A divers' paradise named Koh Tao
It all goes fine when all you can hear is your breath and all you can see is a gorgeous blue world!
While the major focus of this blog is our diving adventure in Koh Tao, the fun we had in Bangkok over the short time on the first and last day is worth a mention. We packed some serious street shopping, visit to Wat Phra (Sleeping Buddha), an early morning walk to Lumpini Park, and most importantly, a cycling tour with 'Koh Van Kessel'.
While all our meals at Koh Tao were superb with multiple options for vegetarians like us, one usually tends to remember the first one, especially if it a good one. Our first meal was a hearty pizza with beer at La Pizzeria at Sairee Beach. All four of us loved it.
Our time at Koh Tao was squarely dedicated to the open water course for me and the kids, while Niki mostly chilled at the beach, walked around the island a little bit, before she met with a freak knee injury (more on that later)!
Our Open Water Course was spread over 4 days:
Day 1 - 4 PM - 6 PM
This was the introductory session conducted within the Dive Shop by our dive instructor Fiona, a smart English girl. The big news for me at the session was that the school is a RAID school, and not PADI, which one is the most used to hearing about. Over the period of our course, we realized that RAID is similar to PADI, probably more stringent in its curriculum. Besides Aarav, Ishan and I, there were 3 other people, a German guy, an Australian guy and a German girl. The German girl dropped out later because she informed the dive school about her recent ear operation. Although the girl's doctor back home had given her a verbal consent, the school wanted her to get a fitness certificate from a local doctor.
The session ended with a quiz which we all did well. After the first session, we caught up with Niki who was chilling on the beach. We then had Thai food dinner at a restaurant named Nanya's on Sairee Beach Road. We loved the food there. Since we had a night in the bus, followed by a day exploring Koh Tao and an early morning the next day, we called it a night soon by 9.30 PM.
Day 2 -
Session 1 - 8 AM - 10.30 AM
We had breakfast at The Local Cafe, owned by the owners of Pranee Amata, about 0.5 km walk from the hotel. Initially we found it strange that the breakfast was to be had at a different place than the hotel. But we got used to it later. Niki had a little struggle explaining our preferences to the owner, but eventually we liked what we ate. The good thing about us as a family is that none of us are fussy eaters. Of course we relish good food, but we seldom complain when the food is basic, without frills.
We checked in to the dive shop to meet our actual instructor Mathias, a Chilean with lots of diving experience. It was a long theory session with several quizzes. I thought to myself why couldn't we just cut the theory and just go diving. But I now realize its good to know the concepts well. We broke at 10.30 and met Niki for an early lunch at Living Juices and Yoga Cafe. She was brimming with joy as she just came out of a refreshing yoga session.
Session 2 - 12.00 Noon - 4.30 PM
This was the first real session in the water, albeit the swimming pool. He took our swim test (200 m) and float test (10 mins). I call myself a decent swimmer, but I must confess I struggled a bit with floating belly-up. He spent a good amount of time explaining the equipment to us. We then dived into the pool for a 4-hour long session where he made us do all the drills of mask removal, regulator removal, helping buddy with your spare regulator, BCD removal, etc. The first few minutes under water with the equipment were a bit challenging, but it took us very little time to get used to it.
After our pool session, we spent a decent amount of time undoing, washing and cleaning all equipment. We caught up with Niki again at the beach bar. It was evident she was in good spirits, drinking, messaging friends and enjoying the sunset. This was when she along with the kids, went for a dip and once out, wanted to take a jumping pic. Yes, the jumping pic, which she must have taken 100's of, chose to be a dreaded one making her land incorrectly and leaving her with agony and pain in the left knee. While I discounted her fall as a mere sprain, Niki was always sure in her mind that she has never experienced this kind of pain before and it is more than just a sprain.
Rest of the evening was rather sombre with Niki trying to deal with the pain and the anxiety of the upcoming dive the next day. The only silver lining to the dull evening was our dinner. We opened up the packets of Bhel which we carried from home and had a quiet dinner in our room. The kids announced this as the best dinner on the trip so far!
Day 3
Session 1 - 8 AM - 10.30 AM
A big day for us, Niki's birthday! She spent a sleepless night bothered by the pain. We did our breakfast routine at the Local Cafe. Niki retired back at the room for another nap and answering calls from family and friends to wish her. We met Mathias for our final theory session followed by a final quiz at the beachside cafe - the best way to have a class! Aarav and Ishan maxed the quiz while I was still struggling. I did alright on my second attempt and we were all set to go to the ocean later that afternoon for our first 2 dives.
We bought a knee brace for Niki from the nearby medical store. She was limping, still in pain. We had lunch at our favourite Nanya's and then proceeded towards Roctopus for our first two dives, and Niki for her first ever discovery dive.
Session 2 - 12 Noon - 5.30 PM
The atmosphere at the dive shop was festive. Several divers doing their different courses from discovery, open water, advanced open water, dive masters, or just fun dives. The dive instructors packed the equipment onto the vans, and we all proceeded towards Mae Head Pier to take a boat for our first 2 dives. At the pier, you realize that Koh Tao is indeed a dive factory with multiple groups taking off on boats, each loaded with at least a 100 oxygen cylinders.
