PADI Course

We arrived in Koh Tao at about 5:o0 am, so nothing was open and no one was awake except for a few taxi drivers (using pickup trucks) and some howling dogs. We had met a couple of other English speakers on the boat ride, so we all hung out together exploring the neighborhood while we waited for the town to awaken. On first glance, it looked a little dirty and a bit over-partied. This was not much of a surprise, because we had read about this island and there isn't much to do here except spend time on the beach and stay up late at the beach-side bars and discos.

Erin and I had different plans. We had been discussing getting our scuba diving certifications, so we spent our time that morning shopping for reputable and cheap dive shops. We were quite fortunate to find Davy Jone's Locker (http://www.techdivethailand.com/), which is a small shop in Sairee Beach. The folks there were super nice. And although it was a little more expensive than other shops, the groups were smaller than the "mega" classes which are more popular with the folks who stay up too late at the bars described above (think singles crowd with a certain urgency which only a beach town can encourage).

After 4 days worth of videos and lessons both in and out of the water, we are now officially certified as "open water" scuba divers. Basically, this is the first level of dive certification, but we are very excited to have completed the experience. During the course of our training we got to see some amazing fish and coral reefs, and I'm afraid that future vacations may require a proximity to a good dive spot because we are hooked.

I just wish that we had an underwater camera, so we could share some of our experiences. I'm planning on keeping an eye out for a disposable underwater camera that will tolerate depth, so we can post some photos. We did get invited to make a marketing video for the dive shop, and the video now plays constantly in DJL. We got a copy which we will be happy to show you when we get back.