On to Ko Tao, the diving island….

From what we've heard, this is the place to go for a PADI cert. The island seems to be 1/3 tourist, 1/3 dive instructors, and 1/3 locals. It's all diving all the time. Awesome.

To get there, we took an infamous night train from Bangkok to Chumpon. The train was cool, and though a bit cramped for someone 6'2″, pretty nice. We were dumped off the train at 4am and loaded on to a bus that looked like it was meant for moving migrant farmers from field to field. Then onto the ferry. This was the first time since Santa Barbara that we saw the ocean, and Danielle's smile said it all. Little mountain islands were scattered in the distance with a beautiful sunrise in the background. It was a great relief to see after four days of city life.

After docking, we signed up for a dive school (Simple Life), and started that same night with Jason, our instructor, and two others.

In the mean time, we started snorkeling. Our first site was a 60' sail boat wrek just off the coast. Here the coral was plentiful, the fish were colorful, and the water was warm. Some fish were small with vibrant blue stripes, some were big and every color of the rainbow, others pretended to be eels and backed into corners so I couldn't see where they ended. Each was unique and beautiful in its own way.

The SCUBA certification was fun. After learning how to avoid dying and understanding why flying after SCUBA will kill you, we were able to start in the swimming pool. Fun fact: Chinese nationals don't know how to swim. Apparently the school system is set up in a way that doesn't give second chances, so it's study-study-study with no time for swimming. So while we were practicing mask clears at 2 meters, a girl was struggling to stay afloat above us.

The next day was the first day in the ocean. 12 meters. What a thrill to look up and see nothing but water for that distance. We saw so many things, but most notably, a moray eel, a mega grouper (2-3'), sting ray, parrot fish, and a 1' wide jelly. No sharks, but we did we run into loads of trigger fish. A trigger fish is a territorial fish, that has a trigger fin that sticks up when agitated. They are common. Apparently if you make it mad enough it will get under you, swim straight up at you, and bite what ever it hits. Defense: rubber fins. I had little faith in my defense, but luckily they didn't get too agitated.

The next day was even better than the first, despite the rain. We hit 18m, did full gear on/off at depth, and learn about Jake the Barracuda, who loves bubbles and loves bumping divers. Ha. The next day our dive instructor spotted a whale shark, but we were not so lucky.

*Side note – Danielle is lining up her shot…she knows to hit the cue ball.

On our way to the next snorkel spot.

On our way to the next snorkel spot.

Dinner ocean-side.

Dude fishing with a string wrapped around a waterbottle ha.