SCUBA diving in Koh Tao: 16-18 Aug

I drop the diving story. I decided to not write the story about my SCUBA diving trip in Koh Tao. The reason is that I wanted to write about a friend who joined the trip but it's gonna be quite negative so I think I'd better not mention it. LOL! The trip was great as you see the from photos. And that's the important thing you need to know because if you have a chance to dive, don't miss Koh Tao.

Now I'm just lost and don't know what to do with this blog. I have to say I don't like the column "My Photos". It's good to have it all set in this blog but I can't manage the photos in the way that I want. I can't even re-organise or re-order the photos. That's my major disappointment. So I'm thinking about leaving this blog to another one which I'm not sure it will be like what I want or not but I will try. So if you see me here again, either it means the new one is not better or it is my last message on this blog. We will see...

I don't know whether you will have a chance to read this. If you have, thank you.

http://www.thoughts.com/Namrin/photos

http://www.thoughts.com/Namrin/photos/browse/cid/6358

http://www.thoughts.com/Namrin/photos/browse/cid/6674

Namrin in Koh Chang for SCUBA diving and more (26-27 April)

Hello gals and guys,

Don't be surprised. Yep, I recently had another trip. Just like what I told you (or I think I told you) that I was going to travel around this country as often as possible. Since today is a public holiday, it's a good opportunity to share some moments with you guys.

This is more than just a diving. I have done a little good thing for the community too because the main purpose of these 2 dives is to cleanup the underwater It was my first dive without an instructor so definitely, I was excited. I had 4 travelmates. One is my friend who is also ex-workmate, one is her friend who doesn't dive, and the other 2, one guy and one girl, are her friends from a diving school. As we are from different diving schools, we exchanged a bit of tricks or how to work with things. The most interesting tip is how and where my friend and her friends keep their Octopus and diving gauge. Well, a bit too much about diving. You must be bored by now. Let's move on the photos from Koh Chang.

Koh Chang literally means Elephant Islands . As it's elephant, this means Koh Chang is huge. Yes, it is the second largest island in Thailand if I remember correctly. The largest island is the world famous, Phuket where is also a province not just an island. Koh Chang, categorised as a district/suburb, belongs to Trad province. It is located at the very east of East region of Thailand .

We arrived at Koh Chang very early in the morning to catch the first ferry. I think it was 6.30AM or so. Then, we drove to a hotel that held the openning ceremony of this community activity. I was surprised by the numbers of volunteers. When I received the agenda, I found that there would be like 8 boats going out around Koh Chang to different diving sites to pick up the garbage underwater. Each boat would have at least 25 people on so that would be about 200 people joining this activity. After the openning ceremony, we had to drive to another place to get on board and the pier is pretty far from the hotel. We wondered and were worried how to keep the schedule on time because we had to get on the boat at 9AM but the openning ceremony finished at 9!! However, the boat leader waited for us and other divers so we somehow made it. Wait! To get on the boat was not easy either. Everyone has to prepare their own diving equipment except tanks including weight & belt so everyone has at least one heavy backpack and from the parking lot to the boat pier is about 500 metre. I know it's not far but with this bloody heavy backpack....it was a very tough and super hot walk. I couldn't believe there was no facility to help us, especially for little girl like me! Imagine some girls walk by leaning to one side because of the HEAVY diving equipment bag. After moving our stuff to the boat and got them arranged, we found that the organiser of this activity has definitely not well-prepared. In about 15 mins to 11AM, we couldn't leave the pier because the (air) tanks were not enough!, lunch boxes were fewer than the number of divers!!, drinking water is not enough as well!!! What the???

I am not a very patient person as you may notice but this trip is free. We don't have to pay for 3 meals, tanks & boats and 1 night accommodation. Therefore, a little impediment and delay will keep our mouths shut! However, at the end of the trip, the organiser team let us fill out the comment forms. I and many people showed our sincerity by giving constructive comments how to make things better next time. Hope they will do.

Diving? Umm...little struggled to get down to be honest. Thus, I took longer time than other friends to go down. But after I reached the bottom, I was fine yeah. As this was not a fun dive, we didn't see many beautiful animals or corals. However, I found a few family of Nemo, lots of sea urchins and a pipe fish. The other 3 friends also saw seahorses but I missed it. And there a few types of fish but I don't know their names, hahaha.

