We headed straight to Scuba Junction, the dive school and enrolled for my PADI Open Water course, which i would start on the Sunday afternoon. Kip signed up for a refresher, with the intention of being able to then dive together later in the week.
The island was quite busy but then got quieter during the week, this was because the full moon party had been on Ko Pha Nang the night before. This lead us to having an impromptu night out on the Saturday with a loud Australian farmer, a couple from the UK and a Kiwi - random but fun. All i remember is ending up in a bar where there were "Ladys" on stage singing - all very pleasant.
For the first half of our time in Koh Tao we decided to stay close to the beach and dive centre. This meant staying in some "Budget" accommodation. This was a 4 pound a night hut. This was ok and i was comfortable, until the cockroach crawled over my pillow.......hmm. Character building i hear you say...!?The first part of the week was spent doing my PADI course. This was a combination of classroom sessions, videos, reading and practical skills in the water. All good fun, just a lot to remember when your submerged in lots and lots of water. I was on the course with just one other, Laura from NZ. The instructor was a great guy (from North Devon) and so with only 2 of us to teach, it was a smooth few days. The bit i didn`t like the most was having to take my mask off and swim round for a minute with my eyes closed - but survived.
After the skills and lessons you have to complete a total of 4 open water dives from the boat. This was the bit i was looking forward to. All of these went well and on the Wednesday i was qualified - whoop whoop!
The best bit of the diving i hear you ask.....the free tea and biscuits on board the boat, in between dives.
After we had done the course we decided to move away from the small area called Sairee Beach and head north in to the island and away from the hustle and bustle. A place that Kip had found for some relaxing and chilling out. Well what can i say, but the term "Maynard Style-ee", a lot different from our 4 pound a night hut - Kip has changed.....
Lots of chilling out in our new surroundings, watching television (sounds daft, but without one for a month, it is nice just to lounge and catch up on telly), swims in our own little pool or a proper (hot) shower in a bathroom that was actually bigger than our lounge.
We decided that the best was to see the island would be to hire a moped for a day. So that`s what we did. We found some lovely secluded beaches, but what they had failed to tell us, was the steep, sandy and rocky roads you need to go on to get there.....but it was worth it. We weaved our way up and down the slopes and eventually made it back in one piece.
Sadly our time on Koh Tao was up and we had to leave our little bubble of luxury and headed back to the pier to travel back to Bangkok. Thank you Koh Tao, its been emotional.
Next Stop - Bangkok for a day and then...Vietnam
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