Koh Tao- Taking the Plunge

Sunset Koh Tao

A 'short' boat ride later we arrived, from Koh Phangan, in Koh Tao. After our unproductive 5 night stay on the party island we had become more lazy and unmotivated than usual and had been unable to come to a decision as to whether or not we would complete our open water diving qualification here. Eventually, after plodding around with our backpacks on in the midday heat getting increasingly irritable, we decided to walk to Phoenix Divers and 'take the plunge'. Within a few hours we had been checked into some ropey accommodation (AC resort) and were sitting in front of a video tape watching the first of many informative diving films. We were in a small group, 3 of us Brits and 3 Dutch; me being the only girl. 

After watching the film we were given some homework(!) to answer questions from the tape we had watched. I learnt a lot about decompression which made me feel a little nervous about going deep into the ocean. After finishing our questions I suggested we go to a place called Sairee for dinner where I had eaten numerous times on my last visit to Koh Tao; being adventurous I had the same meal as last time too. After a foot massage for me and a full body massage for Dibbs we were ready for an early night in order to be fresh for diving the following day. 

Sunset- Lotus Bar, Koh Tao

We woke up stiff and aching from our rock hard bed and ambled down to breakfast. After a quick bite we were back in the classroom to finish the theory part of our diving course. Once completed we were all eagerly anticipating getting into the pool to practice some essential skills. Firstly, we needed to learn how to assemble our equipment; connecting regulators to our all important air tanks and checking that our buoyancy jackets were working properly. When all had been assembled, taken apart and assembled again five times I heaved on the heavy apparatus and waddled after the others towards the pool. I was feeling nervous because, although I have been diving a couple of times before, going underwater with only a mouthpiece and a couple of tanks supplying oxygen to your lungs is still unnerving. I was particularly fearful of doing the skills on top of trying to breathe normally and not start panicking. However, once we were in the water and the first skill had been completed by each of us, breathing came naturally in comparison and I soon felt relaxed. The first of the skills that we had to demonstrate was to fill our masks with water and then clear them. This is achieved by letting water in through the top of your mask then tilting your head backwards and breathing out through the nose. Admittedly, my clearing of the mask wasn't quite as graceful as the instructors and did involve a lot more snot flying out however, all in all, I think it went ok. I had decided to wear my contact lenses while diving for a clearer view of the sea life, however it did mean that I couldn't open my eyes in the water, when doing skills, and had to rely on a tap from the instructor when my mask was clear, consequently, I ditched the lenses after our first practice. 

Next we had to go a step further and remove our masks entirely, keeping our thumb in the nose to easily re-fit them. This was fine after having already filled and cleared our masks because clearing is the hardest part anyway. Mask skills done we were ready for the skills that the whole group had been nervously awaiting- removing our regulators (the mouth piece that you breathe through), finding them again and clearing the mouth of water. The most important part of this skill was to keep breathing out whilst finding the air again. This is the number one rule of diving- never stop breathing. The instructor turned to face me and I fought to look confident as I pulled out my regulator and flung it behind me. I ensured that I continued to blow out small bubbles of air until I had located the regulator and shoved it back into my mouth, blew out the water and was able to breathe again. Phew. After being in the water for half an hour we were all shivering with cold and opted to warm up and put on wetsuits for part two.

 I felt much more comfortable climbing into the pool for a second time because for me we had already completed all the skills I had been most afraid of. The rest of our time spent under water consisted of trying to create neutral buoyancy- floating at the perfect level and controlling movements by breathing in and out. I have to say I don't think I ever really achieved this. We also practised emergency ascents; sharing air with our diving 'buddy'. The last part we needed to experience before going into the sea was to have the oxygen in our tanks turned off. Although it was only for a second it was a sickening feeling to take your last breath before the air was turned back on; not something that I would like to experience in a real life situation. 