The first dive went well until we came back to the water surface. I had held a net (bag) of garbage for a while, my left hand was tired so I swapped the bag to my right hand but I missed to grab the thin net holder. AHHH!!! I dropped it! I saw the net filled with garbage was slightly sinking to the sea ground. Oh!!! NO!! I nearly screamed. My friends came around and discussed a bit whether we should take it back or not. So two of them decided to go down while I and another friend were waiting (floating) at the water surface. The water visibility is about 10 metre or little less but the net is that big though and the current kept us moving. My friends couldn't find it. I was so sorry. I said it until you couldn't count how many times. Perhaps next year, a volunteer would find it. I'm sorry. It was an accident. :-(

Alright. I would make it up for the second dive but ....There was something with my diving equipment. After I put the regulator on the tank, the air was leak. A few people who seem to be experts came to check it out whether I did correctly or not. Hey, I wanted to tell them I didn't buy the license, man. I passed the test!! In conclusion, it was something wrong with the regulator and as everyone brought just one set of equipment, I can't get the replacement and there was not a proper tool can fix this too because the boat the organiser hired is actually for snorkelling. This means I had to skip the second dive.

Why would I stay on the boat just to breathe in and out while most of people dived? I was not me! I asked one of our friends who couldn't dive to snorkel. I asked the boat man about the current. He told me it was strong and its direction. Lesson No. 2 You should really believe the boat man. I believed him for only the second half. I couldn't see how strong it was until I swam.

There were 6 small rocks emerged from the sea that have coral reef around. The rocks line from south to north the same as the direction of the current. The boat stopped aside of the the rock line at about the 3rd rock but it was about 25 metres far or little less. I and my friend planned to swim to reach the 1st rock (most further south) then, we will let the current bring us to the 6th rock which sounds like drift snorkeling (dive). When we finish, we ask the boat to pick us up. Ok, we've got the plan. In reality, we swam to the 1st rock but after 5-10 minutes, I found myself was in the middle of the boat and rocks but hey, in front of me was not the 1st rock but the 5th rock and I was at the north of the boat. I looked at my friend. Oh my gosh!! She aligned with the 6th rock. I asked her whether she was ok. She said fine. I tried to slow down for about a minute. I checked her out again. She said she could still swim. However, I think we were slower than the speed of current. My sense of safety told me I was not going to do it. I think my friend was just 4 metres behind me but she didn’t seem to get the gap and I couldn’t stop swimming because the current will drag us too far away from the boat. So I decided that we should swim back to the boat. I called for a rope. A girl who was not a diver brought it but oops it was too short. I swam to grasp it and waited for my friend for a little while. Finally I told her to keep swimming and I’d go back to the boat and asked the boat to pick her up because I didn’t think she could reach the rope. In fact, she was little far away from the boat bit by bit. I got on the boat and told the organizer what was going on. She told me to wait for 10 mins because there were still a few divers around the boat. For safety, they should get on the boat first. Ten minutes passed by. I was looking for my friend keeping SWIMMING all the time!! Oh, my gosh, she may not consider me her friend anymore. This was the second time we met only. A few divers came back so I spoke to the organiser again. Oh shoo! We had to wait because the fishing boat came to pick the garbage from our 1^st dive. It seemed to be another 10 minutes. Good news! The fishing boat offered to pick my new friend up. Now, there were 3 groups of divers emerged from underwater. They were in front of another small ISLAND !!! Woah! The current took them very far. My friend joined the diver groups and got on boat finally!! The better news is we are still friend.

The moral of this story is when you travel with me, please do not expect me to rescue you. I am not a strong swimmer or experienced diver!

There was a little accident happened to my friend, Sri, who used to my workmate. While she peeled off the mango skin (it’s mango season, pals), she cut her finger!!! It was bleeding too much so the guy friend decided to take her to the hospital. Gee! Her finger was still on her hand but she felt that the knife almost reached her bone. It was quite serious because it was not slippery. She cut mango flesh with attention but she mistook mango’s anatomy!! lol

The moral of this story is even though you are born in the mango country and has eaten mangoes for more than 40 years, be careful when you peel off its skin or cut its flesh. Each mango is little different.

The fire dance show during the dinner party was one of the best things in this trip. I also attached one short video clip :-)

This email is very long and all story happened in a day only. Let’s skip the second day. There were no diving, just relaxing. Enjoy the photos :-D

Namrin
P.S. Some photos are little prone to my non-Thai friends.

Link Version
http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/namrinb/Photo%202008/Koh%20Chang%20SCUBA%20diving/?albumview=link

More: Namrin in Pattaya -SCUBA diving test 22-23 March

I forgot to conclude that I passed the diving test and I took the paper test last weekend and passed too. Everything is successfully accomplished, hahaha. Just waiting for a proper diving ID card....not sure how to call it. :#D

Love

Nam

Namrin in Pattaya -SCUBA diving test 22-23 March

Hello all

Finally, here it comes, the photo album that I really proudly present, Namrin in Pattaya -SCUBA diving test 22-23 March!

