Dan's Adventure

Before I left the UK I knew that I wanted to learn to scuba dive at some point during my trip but I didn’t know where or when. Both the Great Barrier Reef and the Galapagos Islands were on the cards for diving, but learning in either place would cost a fortune and I wouldn’t see as much as I would if I could already dive.

In most places in order to dive you need to either have completed a recognised introductory course, or you can sign up for a discovery dive where you are taught a minimal amount to get you started before going on the dive. In theory I could just do a discovery dive each time I want to dive without ever completing an actual recognised course, but in the long run this would be a costly road to go down as discovery dives generally cost several times more than a standard dive does, and I would never be able to develop my skills enough to really enjoy the diving experience. The most common approach is to complete an introductory dive course such as the PADI open water diver.

When I started looking into where to do the open water course several friends pointed me in the direction of Koh Tao in Thailand. The dive shops there churn out more open water divers than anywhere else as it is one of the cheapest places to learn. Koh Tao was therefore my next stop after Bangkok.

My plan was to spend the first morning there wandering from dive shop to dive shop trying to find a good deal. I had been told by other travellers that for 9000 baht you could do the course and get reduced price accommodation for the duration of it. There was no need to go looking for a deal at all. Once the boat from Chumpon set off myself and Nate, an American I had met on the sleeper bus from Bangkok, were inundated with offers. In the end we were set to pay 9000 baht for the open water course, 2 free fun dives after the course was finished and 6 nights accommodation in a twin bungalow. Result!

credit: jon hanson

The PADI open water course has both a theory and a practical side to it. Over two morning sessions and a video, our instructor, Chill, took us through all the tedious theory which ended with a 50 question multiple choice exam in which both myself and Nate scored 100 percent. In the afternoons we were in the water. The practical side has 2 parts; confined water exercises and 4 open water dives. Many schools conduct the confined water exercises in swimming pools, but right from the start we were in the sea.

Standing on the edge of the boat with one hand holding the mask in place and the other holding the weight belt I stepped out, making my first giant’s leap into a completely new world. Even from the surface the brightly coloured coral was visible as were an uncountable number of fish. Its like being on a different planet. I floated quickly to the surface and waited for the others to join me. Together we swam to shallower water where we made our first descent and started on the confined water exercises. As we kneeled on the sand taking turns to demonstrate the required skills double barred rabbit fish swam between us, that certainly beats staring at the wall of a swimming pool!

Over a few confined water dives we learnt to breathe deeply and slowly, how to float underwater without rising or sinking, how to empty water from our masks, emergency breathing options and perhaps most importantly how to use our breathing to control our position in the water – rising on inhalation and sinking when exhaling.

The open water dives taught us how to correctly ascend and descend in the water and also went over the skills we had learnt in confined water on real dives. The only difficult part was trying to hover at Chill’s eye level whilst cross legged. I would rise and fall continuously as I breathed deeply, it turns out that the secret is to breathe shallow to maintain position.

credit: Preview H

On the majority of our dives the visibility was excellent affording us fantastic views of the soft and hard coral, titan trigger fish, nemo, angel fish, long fin banner fish, blue spotted stingrays, puffer fish, moray eels, catfish and butterfly fish were everywhere. The highlight however came after we had completed the open water course. On the first of our 2 free fun dives we were swimming alongside a whale shark. At 4m long it was just a baby, but it still appeared huge to us, especially when it swam underneath us as we were swimming back to the boat after the dive.

To me, the diving around Koh Tao was fantastic. My eyes were opened to a new world and I now want to dive everywhere. There are almost as many dive shops on Koh Tao as there are bungalows so finding a good deal should never be a problem. I was diving with Big Bubble who are south of Mae Head in a quiet bay and I can highly recommend them.