September 18, 2007

Koh Tao (THAILAND)

Day in the Life: Koh Tao

Today was a long day, and as with all long days it began at an ungodly hour: 5am. It was a bit of a rough and ready morning as the cold shower and day-old croissants did little to lighten our spirits, but such miseries can be endured when good things lay ahead. And good things definitely lay ahead.

We walked 200m from the bungalow to the dive shop where a dozen other people were also gathering around, half-asleep. At 6am everyone hopped in the back of pick-up trucks and headed for the docks up the beach. Once aboard the large dive boat, where I have spent more time aboard than I have anywhere else on the island, we had a one hour ride through choppy water to the Chumpon Pinnacle. This was to be my first 30m dive at this sight, which meant going face to face with sharks was all but guaranteed, and the early hour gave us the entire dive sight to ourselves.

On the ride over I began cringing in mock embarrassment as Jo told the rest of the boat I had actually suffered from another shark-induced nightmare last night. Most everyone aboard already knew I was terrified (and, strangely, thrilled) by the potential man-eaters, so it was all in good fun. I even went so far as to ask Ruud, in the way a timid boy asks a confidence-inspiring adult, to look after me when we go down with the sharks. As crazy as Ruud is (something I will touch on later), there is no doubt in my mind he would actually follow through.

Ruud, Loch, and I split the costs for renting a 1200baht underwater camera for the day. This was to be one of the last times we could dive together and we wanted memories of everything. When we first arrived at the dive sight there was a whale shark sighting, but it was gone before any divers were in the water. Most people were disappointed to miss it, which is fair enough, but this was not the kind of shark I was looking for on this particular occasion: I wanted the Bull Shark and Black Tip varieties.

With the excitement of seeing sharks the only thing on my mind, I performed a now-perfected front flip with my dive gear on (James Bond style.) Once I hit the water I inflated my BCD, gave the OK sign, and quickly put my mask on - floating atop the water is the scariest part for me because I feel like my body is shark bait, so I immediately rolled over and looked into the blue abyss for the sharks. Fortunately, the visibility was amazing today (35-40m), so I could see straight to the ocean floor where the monsters were circling - but none nearby.

With my regulator in, I began the descent with Mike, Ruud, and Loch all serving as my shark look-outs. The warning sign when a particularly monstrous shark is spotted (speaking is obviously impossible), is to do the following:

1) Get someone's attention

2) Point in a direction

3) Spread your arms wide (BIG)

4) Curl your right arm to your cheek, leaving it there, while your left fist goes in an out of the newly formed hole (F***ING)

5) Erect palm on the top of the head (SHARK).

You get the idea: BIG F***ING SHARK!!

We descended straight to the ocean floor, where my gauge read 34m. We were in the midst of shark territory, and Mike wanted us to do a few 'narc' tests - basically to see how much our thinking slowed  (being 'narced out') with the highly compressed oxygen we were breathing. While I performed better than I did under normal conditions there was a more pressing problem to address: sharks.

Just as Ruud began his test the first 'BFS!!' started coming over for a closer look. There had been four circling around, but this one was circling within a 5m radius, and with the camera ready we snapped some photos as it cut the distance down to only a couple meters. As the picture on the right demonstrates, I was calm as hell the whole time.

At least, I recovered quickly enough. We began touring the two large pinnacles where we saw eels, grouper, engulfing schools of fish (the kind that completely surround you when motionless), puffer fish, clown fish, anemones, angel fish, barracuda, and goodness knows how many others. It really is another kind of world below the surface, and it is a wonder to explore.

It was a fantastic dive and fully worth the early morning miseries. When we were preparing to surface, I went back on guard to make sure there were no sharks who had taken a fancy to my body (the wetsuit can be incredibly seductive.) By the time we reached the surface, the rest of the dive operators were beginning to arrive in other boats. It was a good feeling to know we beat all of them to the punch, and with eye-to-eye staring contests with a full variety of sharks, this was one dive worth smiling about.

The best part is, it was still only 9am, and much more was to follow. We rode for another hour to a new dive sight, White Rock, that had nesting grounds for trigger fish and a variety of caves/tunnels. Although I had never heard of trigger fish before Koh Tao, they are by far the greatest underwater threat. They are aggressive, and when provoked will slam into people, taking away a large chunk of flesh in the process.

