A Round-the-World Journey to Find a New Home #19

Dive, dive, dive (In Thailand)

The first place I dove in Thailand was in fact my first ever dive. I have snorkeled and skin dived a lot and really enjoyed it, swimming down to the depths to pick up a shell or swim with a fish I saw from the surface. In the Seychelles we swam with turtles and angelfish, in Mauritius we did snorkeling days off boats. This all pales into complete insignificance when compared to the real thing. However, I know from experience and from stories that skin diving and snorkeling can be a truly great thing, some great corals in the world are extremely shallow and give wonderful opportunities to see great sights, but are they really ever breathtaking?

I first enquired about places to learn diving on the internet on a notice board run by a very well known publisher of guide books (guess who�), and was directed to Koh Tao, where I was assured was the cheapest place to become certified in Thailand. I even got a name of a company, Bans Diving Resort, and a web site. Wow. I was ready; I could book a course over the internet and get a free room while I was doing my course. Couldn’t sound any better, I was already wetting myself with excitement before we’d even got anywhere.

We left Bangkok (BKK) on one of Thailand’s greatest ways to travel, the night train, to Chumphon, where we connected with the ferry bus (bus to the ferry) to take us across the waters of the Gulf of Thailand to Koh Tao. Connection in the loosest sense of the word, we arrived at 04:00am and the bus didn’t leave till 07:30, there was nowhere to hang out bar a dingy caf� on the station which served the thickest, treacle-like coffee ever. Only in Asia, it’s all part of the experience.

The bus driver arrived, let us on the bus, which was open anyway so we could have kipped in comfort on board in cushioned reclining seats, typical. Then a 30 minute ride to the high-speed ferry as the sun was warming up, so we all hung out on top of the boat for the trip over. Sleep, however, did not come. Why? Because the boat was full of touts for the various dive operations and schools (of which I learnt there are about 30 odd), and because we were a small number of people (even though we met up with the night bus from BKK and its contents of sleep starved occupants�) which meant there was about 1 tout for every 2 passengers. Then of course they all move round one, so as soon as you’ve been harassed by one company, the next representative comes along. All in all, you do not have to book ahead for the deal of the century (accommodation included on resort while diving) as all the companies here offer the same. Same price, same deal, accommodation included. On arrival on Koh Tao there was a pick-up to collect anybody choosing to dive with Bans, as there was for every other company� and we were getting really excited.

On arrival at Bans’ resort, we were given a room, a nice one in a garden area, or we could have had one by the pool, and told that there would be an orientation evening where our instructor would explain the course and what it entailed etc. etc. Well, it was about 11:00 in the morning, what to do, the place was empty (everybody diving) and realizing that if it was 11:00 in the UK the pubs would be opening and so�

It was altogether a very relaxing day, we had polished of the best part of a bottle of vodka after the 4 or 5 beers we had for lunch before realizing that the Orientation class was starting. Grabbing the bottle of vodka and two unfinished drinks, we set off for the class room expecting an informal chat about what was to happen. Oh no, not at all, it turned out to be three hours of knowledge review that we walked into, 10 minutes late, a little bit tipsy holding tightly onto a half bottle of vodka and two unfinished glasses of the aforementioned liquor. Hmmmm�

The instructor welcomed us in a deep East London accent (we’ll be at home here then, I thought) whilst the 6 other students looked on, some with shock and others with humour. We positioned ourselves at the end of the table giggling over this faux pas while the Instructor, Mark Sweeny from Essex, looked on warily. (Later in our stay after we had made friends and downed copious beers together he admitted that he thought we were going to be right trouble and a couple of complete pains in the arse, which we were admittedly on that first day, but I beg to blame it all on a simple misunderstanding) Anyway, the lecture turned into a bit of a piss up for Eddie and I at the back as we continued to drink, having gone past the alcoholic stage of realizing that it probably wasn’t a good idea.

