch. We then said our goodbyes to Julien and the rest of the Seashell team. Julien was a fantastic instructor who really helped me overcoming my initial nerves. Has helped us all a lot and will feel pretty confident on my next dive. Grateful to all the team for 2 great courses and a very professional service. Will definately be recommending Seashell to anybody going to Koh Tao to learn to dive.

We all then went out for some food and a few beers (my first in over a week you'll be pleased to know Tessa). Well earned I think you will all agree. We were joined by Anna's mate Sarah (Ireland) who had just started her own course.

After dinner, I went back to the hostel I had switched to. Outside were 8 Aussie lads playing drinking games and they invited me to join. After darting out for some supplies, I was happy to oblige and then spent the next 2 hours basically getting stitched up so I could catch up on their drunken levels. It did the trick! Great laugh at the hostel before we all headed down to the beach for a night that was on. Jaguar Skills in the DJ booth if you know him. Not really my music bit I think I was too drunk to care.

That's it for Koh Tao. I can now dive anywhere up to 30m deep and feel pretty confident about it. Breathing efficiency still needs work to make the dives longer but I'm sure that will come with experience.

Next stop, Koh Samui