After leaving the pool we were ravenous and went in search of something to fill us up. Going behind the main beach path and into the town we found a restaurant called SU Chilli which was packed out; a promising sign. After our first night of delicious Thai food we returned for eight nights in a row, trying crispy pork, massaman curry, red curry, satay chicken, tom yum, chicken with cashew nuts and Thai meatballs. The food was incredible; it is quite difficult to find really tasty food on the southern islands because of the catering to western tastes however SU Chilli meals were beautifully, spiced, authentic Thai and we couldn't get enough of them (clearly). 

The morning came and we groggily made our way down to breakfast ready for the first of our sea dives at a point called Mango Bay. We had a different instructor taking us out which was a shame because the guys who had trained us in the pool had been great. Josh was still ok but I was definitely treated like the only girl in the group when he indicated that if I would prefer I could take my mask up to my forehead instead of all the way off like the boys. Of course I saw this as a chance to prove myself, ripping my mask straight off and clearing it in the same way as everyone else. After doing all our skills in the sea we were off the explore the underwater world. We were desperate to see a whale shark after several recent sightings, unfortunately, this was not meant to be. Needless to say, we saw some incredible creatures, hundreds of beautiful, colourful fish within touching distance, corals and even a hidden stingray under a rock. After what seemed like a very short time we were resurfacing, disassembling our used air tanks for new ones in preparation for our second dive. 

Early morning coffee

Logically, each dive should become easier but with so many things to think about and numerous factors that can affect a dive, every time we went down I felt different. On this particular dive I was having real trouble equalising which can be extremely painful to your ears; air expanding next to your ear drum that needs to be compressed by equalising. I finally got the pain under control and equalised, making my way down to the second dive site- White Rock- which was possibly more impressive than the first. Again, we saw a vast array of colour and movement. Dibbs must have much heavier breathing than me because I lost my buddy who was using his air very rapidly and had to be taken up with one of the assisting instructors. With plenty left in my tank, I followed Josh and a few others to explore a few under water crevices searching for hidden life. We found some camouflaged fish sticking close to the rocks, ones that I would not want to get too close to as they are extremely poisonous.

Preparing for an early dive

That night, we ran into a guy who we had met on a long bus journey and enjoyed a few drinks together as we watched the sun set over Koh Tao followed by another feast at SU Chilli. The contrast between our time on Koh Phangan and Koh Tao was huge; from late nights, lots of drinking and mornings lost to sleep we were now going to bed at 11 to get up at 6 and begin new journeys under water. I think the second life style was definitely more healthy.

Day four was our last day of diving; we went to two sites, Chumpon and back to White Rock. Dibbs and I both had trouble equalising at these but didn't waste too much time and were soon 18 metres deep watching schools of fish swim by and an enormous jelly fish floating harmlessly along. We were becoming a lot more confident as we swam through tiny caves and got deeper with each dive. The most exciting part of our last dive was when Dibbs and I were at the back of the group, taking our time and suddenly a giant brown fish with yellow markings swam right over Dibbs' head. I was manically shoving the camera towards it while

Shark Bay

Dibbs was jigging around underneath until our instructor mimicked a gun with his hand to indicate that we were swimming with a trigger fish who could have attacked at any moment. (See below).

As a protection against predators, triggerfish can erect the first two dorsal spines: The first, (anterior) spine is locked in place by erection of the short second spine, and can be unlocked only by depressing the second, “trigger” spine, hence the family name “triggerfish”.

I'm really glad that we decided to dig deep into our wallets to do the diving course as it is an experience that I will never forget adding the the fact that I am now a qualified SSI Open Water Diver, meaning (scarily) that I can rent equipment from anywhere in the world and go out diving- I think I will be buying an underwater map before I do this. 


After finishing our course we were due to leave the island however, after so much travelling, we simply couldn't be bothered. Instead, we spent our nights drinking and watching the sun set, spending time with Alpe d'Huez friends, eating and snorkelling.

Together with Finn and Michaela, we went to shark bay where we were all lucky enough to snorkel with black tip reef sharks, see more triggerfish and other colourful sea life. Koh Tao was a good time, I'm glad that we stayed to relax a little after the chaos of travelling from place to place.