Three hours later we fairly collapsed out of the classroom, having pretty much taken the micky out of Mark for the last hour or so. Luckily he is a good ol’ London boy and understands the sarcastic humour therein. We went to bed early clutching our dive manuals making pissed promises to each other that we would do much better the next day, much, much better, even better than that, coz he wash shuch a nicsh and undershtandin bloke. Diamond geesher, in fact, with out a doubt� And so it went on all the way back to the room where we collapsed.

So that was our first meeting with our Dive Instructor, Mark. And not the last, he did in fact turn out to be a bit of a lad, around our age, and like to tipple the drink himself, and in this way we became good friends, eventually.

The next two days went well and we turned up sober, passed the knowledge reviews and got to the first pool training session. This is where some people freak out a little bit, with all the equipment on and the first ever experience of going under water and breathing as if it was normal. It’s not, you know it’s possible, but sometimes the body refuses and you breathe in gulps thinking that with each gulp you will swallow a pint of water. Add to that a deep fear of claustrophobia, the pressure of not holding everyone else back and having to take the mask off under water and put it back, (which is actually a scary thing to do in the beginning, especially when then pool has so much chlorine in it, it could strip the outer coating of your eyes off!) Eddie didn’t want to continue and left the course, which was a shame because it was something we always wanted to do together. No amount of coaxing from me, the Dive Master who was helping Mark out, would get her to continue the course.

I continued nonetheless, while Eddie whiled the time away on the beach getting thoroughly bored while I explored the deep unknown and came back with exciting stories of what we did that day. The dive sights at Koh Tao are reasonably good; the water has a good visibility sometimes up to 20 meters, and have a good variety of fish and coral. The only thing is, we dove the same sights all the time, which was brilliant at the time but now I know a little better. I went on to do the Advanced Open Water with a day off in between to be with the Ed, after which we left as it was pretty damn boring for someone on their own that didn’t dive. There is one thing to have deserted beaches, but this isn’t paradise, and the talk in the evening is mostly diving. However, Koh Tao was a great place to learn the first certifications, but to continue there would have been boring for me looking back, let alone for Eddie, for whom it would have been unbearable.

We returned to BKK and it was at this time we left for Myanmar for a month before Christmas 2001, at which time Eddie went home to spend Christmas and New Year with her family and friends. It was planned that I might go back to Koh Tao to do my MFA (Medic First Aid) and Rescue Diver, the next steps to Dive Master over the Xmas period. As it turned out, the whole idea flunked. I spent most of the time missing Eddie terribly, and as Mark had taken time off over Christmas we spent the whole time somewhere between hung over and completely smashed.

It all started pretty badly when I was meant to meet Mark in Chumphon but missed him; the boat wasn’t going because the weather was too rough, and so I spent two days between Chumphon and Surat Thani trying to find a way across the water. Eventually I found my way to Koh Pha Ngan where I got stuck again for two more days before the weather abated enough for the fast cat to make a crossing to Koh Tao. The fast cat had to go extra slow because of 8-10 meter surges in the waves resulting in the majority of the sick bags onboard being utilized. I myself with stomach of iron was not affected (He-Man you know), probably due to the much practice in swaying about whilst drunk. Eventually I arrived in Koh Tao, having taken five days to get here (normally just a night and a morning), only to find that Mark was also on the boat having boarded it in Koh Samui. What a right mess up!

To cut a long story short, Mark and I didn’t get a single dive in the whole time I was there, I never did my MFA or Rescue, but managed to spend a lot of money in various bars such as “Safety Stop” and other dive related named places. Such is Koh Tao and its huge number of ex-pat residents who do nothing but drink and dive. I eventually had to remove myself from temptation by removing myself from the island to Koh Samui, where I flew to BKK to meet Eddie when she flew back from the UK. (She said that she had never seen me in such a state as I was coming from that period of time in Koh Tao).