The water wasn't anywhere near as clear as at the Pinnacle, but this added to the sense of excitement. One of the dive instructors felt like showing off and swam over the nesting grounds while a trigger fish began attacking. He was obviously accustomed to toying with the fish, and he positioned himself such that the attacks were always against his fins. By far the most interesting part of the dive were the numerous swim-throughs. I have become quite good at controlling my buoyancy (I only wear 1kg worth of weights and have never been below 100bar on any of my dives), so I had a good time with this.

After boating back to the docks, unloading the gear, and returning to the dive shop, Jo and I shared several Thai dishes at a nearby restaurant. We were both free to relax in the afternoon - each of us with a book on the beach - and we mixed it up with several games of pool and drinking beer with Jenny, Jemma, and Mark. I had to head back to the dive shop at 6pm for the final dive to receive my advanced PADI license. It was to be a night-time dive, which presents a rush all of its own.

Out on the water, where the black depths of the ocean loom eerily, I pulled on my wetsuit and began putting on my gear. Although our dive sight is not supposed to have any sharks, there have been sightings in the past. Making matters worse, the water was the choppiest I have seen yet, and the visibility was only 10-15m. Oh yes, and lest I forget, the only way to see anything is with a flashlight!

Below the surface we buddied up and did our best to stay alongside our instructor. Getting lost out here was easy because all it took was for someone to have their vision blocked by a reef wall, and there was no hope of ever finding anyone. What nearly happened to me a couple of times was swimming straight into a rock or piece of jutting coral as it can be difficult to keep track of where everything is. Fortunately, the dive wasn't entirely fruitless as we caught sight of a puffer fish, an intimidating moray eel, and a massive sting ray that we followed around for a while. The sting ray's motion is an intriguing sight as its glides underwater.

When we finished the dive we all exchanged high-fives in congratulations for passing our advanced course. I am now a fully certified advanced diver with the ability to dive on my own anywhere in the world. I cannot wait to get back to Florida where we have Tiger Sharks, the occasional Great White, and a collection of Spanish galleons wrecked off the coast.

When we arrived back at Hat Sai Ri, we all went back to our own bungalows for a quick shower and change - arranging to meet up in an hour at one of the popular bars along the ocean.

I was walking on air with excitement for the day, and when I found Jo we wasted no time in celebrating. We were eventually joined by an eclectic mix of nationalities: Dutch, German, Chilean, Mexican, American, and British. The people we have met on the island have been amazing, and tonight was our big celebration. We went from pounding local beer (Singha was cheapest) to slamming down buckets of vodka Red Bull to laughing through shot after shot of Tequila. When 3am rolled around and we needed food, the ever-reliable 'pancake man' was out plying his trade at the local quickie mart. I ordered a banana/Nutella pancake that was the icing on the cake of a perfect day.

Although I hesitate to repeat some of the stories I heard through the night (particularly about Ruud), I will at least tell two of the more tame stories about him that were formed over the past week on the island. The first starts with his massive dirt bike, which he rented for the week. I rode on the back once, and he nearly killed me. The problem is he has no fear of flying down the island's shoddy dirt roads. Anyway, only two days after renting the motorbike, he somehow managed to drive it off the pier and into the ocean. The best part is, he immediately swam down to drunkenly retrieve it, and over the course of several early morning hours he continued diving down with a gulp of air to push it ever closer to shore. Eventually, he got it back on land, but the keys were long-lost. The bike has been hidden away for the past few days so it can dry.

Another funny story also occurred after a night of drinking (surprise, surprise). Ruud was unwinding on the porch of his bungalow at 4am when two Swiss guys returned from the bar. Ruud told them to keep it down, and when they paid him no attention he decided to teach them a lesson. As soon as the two Swiss went to sleep, he untied their wire for hanging clothes and lashed it around the door. He went to sleep without giving it a second thought, and only relayed the story to me the following day when we saw them angrily complaining to the bungalow owners. Just as with the motorcycle incident, he got away scotch-free.

Just so Ruud doesn't sound too irresponsible, although he surely is, he is a multi-millionaire entrepreneur back in Holland. He is the largest domestic distributor of flowers, and if it wasn't for his Dutch friend (an affable sports journalist), I never would have known any of this. It really was a weird night.

Looking back on everything, I can think of no better way to spend 24 hours of life.