Pattaya is a city beach, about 150km away from East of Bangkok. Pattaya is popular for night life and how easy to access to the beaches so if you look for white-sand beaches and quiet atmosphere, pls don't go there. I have warned you. Pattaya city is crowded and somewhat developed. You can find everything here almost like a little 'Bangkok', and therefore it's popular place for many Western foreigners who are retired/early retired.

One of my closest friends lives and works in Pattaya so during this diving trip,we got free accommodation. The trip cost was included in my class fee so I didn't have to pay more except for transport cost and breakfast and dinner.

Let's get to the diving spots. We sailed to the islands near Pattaya beach, called Koh Laan. Laan in Thai has two meanings 1) bald and 2) million. From my own eyes, I think it should refer to bald. So Koh Laan would mean Bald Island(s) in English. Around Koh Laan, there are also smaller islands and we dived there. But as I didn't take note properly, today I can't tell which name belongs to which island. Just know that it's Koh Laan, LOL.

The visibility was bad. If I compare to the Rea Sea, I should say here is terrible! Of course not, I don't recommend you guys to dive here. My closed friend also said that from her 5-6 times experience diving here but there was only once that it was clear and the currency was still. The rest is probably like these 2 days about 5-6 metre visibility and strong currency. Therefore, Pattaya is not Thailand's favourite diving spots. Most of people come here for practice or just because they don't have enough time to go to further islands in South or very East of Thailand.

It's time to dive, my first official dive! I was so excited and delighted. I was ready with all equipment and jumped! Boom! Fine....I was okay. I caught the rope and preparedto dive. I found my buddy, Art. Give okay sign to each other, and then he dived first and I followed.

"Ughh...what is this? I can't go down." I thought.
Right, I had to release more air from the BCD (Bouyancy Control Device-the thing that looks like a jacket which connects a diver with a air tank). Then, I started to sink....but but remember what I'm scared the most? It's ear equalising. I grabbed the rope as I didn't want to go down too fast.

But before I tried to balance the air in ear (body) and the pressure from the sea. The water came into my mask. Of course, this is the second thing we learn in the pool class, how to clear the mask. I didn't know what happened. I couldn't get rid off the water like when I did in the pool. So I came to the water surface to clear my mask. Then, I went down again but just when I put my face into the sea. The water came into my mask again. I feel something wrong. I couldn't get rid off the water from the mask. I told myself "I'm not gonna start diving with full water in the mask" It's been little while so my buddy, Art, came back to ask me what was going on. I told him about the water. One of our instructors told my buddy to go first and waited for me at the ground of the sea. So I tried again and it happened exactly the same.

Now I realised that I was the last student left on the water surface. I thought to myself, "What am I doing here? You are going to ruin all the things that you have learned for 4 weekends. You wanna do that?" Definitely not. I gave myself another go but the water came in again. And this time I thought. "Hang on! Nam. The first rule of diving. You only dive when you feel safe." I didn't feel safe anymore and I knew that if I forced myself I would drown. Now I wanted to give up.

Another instructor who is also the owner of this diving school came to me and asked whether I was nervous. I told him I was a bit nervous but more importantly something wrong with my mask. He looked at my face and said my mask was too tight. Thus, he adjusted it. Now I felt more confident and tried again. BUT the water came in again.
"It happened again!" I told my instructor.
He asked me, "is this your own mask?"
"Yes, it is. But this is just the second time I used it. For the first time I used, the water came in too but it wasn't this bad. It was fine later." I replied.
"I see. Can you adjust it again to make sure it fits your face?" He told me. "I think it's little slipped off from your face"
I followed his advice. And just put my face into the water like snorkelling. I think it worked. I faced up to the air and my instructor pushed my mask on my face. "Ouch!" I felt the mask caught my face more tightly. Then, my instructor told me to follow him slowly and when I was under water, I had to keep pressing my mask on my face.

You know what, that really helped!!! It was just I had to keep pressing my mask when I dived down. When I reached the meeting point, I was fine. And then, I said 'cheese' to you guys :-D. And that's the most difficult part of the trip :#)

Even though the visibility is not good and the sea creatures are not as abundant as Sharm El Sheihk in Red Sea, there are still some underwater animals come out to "hi" to us. And I feel every single thing I found here is valuable because it's not easy to find. hahaha.

Hope you enjoy the photos and if you have any advice about the types of animals, pls feel free to correct me.

Namrin

Link Version
http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd191/namrinb/Photo%202008/Pattaya%20SCUBA%20diving%2022-23%20Mar/?albumview=link