Ko Tao - "Turtle Island"

Tuesday, 22 February 2005

Last night, after the Cabaret show, we decided to split up and go to different areas in the south. Erin and Tess wanted to go to a jungle rainforest, and Cathy and I wanted to go to Ko Tao, or Turtle Island, up north from Ko Samui. So, early in the morning, we headed our separate ways and decided to meet up in my town in a few days.

Cathy and I headed to Mae Nam Pier, and of course, by true Thai style, sat around way past our supposed departure time, waiting for hoards of people before taking off by speedboat to Ko Tao. It was a fast 1 1/2 hour ride with a driver who liked to do air jumps and ride the wake of other boats. Most people were going on a snorkeling tour, but we were just ferrying to Ko Tao. As we approached the island, I was in heaven seeing the beautiful palm trees, rock formations and bungalows. It was very picturesque, like a tropical island movie set. This was what I had envisioned when I knew we were heading on a beach vacation. We docked at the pier, and walked past coffee shops and cute boutiques, noticing many people eating at outdoor restaurants overlooking the ocean. We had no idea where we were headed, not knowing the lay of the land, so I stopped to inquire about Buddha Dive Resort, a dive resort I had looked into a month ago. Ko Tao specializes in resorts for SCUBA diving. In the Lonely Planet Tour book, they say not to go to Ko Tao unless you are interested in diving. But after spending a few days there, even if I had not chosen to go diving, I could have stayed there for a month and would have been happy!

Cathy and I decided to check out the resort, knowing full well that most resorts only take divers intending on taking diving courses; and most introduction Open Water certification courses are 4 days long. We had to leave on Thursday to go back to my town, so we didn't have 4 days. When we got to the resort, we were greeted by nice guys, hot guys, friendly guys, and in fact, there were a lot of cute guys walking around...Cathy and I realized this was definitely the right place to be! Diving with good-looking guys on a small tropical island and staying on the beach in Thailand...How could one go wrong?!

We were so intrigued after Clease, one of the dive instructors from Scotland (everyone there were foreigners who have relocated to Ko Tao after visiting and diving here), told us that they could whip up a 4 day PADI Open Water course in 2 1/2 days, that we looked at each other, partly in fear (thinking that they probably wouldn't be able to do the course in less than 4 days)and partly in anticipation and excitement (as Ko Tao is not only known for having great diving sites, but it is probably the cheapest place in the world to get SCUBA certifed).....and both Cathy and I decided to go for it!

But, we had to do homework right away, and within an hour of checking into a room, we were reading the first couple chapters of our dive textbook and answering the test questions over Thai food. The food was delicious and definitely cheaper than Ko Samui. Plus, we had everything we needed right at our resort, simple accomodations, a swimming pool for diving classes, a brand new office building with classrooms and the diving equipment, a travel agency and internet, a popular restaurant and bar, along with a 7-11 down the street and a lady who did laundry at her house around the corner. After lunch, we had to get in the pool for our lessons with Rob, from the Netherlands. Another instructor later described Rob as being the spiritual one of the group, the one who keeps everyone in line. Over the next few days, Cathy and I bonded with Rob, and we never let him leave our sides!

After our day of lessons in the pool, Cathy and I walked around the beach, had dinner at a lovely outdoor restaurant at the end of a walkway on the ocean, watched the sunset, and then talked about our exciting two dives tomorrow. We found an open air place next door to relax on Thai pillows while watching "Lost in Translation" and enjoying banana fritters. Then, we hit the sack for we had a long day ahead.