Our next dive destination was more of convalescence for me after my time on Koh Tao, but turned into a very rewarding set of dives indeed. Koh Chang in Trat Province is a National Marine Park, and is surrounded with excellent dive sites as well as having plenty to do on the island for the non diver. There is a fishing village down south that does the most incredible crab in yellow curry sauce which became my mission to eat wherever I could find it, as well as being a nice atmospheric village on stilts out in the bay, an elephant sanctuary and plenty of walks and waterfalls.

For me, and as it turned out for Eddie too, it was the diving here that was the major attraction. We stayed on Koh Chang for four weeks feeling so totally at home there. We rented a small bungalow on the hill overlooking the sea a little walk along the beach north of White Sand, which was the main beach and the touristy area. We made the place our home, put photos up on the walls and adopted a cat which we fed sardines during our stay. I signed up at Eco Divers on White Sands to do my MFA and Rescue, and Eddie decided to do a discover scuba one day course to see if she could manage to overcome her claustrophobia. As it happens, not only did she overcome it, she took to diving like a fish and immediately signed up for the open water with Krystal, a German instructor that Eddie thought was “really great”. It was diving from here that we saw our first blue spotted sting rays, our first moray eels, harlequin sweetlip fish, bloater fish etc.

The wonderful thing about diving is that you are totally in a new and alien environment, you feel weightless, floating or suspended, depending on how you look at it. Everything around you is almost in slow motion; the calm that one can achieve down below the waves is incredible. You sink below the waves and drop slowly down into a garden of colours, full of fish shimmering like blooming flowers on a summer’s day and corals of colourful rock gardens. Tabletop corals that little clown fish disappear into when you get too close, trigger fish that chomp at the coral stuck to the rocks, and angel fish that flirt with each other. The multi shades of brilliant pastels of parrot fish that dart from place to place, and the slow laborious groper that always keeps a watchful eye on you from under a rock. Soft anemones that wave with the current and huge sea fans spread out in bright orange and reds. The world below is so different and engaging, it is so diverse that you can continually dive and always be awed at what you can see.

The dive sites of Hin Kwak Mai and Hin Lab South were amazing, partly because the visibility was so good, partly because of the huge amount of fish that there were. Nothing special or extraordinary, just the sheer volume, the incredible amount of marine life that swam all around you in great shoals. Shimmering silvers of blue tuna and barracuda, the yellow stripes of sergeant majors, all moving in almost perfect harmony, synchronised together, swimming this way then that like they were all operated by the same remote control. The highlight here was my first juvenile batfish, with its greatly elongated fins tipped with yellow. I remember swimming with banner fish that were very inquisitive, nibbling at my bubbles, then bathing in them. Having fun and playing. One even came right up to my mask as if I was in a goldfish bowl; he came for a closer look�

As Eddie was completing her Open Water, I got a rare chance to visit one of the world’s only vertical wrecks and petroleum gas tanker that sank way off the coast of Koh Chang. The site isn’t dived that much because of the cost involved in getting there. The local boats will take 8 hours to get there and most dive operators will travel overnight there and then dive during the next day and return in the evening. The dive operation I went with had a large high-powered jet boat that got us there in just 3½ hours, and gave us enough time to get three dives on the wreck before returning the same day. The uniqueness of this wreck is that it lies vertical (surprise, surprise) in 60 meters of water, the pointy end sunk into the sandy bottom and the rounded back end (I’m not getting too technical am I?) sitting about 6 meters below sea level. It’s held up by a huge gas bubble trapped inside the back end and is an amazing fish magnet�

The wheelhouse sitting at about 45 meters below sea level was too murky and dark, so we concentrated on the upper half, starting the dive at around 28 meters and slowly circled the hull as we ascended. Almost completely covered with crustations it was a feeding ground for so many fish, many of which seemed more inquisitive of us than we were of the wreck. This was amazing for me, first wreck dive with all the nooks and crannies that could be explored and fish that would actually come to me for a closer look, all I had to do was maintain my neutral buoyancy and watch the wonders around me. Unfortunately, we were one of the last dive groups to be able to dive this sight as it started leaking it’s cargo of petroleum gas and has since become unsafe and undivable. I was one of the lucky ones.