The first dive at Japanese Gardens was filled with anxiety for all of us. Getting used to the ocean current on the surface took us a little while. We were made to descend down a rope. All 3 of us were floating all over the place, kicking each other and struggling with the rope while also equalizing the air pressure in our ears. Once down to 12 meters, we were more comfortable.
Mathias was a task master. He had no business in just making us go around the coral to enjoy the dive. He made it clear to us that the first 2 dives are going to be all about doing the drills. He had a tough time keeping all 3 of us buoyant at one spot where he could make us do the drills. We eventually managed to do the drills. The first dive experience was great! The thought of how fair it is for us humans to invade someone else's ecosystem for our pleasure did cross my mind.
On the other hand, on the boat, Niki was in the process of overcoming her lifelong fear of the water and struggling with the pain in her knee. Her knee buckled once she put on the equipment on the boat. Her trainer, co-diver and the staff on the boat were nice to help her into the water and with the equipment. With the pain and anxiety, she spent a little less than 5 minutes under the water, but determined to come back stronger the next time around.
We got back to the boat and went to our second dive spot - Twins Pinnacle. By this time, we were more confident and descended straight down without a rope. A crazy fun thing happened during this dive. The biggest skill of scuba diving is the ability to stay buoyant at any level under water and not to float back up to the surface. During the dive, our man Aarav floated up to the surface a few minutes into the dive. Ishan and I are on the ocean floor at 12 meters, kneeling down, looking at each other and wondering where Aarav and Mathias are. We knew that he had gone to fetch Aarav, but those few minutes were filled with anxiety and also the thought that if they don't show up on time, we might have to ourselves slowly float back to the surface. The only calming factor was that we could see several other divers around us. I bet they were thinking these guys have been punished by their dive instructor.
At the end of the second dive, the one skill which we were not able to master is the safety stop at 5 meters for 3 minutes before coming up to the surface at the end of the dive. Mathias was unhappy with all of us for not being able to perform the safety stop. He was also determined to have us perform it the next day on dives 3 and 4. We got back to the dive shop, cleaned the equipment and shared experiences with the co-divers.
We celebrated Niki's birthday and our dives at a Mexican restaurant La Cantina - probably the best Mexican food we've had in a long time. By now you must have realized that our life in Koh Tao revolved around walking distances on Sairee Beach. We called it also an early night.
Day 4
Last Session - 6 AM to 10.30 AM
Similar sequence of events at the dive shop as last afternoon, but this one early in the morning with groggy, sleepy faces! The one-hour long boat ride to our third dive site made me a little sea sick. I got a feeling I might throw up, but I resisted the feeling and did better as we went down. We hired a photographer to take pictures. While it must have appeared cheesy to hire a photographer, we could capture some lifetime memories.
The Southwest Pinnacle dive site is supposed to be one of the best in Koh Tao and there are all reasons why it is so. This has been by far my best dive experience, swimming around gorgeous corals and seeing amazing marine life. We repeated some drills of removing the mask, regulator, but mostly we were just chilling around the coral absorbing the most gorgeous views. We went down 18 meters, the maximum allowed under our course. We could see advanced divers below us at 30 meters. It felt like we could easily have gone lower, but were not allowed to. It was a bit heart wrenching to see the kids struggle with the equipment between the dives, but that was really the purpose of our trip - to get the kids independent and ready for more adventure in life.
The last dive of the day and our course was at Heen Pee Wee. This is actually a shipwreck, but that was an option only for the advanced divers. The open water divers went around the corals here. This dive, like our third one, was also a chilled one. The only skill we were yet to perform was the Safety Stop. Aarav and I did alright with the drill while Ishan floated to the top. Mathias took a teary-eyed Ishan back down, made him perform the drill and only then conclude our dive.
We got back to the dive shop, huffing and puffing, but with the joy of accomplishment. We got together with Niki at the beach. This half day was the only time we had to do some sight seeing in Koh Tao. Despite resistance from the kids, we took a boat to Koh Van Nguyen island, had lunch and spent the afternoon snorkeling in the most clear, serene and amazing water on the island. This snorkeling experience was so good and relaxing, it got as close to our diving experience. The kids enjoyed the experience of snorkeling with their mumma! We ended up paying an unanticipated cost of entry at the island.
We were happy we took the afternoon to go to the island, a slight regret that we could not hike up the little hill here. We keep that for the next time. We got back to the Sairee Beach, had our last dinner at the beach and also hung out for a bit with the dive instructors.
We would have loved to spend another day at Koh Tao, visit the eastern side of the island, explore some more food options, but that was all the time we had. We packed up, checked out the next morning and took a day-long ferry + bus trip back to Bangkok.
While Niki spent the next morning limping through the shops at Platinum Mall in Pratunam, I was happy to accompany her and the kids were happy to chill at the pool in the hotel. The highlight for me was a morning jog + walk at 6 AM to Lumpini Park (almost 8 km), fun to see early risers, walkers, marathoners in Bangkok.
Despite Niki's injury, despite Ishan washing his phone away in the beach, despite all the plusses and minuses, we brought back only the best memories from this wonderful trip.
Our dive instructors made a comment that Indians are generally not comfortable under water. We were happy to prove him wrong. I hope that this blog will motivate some of you to visit this exciting island for a scuba trip and have an experience of a lifetime!
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