Travelman's Travels in Thailand Chapter 4: Live and Let Dive on Ko Tao (part 3)

At 1700, my Open Water class met at a table on the restaurant patio. There were nine of us in the class. Our dive master was named Ant, short for Antony. He was originally from Whales. Eight years ago he quit the office job that he despised and left to travel the world. Like me, he was four days into his trip when he signed up for Open Water at Big Blue. He continued on his travels and continued diving. After traveling for a year, he returned to Big Blue, became an instructor, and since then he's been living happily ever after. Like all the other instructors, he was deeply tanned and heavily tattooed. He leven looked like he was from Whales, big face and full, shortly cropped beard, and a twinkle in his eye.

We downloaded an instructional app onto our phones, filled out paperwork, and watched a couple hours of instructional videos. We were done before eight pm, but we had homework. It took a couple hours to read through the material and complete three multiple choice quizzes. I woke up early and completed them in the morning.

Class started at 0800 in the resort's pool. Some dive schools do this part in the shallows of the ocean, but if a pool is available at a resort, it's better because it's a more controlled environment.

Morning, before class...

When class began I learned that Ant would not be my instructor. The class was split into two groups. Ant's group was at one end of the pool and my group was at the other. Scottie, from Australia was my instructor. He was in his thirties, had tattoos, long curly blondish-brown locks of hair, an ultra-friendly accent, and an easy going hang loose aura. He'd been instructing for seven years as well. He was also a chef, and up until this year, owned a restaurant on the island that he had opened. He sold the restaurant because he was working himself to death, teaching diving and running a restaurant. He reminded me of an eighties hair metal-band rock star that never quite made it to headliner status, but that hadn't stopped this rocker from partying like the guys from Motley Crue in between shows.

Every diver needs a buddy. My diving buddy was Mattia, from Italy. Mattia had been traveling the world for four years. He'd been spending three to nine months in one place, working as a waiter or in a hotel, then moving on. He was great. He had a serenity about him, very pesonable. The other two in my class were a couple from Israel on their honeymoon. Their English wasn't the greatest and they weren't the most sociable couple I've met in my travels to this point. Their main language was Russian. I think one of them was origianally from Ukraine and the other from Russia. The husband was Oleg and the wife was Shanie (never quite got her name right because they didn't talk to us much, if at all).

Scottie showed us how to check our air tanks, how to use our BC (the buoyancy vest), how to use the regulator device (It had the main breathing regulator, the emergency regulator, a tube with a pressure/depth gauge at the end, and a tube that had buttons to inflate and deflate the vest. Before putting on the gear we had to prove we could tread water in the pool for ten minutes and swim 200 meters (16 crowded laps in the small pool. It wore me out).

We put on our gear, got back in the pool, went under water, practiced retrieving our regulator if we lost hold of it, practiced getting water out of our mask underwater, Learned how to remove and replace our mask underwater, etc. We learned to control our buoyancy underwater by taking controlled inhalations and exhalations, how to share air from your buddy's tank, and a few other things. It took us all morning. I left the pool with a nasty sunburn on my shoulders.

The afternoon was spent at a table on the patio listening to a lecture from Scottie. The instructors succcessfully put the fear of the ocean into us by going over the various things that could either kill you or send you to a hyperbaric chamber in the hospital. Before class started, Scottie had already properly pegged me as one that tends to think deeply about what I'm learning. He gave me the proper advice to not over think it and have fun, they'll make sure we know what we're doing. I correctly trusted him, they knew very well what they were doing. If he could teach the Israeli honeymoon couple that spoke little English, and keep them safe, I knew I'd be fine. Shanie, the wife, was not the most naturally skilled in the pool, she had many problems mastering simple skills that day and appeared anxious.

Here we are...

Powerpoint presentation Ko Tao style...

That evening, both groups went out to dinner... as a group- minus the Israelis and the instructors. We went to a place that offered two for one pizzas. It was actually kind of good pizza. The company was even better. The other group of four was: Stephanie from Germany-she was studying finance and close to being a professor, Betti from China- traveling with her mother-in-law (who joined us for dinner but wasn't in class), and Allie and Ed (hi guys!) from Birmingham, England. They're traveling the world for a six month honeymoon. They were in India shortly before arriving in Thailand and are off to Bali and New Zealand next. They're both looking forward to going to the Lord of the Rings sites in New Zealand. Everyone was awesome.

Here's us at dinner...

The lighting in this video is dark, but this disco-like song with a chorus that kept repeating "around the world" was playing in the restaurant, so I wanted to capture it.

We walked along the beach to return to the resort. Clouds formed a rim around the edge of the horizon, and in spite of a fat crescent moon, the stars shined radiantly. I learned from Ed that it's hard to star gaze in England even when it's a clear night because clear nights are bitterly cold. I told him how I cherished my memories of growing up in Ohio, laying in fields on warm summer nights with friends during a sleepover, gazing at the stars, and musing about someday, someday far away.

Fire twirling is a big thing on Ko Tao. I tried to get a decent pic...

It was a great night. The next morning we were going to have our first dive in OPEN WATER! We were nervous but even more excited.