After a couple of months and a bit of traveling around Cambodia, Laos and Northern Thailand we were starting to itch to get back in the water, so our next dive area was decided to be around Krabi. We stayed on Ao Nang Beach where the season was coming to an end. The place was quieter than usual but still was a great place to go and visit with the pristine sands of Rai Leh Beach just a short long tail ride around the headland, and of course the famous rock climbing facilities there. It was around the beginning of May when we were there, it was still hot and sunny but the predictable pre-monsoon rains had started. Late afternoon it would come in, rain hard for a couple of hours, then stop. You knew when it was coming in, the sky would blacken and you could see the rain falling far away, when you looked at your watch you could gauge when it was to arrive, it came around the same time each day, regular as clockwork. Warning enough to find your self a nice comfortable watering hole to sit in and watch the downpour.

There are three well documented dive sites around this area (Shark Point, Anenome Reef, and the wreck of the King Cruiser with the sinister past�) that are reached from Krabi, Phuket and Koh Phi Phi. We chose Ao Nang (Krabi area) because we didn’t want to be trapped on Koh Phi Phi, a small and over popular (thus over priced) island, and live-aboards from Phuket tended to be more expensive. There are many dive operations doing short live-aboard dive trips in Ao Nang, and we chose a small and friendly company that persuaded us with off season discounts and an absolute bargain for Eddie to do her Advanced Open Water Cert, for just 2000 Baht extra. The only problem was that we needed another four people to sign up in the next 36 hours. Still nobody had signed up by the next morning, and in fact one of the already signed had cancelled� That evening though we were rewarded to see a full compliment of names marked up on the departure board as we walked past on our way for nosh. We were happy, we were going on our first live-aboard tomorrow, and by the end of it, Eddie would be an Advanced Diver!

Diving is an early birds game; we left for the boat at 07:30 and were away ploughing through the waters of the Andaman Sea an hour later. This trip was two days and one night aboard, the dive sights aren’t far but the night out gave us a bit of fun and the opportunity to be the first on the King Cruiser the next morning before the day trips got there. I was the only diver on board that was fun diving, everybody else was there to complete one course or another. This meant I had my own personal Dive Leader, and all the benefits that go along with that. Personal attention, go in when we wanted, stay down as long as we wanted, and plan dives how we wanted. Tuk was my dive leader. She had a fantastic eye for spotting anything and everything.

The first day we got in four dives, including a good deep dive that afforded great visibility at 30 meters, and a fantastic drifting wall dive. This was all good experience and I found myself seeing more and more with the help of Tuk, showing me the kind of places to look for particular sea life. That day we saw so many leopard sharks just casually lying on the sandy bottom that we were able to swim amongst them and get a really close view. I had my hands cleaned up by cleaner shrimps at designated cleaning stations, where fish would go to be cleaned of parasites and the like. Weird feeling, I wanted to pull my hands away each time the nipped at me, not that it hurt, it was just an unusual experience. The wall was like an abstract mish mash of colours in a modern art style, gagarious splashes and vibrant hues of different textures sprung out at us as we slowly drifted by. Little fish swam in and out of holes and around sea plants, the odd moray eel with it’s head menacingly staring at us warily from within it’s crevice, its mouth opening and closing showing the rows of teeth within, its gills gently puffing against the wrinkly skin of its body. Stone fish that camouflage so well against the rock even though they are right out in the open. Lion fish with their proud manes of spiky fins majestically waving as they leisurely swam their territory. At the end of the day I was tired but thrilled at the days diving and nosing through the fish books onboard trying to find the fish we had seen. It was great!

The boat was simple but adequate, the food was good and the accommodation air-con. The crew was friendly and the beer was cold, and a few of us relaxed in the evening under the stars on the rear sun deck chatting about our diving experiences, supping cold beers in the warm night air.

