Omg its early. Up at 05:30. Kit store at 05:45. Forgot my mask, so legged it up to our room and back. Collect kit at 06:00. Remember to take pills and emergency poop. Boat at 06:15. Sunrise.
As we left the Koh Tao bay, the sun was just starting to rise. We had a beautiful view looking back at the island silhouetted against the sky as we chugged out to the first side site. The waves grew in intensity and, as expected, I started to feel a bit queasy. The pills kicked in finally and prevented vomit occurring. But gearing up for the dive is pretty hard on a violently rocking boat. This challenge stopped me worrying about throwing up and then as soon as I was in the water everything was fine.
There was a bit of a current so we held the buoy line as we descended. There were already 3 boats at the site when we arrived. (How early they had to get up doesn’t bare thinking about) so there was a strange sort of orderly british queue formed down the rope to the sea bed. With the waves rocking us about it was a bit tricky to start submerging. Also, others that weren’t using the rope swam under me and I may have flippered them in the face a few times. This site was awesome, it was deeper, at 18m, according to the dive computer Amy had given me to use. This is a really useful bit of kit and pretty much a requirement for diving safely. We toured around the rocks checking out the coral and fish life. Occasionally dipping slightly below 18m, but that’s ok, it’s pretty hard to stay exactly at a certain level at all times.
This dive was awesome, it’s fun now we have done all the drills and feel more confident in the water. It was a bit strange looking up at the vast hulls of the boats above you. You almost expect them to come plummeting towards you. Something that large and heavy shouldn’t be able to be above you, supported by something as simple as water.
We had a short way to go before the next dive site. The waves really started to affect me now. I busied myself changing my tank over and setting up and checking my gear. This only lasted so long and then I had to stand on deck looking at the horizon. I didn’t vom, but felt terrible getting ready for the next dive. My worst nightmare would be vomiting through the regulator underwater. Apparently it can be done but I really don’t want to find out. This site was a lot calmer so once in the water everything was fine and i enjoyed it again.
We had arranged between our group to have a video made of our underwater trials. A small girl called Te turned up and hovered around us during the day asking us to make the occasional funny face. She was great and got some amazing shots of us and the incredible marine life. The video turned out amazingly, with some really good music choices too.
We saw the video in the bar next to the dive shop and caught up with the instructors. I met the chap who had taken Phil out and we had booked to do our Advance course. I was in two minds about this after the seasickness episode. I also felt landsick when I got back. It was like being drunk with the floor moving under you. But we signed up anyway and I’ll just man up and deal with it.