Rita Teaching in Thailand: Washed out to sea. . . "More Evidence. . ."

Scuba pro- can't you tell it's me!

March 23^rd- My second week of vacation continued with more scuba diving. With 3 dives, 4 counting the pool and my temporary scuba certification card in hand I was ready for a step up in the scuba world. When Heather, Michelle and I got off our wet overnight ferry in Surat Thani we met another volunteer Peter at the bus station. From there we made our way back to the Andaman Sea side of Thailand to a town called Khao Lak to search out the next adventure. We arrived in the town and were greeted by rain. We quickly found a place to stay the night and set out to find a live aboard scuba trip. We searched many different companies and were about to give up because the dates of the trips didn’t fit when we wanted to go. We were searching for one last place when we stumbled upon Liquid Divers. We walked in and before the gentleman spoke we felt we had found our pot of gold at the end of the rainy day’s rainbow. The trip was leaving the next day, had space for 5 people, was a small company that didn’t drop new people off at the boat each day, visited a new dive site each dive, the price was right and included all fees and the reception people were the friendliest people we had met.

Those bad ghosts better be scared

The following afternoon Ben and Zach (Fellow WT volunteers and 2 of the 8 people we spent time with at our first stop in Koh Tao) came in on a bus and we were ready to meet up with new scuba friends for the next 3 days. We gathered at Liquid’s shop around 4 to get all geared up with diving equipment. We hopped onto Sawng Taos (pickup trucks with benches in the back) and headed to the pier. Once on the boat we were shown to our rooms and then as we motored into open waters our boat crew had a little ceremony to bless the boat and scare off ghosts. This meant we had a nice small firework show to begin our new journey out to the Similan Islands. We then were served a huge dinner and settled in for the night.

1^st day onboard – Woke up ate a banana and toast snack. Had a debrief of the 1^st dive. Geared up and jumped off the back of the boat to begin our first dive at Anita’s Reef, Similan Islands (39 minutes, 17.7 meters). Instantly, even before beginning our decent into the depths of the ocean the 5 of us in my group: Heather, Peter, Zach, Ben and I were shocked at the visibility and the amounts of fish. Our guide Robin from Sweden was shocked at how clear we thought it was especially because the rains has made the water a little murky but not as much as when we were in Koh Tao.

Our wonderful cooks!

After this first dive we came up and ate from a huge breakfast spread. Slept, chatted or read our books. After a few hours we would have another debriefing on our next dive, suit up and dive in. After the dive we would come up to eat lunch. After lunch we had time to relax more and typically we would all sleep on the benched around the boat. We even saw flying fish one day. After a few hours we would go for an afternoon dive. Once back on board we were always served a snack- fruit and French toast. Then had more time to enjoy life at sea and a sunset before our final dive of the day, the night dive.

I was thinking I was maybe going to bail out on the night dive but I got my confidence up knowing I would regret not trying it. So after our debrief on the site we were given flashlights as we got our gear on and jumped into the water. It was an entirely different experience than I expected and a little creepy, yet peaceful. Diving in general is a calming experience where you live in your own little world but night diving was even more so. Looking up to the surface of the water you could only see a small twinkle of light coming from the boat and then looking around you all you saw were flashes of your friends torches lighting up sleeping fish. After the night dive we were fed our final meal for the day. After dinner we chatted with our guides or other people on the boat then went to bed, typically around 11:00. Waking the next day to repeat the rigorous life at sea.

Buddy Checked and ready to dive!

Dive #2- West of Eden (48 minutes, 18.7 meters). Got to swim through a rock tunnel. Scary because so close to so many fish but yet a neat experience.

Dive #3- Koh Bon (40 minutes, 18.6 meters)

Dive #4- Koh Bon Night Dive (41 minutes, 12 meters) First night dive!!!

Dive #5- Richelieu Rock, Surin Islands (43 minutes, 16.3 meters). Dive discovered by Jacques Cousteau, one of the top 10 dive sites in the world. All purple coral on this dive. Saw a juvenile angelfish so small and beautiful, rare to see.

Dive #6- Koh Tachai Pinnacle (37 minutes, 20.3 meters) The coolest dive. It was a boulder site with strong currents, we had to use the anchor line to descend and ascend which was kind of a claustrophobic experience with lots of us clumped in one spot on the line and everyone’s air bubbles tickling by. This dive was also my favorite dive because we got to see a Leopard SHARK!!!!! And a huge school of Barracuda.

Dive #7- Koh Tachai Reef (44 minutes, 20.6 meters) Once surfacing the boat was around the corner on the island we were by picking up other dive groups. We were left floating in the middle of the ocean for about 30 minutes. We were swimming hard and staying in the same spot because of the strong current. Quite a funny experience, I actually enjoyed just floating in the ocean with nothing around but the 6 of us.

Dive #8- Koh Bon Night Dive (40 minutes, 15 meters) My favorite night dive. Saw so many fish especially little coral crabs.

Dive #9- Koh Bon (40 minutes, 17.4 meters) Heather saw a Manta Ray and the rest of us missed it. Other groups from our boat also saw a turtle, we missed that too.

Dive #10- Boon Sung Wreck (41 minutes, 19 meters) This was a wreck dive. Scary at first to be swimming around old rusty metal but a completely different type of dive from the others. Saw a stone fish, weird looking thing. Very populated dive site and murky since close to land. While making our ascent we almost surfaced right up to the underside of a boat, freaky!!!

(If you would like to see some of the fish we saw google images of fish in the Similan and Surin Islands)

The wonderful boat crew!

The views of the main land were spectacular and all of our Swedish guides said it is rare to see the mountain on shore but the rains cleared the humid skies giving us a breath taking view. The skies were clouded over on and off throughout our time onboard but we wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. It was warm enough to enjoy the cooler water but not so hot that we couldn’t enjoy the deck of the boat without frying our skin. The boat was a nice way to get away from the world as we know it and see a new world under the sea. I slept so soundly on the boat even when I was napping on the narrow benches lining the edge of the boat. We had wonderful guides that laughed with us and reviewed the sites and fish we saw. The boat crew, all Thai, brought us to and from our dives safely, made the most delicious meals and would magically appear to help us but our tanks or flippers on before jumping in the water. Then coming out I could take my flippers off hold them above my head while holding onto the ladder and without looking up the guide was there taking them and putting them in my gear nook of the boat. I can’t wait for another scuba adventure!!!! As for now. . . ."it's good to be me"

(For more pictures see below and http://s1030.photobucket.com/albums/y369/Rita_Farrell/Live%20Aboard%20Scuba%20adventure/)