Early next morning we had our wake up call, a snack with the dive brief, and in the water at 07:20 sinking toward the King Cruiser ferry. Sunk on purpose with a full complement of passengers as an insurance fraud, no one died so we weren’t expecting any skeletons in the cupboards, but as we descended down the buoy rope the misty shadow that greeted us was somewhat eerie. A giant shadow grew clearer before us, and I realized that the ferry was huge. A dual hulled car ferry that dwarfed us as we finned around it. It was a very cool dive for me, with swim throughs and dark inside areas that we penetrated with our torches. The wheelhouse, stripped of everything by marauding thieves for souvenirs, and the row of porcelain heads at the rear, the wooden surrounds long rotted leaving the odd exposed line of latrines.

Shark Point has no sharks, ever, apparently. Odd but true, however, Anemone Reef is the home to a golden yellow sea horse that stays in its own small nook in a rock, gracefully maneuvering itself with the little back fin and it’s monkey-like tail that grips on for support. As we watched it, going about it’s daily life, I remembered Ben from Koh Chang. Ben was my instructor there and had over 1000 dives logged, and he always longed to see a real live sea horse, and never has. And here I am, with less than 50 dives under my belt, lucky enough to be with the wonderful Tuk, who knew where to find me a sea horse! Yeah! Looking back through my dive log, I notice that during those two days and seven dives, the variety of fish and marine life I noted down. It was a wonderful time, visibility never dropped below 15 meters, and everything was as good as it could be for our first liveaboard. However, it was not to compare with what was to come�

We spent the rest of our stay in Ao Nang doing this and that, including a trip into the seawater mangrove swamps. We started the day motoring to a beautiful island beach the name of which escapes me right now. Pure white crunchy sand that squeaked underfoot. Where the water is so clear you almost need not snorkel to see the shallow water fish that swam around you. Tame enough to for you to hand feed the last of our rice from the picnic lunch. Great flurries every time you immersed your hand with fingers clutching the balls of rice. They weren’t fussy either; I lost a fair bit of skin off my fingers to those fish with sharper teeth that craved a bit of my protein. Ouch!

Later, we continued by boat on to the mangrove forest where we decanted to kayaks and paddled slowly through this untouched area of mud flats and arched roots of the lush green trees. A friendly family of inquisitive monkeys came to see us, and as we got closer they jumped onboard the kayaks for a closer inspection. As soon as we started to edge away from the banks they would leap off at the last minute to the safety of the mangrove, only to return to your boat when you came back close. They were like tiny (hairy) babies, with small perfectly formed hands and feet, tiny brown twinkling eyes and ever moving rubber lips. They clutched at our fingers and played with my ears, smelling this, touching that. Tasting my jade pendant as it were something to eat, then escaping at the last second as I tried to gently move my boat away from the trees unnoticed. I never managed it; they were too clever, too wary. I’m sure they have played this game many times before.

As we continued we came across caves with names like Alligator Cave and Snake Alley that had mythical stories attached to them. Lastly a magnificent glide through a deep rock canyon where light shimmered through the dense humid air, creating spears and shafts that pierced the water we floated upon. It was so quiet, apart from the quiet water ripples as the kayaks glided through and the splash of water as a monitor lizard made its escape from the water up the rocks disappearing into a black crack.

We never made it to the rock climbing walls, as we left the next day for Phuket. The dive bug was with us, we wanted to dive the infamous Similan Islands and the Surin National Marine Park. Phuket was the place to head for the longer liveaboards being Thailand’s premiere dive destination. Thais and foreigners alike converge here for the facilities that are offered, but at a price. Again we hit Phuket in the coming of low season, but what was rain when you are going under water anyway? Who cares?

