Did I Dream?

So, on the road again, I arrived in Tong Sala - the port of Koh Phangan. I got my 2nd haircut of my trip as I realised I was looking like some kind of hippy. Into Sexy Scissors I went, the Thai girl asked what style I'd liked and pointed to some 20yr old photos on the wall... I wasn't impressed. So I opted for short back n sides. She lopped a load of hair off and I paid my 150baht and jumped on a boat destined for a tiny island off of Koh Tao call Koh Nangyuan.

A series of 3 islands connected by 2 sandy straights that are only above sea level 2 thirds of each day. 1 resort, 1 restaurant, 1 dive school, no shops, searing sunshine, smack in the middle of Thailands national marine park... perfection. I was dropped on a small jetty out front of the reception and shown to the bungalow by a Thai chap who insisted on carying my bag. Normally I'd feel really bad about letting someone do this, but after 2 mins walking across the pristine beach, I realised I wasn't that close to the room which Nick had arrived at the day previous. After what seemed like a trek to rival those in Nepal I got to room F14 - I think the F stands for "Faraway". Nonetheless, after leaving what I thought was a pretty good beach on Koh Phangan, I was bowled over at the beauty of Koh Nangyuan. Shortly after, the two of us were re-united and immediately got to updating each other on what had been happening the past 3 weeks. I got some things through from home - Jeans, new pants and wine gums... it's the little things in life...

We visited the dive shop and got ourselves enrolled on the PADI Open Water qualification course. Once you've achieved this, you are certified to dive to 18metres depth by yourself. The course gives a fair amount of theory and homework which we'd have to keep up with, and then an exam at the end after 4 proper dives incorporating all that we'd learned.

We spent the first full day mainly in the classroom and then around 90minutes under water learning basic skills. Although a section most might normally do in a swimming pool, we were distracted many times by the amazing fish that came to check us out regularly.

Day 2 of our course, and we got to go for our first eral dives. The first to an area known as the Japanese Garden (top right of the1st photo). After getting out of the water, we both agreed how cool the experience was, seeing so much new wildlife and experiencing weightlessness in water for the first time. After a 2nd amazing dive, it was time for us to jump on a boat and leave our little island - the full moon was due which meant only one thing - the Koh Phangan Full Moon Party.

We travelled over to Koh Tao, the main island near ours, and jumped on board the "Party Boat" that played some interesting remixes of classic songs - with hard techno backing beats in accompaniament. After an exhuasting day in the water, we opted to wait till after we'd grabbed some dinner to join in the festivities.

The moment came and by about 9pm we rolled onto Haad Rin beach. Within 2 minutes we'd seen a guy already passed out.

That kind of set the tone for this 'legendary' party and once we'd taken a walk up and down the beach we realised it was pretty much your Ibiza/Magaluf party out here in Thailand. So, when in Rome and all that... I purchased a bucket. Not a regular bucket like I'd had previous, this one had the usual Red Bull & Coke in but also an entire bottle of Samsong Whisky... I didn't plan to get any more after this one!

By midnight, the two of us had found plenty of other party people and we were chucking out shapes in between watching the various fire shows and fun down the beach.

Our boat that dropped us off, was coming to get us at 7am - which meant if you were gonna sleep, you were doing it on the beach... unless you have the greatest idea of all time at 4am after you've had enough of drinking and dancing... Thai massage! So for 2hours, I had what could've been the best or worst foot massage of all time, I was soundo after 5 minutes and only got up when she uttered the words "Mister, Fini' ". We walked back to the port ultra relaxed, jumped on the boat and drifted back off into slumber atop of some random padded life jackets for a bed.


At around 10am after a fry-up on Koh Tao, we arrived back on Koh Nangyuan. Nick went straight to sleep, but the bright light and crystal waters wouldn't let me do that. I picked up my snorkel and went for a dip with my camera. I was the only person in the water at that time, and so all of the fish that normally try their luck for food, crowded me to an almost claustrophobic level. It was an amazing feeling, at least up until a small fish called a Cleaning Wrasse decided he wanted a piece of me. He went on nipping away at my still heeling knee cap, though it wasn't painful so I thought I'd let him carry on.

I got out of the water and completed my diving exam (somehow!), the afternoon slipped away and before I knew it, I was having an early night...

Our final day of diving arrived, this time we boarded a boat to take us to the dive sites. We went as low as 18metres which was really cool, especially for seeing how far away the surface had become. We performed some tomfoolery for the camera man that was there; someone had to!
After dive no.4, we were announced as certified open water divers. We enjoyed the course so much we enrolled on the advanced course that day!

So for the past 3 days we had some more new experiences, Deep diving (to 30metres), Underwater Navigation, Naturalist dive (not Naturist!), Night dive and the reason I put on a Scuba tank in the first place; DPV diving.

The night dive allowed us to see a complete different set of aquatic life. The daytime fish go off to sleep, and you get to see more crustaceans, eels, rays; we even saw an extremely poisonous Scorpion fish. When we'd finished the dive, we were instructed to switch off our lights and in the darkness, wave our hands. This set off the phosperecent algae once again - I don't think I'll ever tire of seeing that stuff! When we surfaced, the stars were amazingly crystal clear so we floated around for a while starwatching.

The DPVs arrived at the dive shop and a buzz of excitement overcame me. Anyone who ever saw Thunderball and another Bond that escapes me now, will remember those little underwater scooters. So we each had our own ones to buzz around the sea bed with. It's the closest thing I've experieced to being Superman. Loop the loops, barrel rolls and the ability to keep up with schools of fish - you have to try it!!!

So now, in a week I've gone from no dive experience to 10 dives. I'm all dived ot now so will wait a while till my next one. We celebrated with the guys at the dive school with a Steak BBQ and drink session last night. Dannesh showed us his awesome Hungarian Techno collection and a cool time was had by all.

Our time on Nangyuan has now come to a close, tomorrow I will depart for a quick stop over in Burma to get some extra time on my Visa before heading down to Koh Phi Phi on the West side of Thailand.