In our well-trained manner we set about hunting down the bargain, the best for the least, our tuned senses focusing and pushing for the best deal. And we found it! The Atlantis X, one of a fleet of Swedish owned charter boats that sail out of Phuket. The right time, the right place, the right price! Compared to our last liveaboard boat, the Atlantis X is pure luxury, ensuite hot water bathrooms in each cabin, a full menu to choose from each meal. A well-stocked fridge and a great crew, this was going to be great. Four days and four nights, 15 dives in some of the most amazing surroundings, from huge boulder sites to massive coral gardens. So many fish that I can’t describe. Octopus, and reef sharks, a plethora of stingrays, turtles and shy sea worms that reminded me of hundreds of tiny periscopes sticking out of the sand. Colours, oh so many colours, every hue, every shade. Shoals so large they engulf you in a cloud of glittering silver. But that’s not all�

We motored overnight having boarded the A-X on the evening of the 6^th of May, and dove our first days diving at the Similan Islands. That evening we moved north to the Surin Islands and on day two we reached Richelieu Rock, Surin National Marine Park, Thailand. It will be a day I will always remember. My skin tingles with excitement as I write this in my cock-handed two-finger fashion, urgently wanting to tell you my story.

It was the second dive of the day, in at 11:07; visibility was around 20 meters, and the water temperature an even 29�C. This was my 31^st dive in my log book and as we finned around, looking at the corals, marveling at the brightly coloured fish, two tank slaps rang out, then two again. This was to draw our attention I knew, but where? It’s not that easy to decipher the direction of a sound under water so I looked around to see if anyone was waving� A huge shape crossed my line of vision, a huge shape, flanked closely by smaller fish, smaller in comparison that is; they were a mere 1½ meters long. I shock Eddie by the arm who was oblivious to her surroundings, gazing at something below her. “What?” her eyes said, I pointed, she nearly spat her regulator (breathing apparatus) out, and then we started finning as fast as we could towards it, together both at the same time. This was a 10 meter Whale Shark, moving effortlessly, gracefully, silently through the deep blue waters. My heart is seriously pounding, I am wetting myself with excitement, I am swimming alongside a bloody whale shark. I can see into its eyes, I can see its gills slowly sifting the plankton from the waters, I can see it’s mouth slowly opening and closing, I am so happy!

Tank slaps, I can hear tank slaps, my Stinger is bleeping. I look back and see our dive leader beckoning us back, “I don’t want too!” I scream in my head, but my Stinger is warning me, I have to ascend a little, following the great fish was taking us deeper. We were so excited that we lost concentration; we had to ascend before we reached our de-co limits. Reluctantly, our group returned to the rock, no one cared about the rest of that dive. We just hung there marveling at what had just occurred. I kept on going over in my mind the slow motion movements of that great fish, the sheer presence of it. Later we found out that they were cobias swimming along side it, the Whale Shark’s own personal cleaners.

Only two of the five dive groups experienced the great one, and a table was designated for the fortunates where we joked loudly during lunch about our sighting, just to peeve the rest of the boat off that little bit more.

The third dive of the day, same site, but much more excitement. Everybody wanted a piece of the action. And we got it. Under the boat, relatively shallow compared to last time, a different fish, but just as big. It was lacking the cobias this time but it stayed around for longer, and being at a lesser depth we stuck with it longer too. Wow, I mean seriously WOW! As soon as the tank slaps were heard, everybody was trying to figure the direction of the noise. We all got there, apart from one group. Later that evening they sadly sat in the corner brooding, the corner was to become “No whale shark corner”. Aaahhhh�..

I can’t be bothered to talk about the rest of the dives, they pale into insignificance I’m afraid. Boring in comparison. One Instructor had been diving for 10 years, and this was his first Whale Shark. He was so made up, it was my 31^st dive, Eddie’s 21^st, imagine how we felt, you can’t. The liveaboard was quite expensive; even though we managed to get it at about 2500 Baht less than anybody else on the boat, but I would have paid that amount just for that one-day of diving and still felt is was well worth it.

Three days later we were in Hat Yai, a bustling town near the Thai/Malay border with a bustling Chinese and Muslim atmosphere. The food was great, real dim sum, and fine Muslim seafood treats. It was all a dream. Now I’ve written it down it’s all come alive again. Thank you for that. On the 13^th of May we crossed the border by train on our way to Butterworth, our first stop in Malaysia.