Sun Mar 1
We woke up and got breakfast on the beach. Today the plan was to hop on the scooters and check out other parts of the island before our night dive that evening with Roctopus dive school. We met up with Catherine from yoga school again and she joined us on the adventure. Dennis and Catherine were sharing a bike and got lost when I stopped to confirm our morning dive with Scuba Junction, they were going back to Chumpon 100% in the morning and I wanted my final dive to be there.
Two hours later I got ahold of Dennis and Catherine and met them at a southern beach. It was a beautiful but hot day. There was almost no wind. We stayed in the water the whole time. We left about 4:30pm to head back to our resort to change and return the motor bikes.
We had enough time to stop at the Roasted Duck for dinner. This was my favorite restaurant on the island and I ordered the roast duck egg noodle soup with an extra side of egg noodles. So good I can't even begin to tell you the flavors I experienced. Fat and happy we continued up the road for our next adventure.
We arrived at Rockopus at 5:45pm excited about our night dive. Dennis had never been night diving before and I remembered the mystery of it, we were both excited to say the least. Our dive was going to White Rock again. I was happy about that because it was one of my favorite dive spots so far and had a ton of variety. The boat ride out was clam and full of color. The sunset was clean and had a transitioning feel to it. I think the thought of the night approaching after in sets was a little more visible in my mind.
We waited until it was completely dark to start our descent. We could see Siree Beach bars light up the bay as we dipped under the surface. It was another world. I remembered why I love it so much. The light and shadow play tricks on the mind. I felt like I was entering the abyss. We touched down at 17.4m and swam around the various rock outcrops. I finally saw a blue spotted ribbon tail sting ray, two actually. More blotched porcupine fish and a baby this time.
We circled up at one point and killed our tourches to look at the phosphorescent plankton. This was cool circling our hands in the water and watching the little plankton light up blue and purple. It reminded me of swimming at night in the Mediterranean. In all my excitement my air got burned up quickly. I was at 50bars left with only 33minutes in. We started to make our way to the surface stopping for a safety stop at 5meters. I surfaced with 10bars left and learned a valuable lesson about night diving. Watch ur tank supply just like the day. On a happy note the bubbles and lights from the other torches at the buoy line looked like something out of a movie. It was incredible. I wish my underwater camera could go deeper than 12meters.
The ride back was filled with smiles and stories. The water was clam and the air warm. We unloaded and made our way back to unload the supplies. We walked back thru town and got a ok dinner at an Austrilain restaurant. I don't remember what I had but I wished that I had that roast duck soup again. We didn't feel like joining the party that was roaming the streets tonight. Diving wears you out.
Mon Mar 2
We ate breakfast on the beach and made no effort to make plans. Nice thing about vacation is you don't have to really be anywhere. We thought about checking out of our hotel and moving to a different beach area. I stopped in Ban's scuba school to check which dives they were doing in the afternoon. I was excited to test out my new open water certification without having any class associated with it. Just fun diving.
They said they had a dive going out to Chumpon. I asked if they had a advanced introduction dive available for it so I could go deeper than 18meters. They did. Dennis had some writing to do so we said goodbye and I sat down at the table with 2 other students and waited for the instructor. When Darren showed up he gave the class syllabus and I just listened as it didn't pertain to me. I said I wish I had time to do the advanced adventure diver course but I was leaving tomorrow afternoon. He told me to hold that thought and went into the office.
Luck was on my side. They were doing 3 dives today and 2 dives in the morning. That's the 5 dives total I need to get my PADI advanced adventure diver certification. I said I was in and got to reading. I was really lucky because this course is almost all hands on training so no class time.
We loaded up the long boat and made for a gigantic boat moored way out in the bay. This school was one of the biggest on the island and had all the trimmings. Even though it was big we had only 3 of us in the course total for our group.
On the 45 minute trip out into the open water off the coast we prepped our gear and reviewed our material for the deep descent. There really wasn't that much more you needed to do but unlike 18M dives you really need to slow your accent to a minimum 18M a minute. With your open water you can really descent from bottom to top without having to stop as long as you don't beat your bubbles. Its not advisable but it won't kill you. Under that mark you better keep your head on you if you want to avoid the bends.
We pulled up to buoys floating in the middle of no where. Small bubbles were popping all around from other divers under the water already. We were already geared up and I was excited to go deeper than I ever had before. After our buddy check we jumped in the water and swam over the buoy to start our descent into the abyss. I was super pumped to see if it would terrify me or feel scary. I had no idea what was ahead.
We started our fins down descent like any other following the buoy line down. It stopped on a large rock formation about 18M underwater. We swam away from the line to the edge of the formation to the deeper water below. I was pumped. We started our second descent this time swimming down instead of free falling. This way feels a lot cooler. The water visibility on the bottom was low. There was a slight current kicking up silt and sand.
We opened a raw egg. The yolk stayed together under the pressure. It was fun pushing the little yellow ball around underwater. Our dive teacher pulled it back to him then flicked it with his finger. It disintegrated and disappeared. It was very cool to watch. Next he pulled out a red tomato. At that depth red is the first color to disappear from the spectrum. It looked gray. Now I know what color blind people see when they see red. Its bland and kind of purple/grayish. We smashed the tomato and gave it the local fish.
We swam off in a stead circle going up the Champon pinnacles. There was tons of sea anemones on the tops of the pinnacles. It looked like a swaying forest. Not one portion was rock it was all life. We swam in and out of these tall underwater towers. As we circled up for our safety stop at 5meters the light shinned through the rippling water above.
My favorite part was the safety stop for 3mins. A huge school of fish circled like a giant wall of silver and yellow to the south of us. The west the buoy line was filled with descending divers and their bubbles. The bubbles broke and split with the light in such a fantastic dance on their accent to the surface. To the North was the main dive area teeming with life. To the East the shadow of the boat with its anchor floating in the water. It was beyond words. I felt a great breath of happiness and gratitude for the moment. It was life and I was blessed to be living it.
Back on the boat we made way for Red Rock our second dive spot. At this location we would work on under water navigation. We waited a hour interval before diving back into the water. This allows the nitrogen to leave the system and gives a longer second dive time. We talked about our navigation techniques and geared up.
We jumped in the water and swam for the underwater formation. We quickly reviewed the techniques and skills on the surface then descended. The visibility was low at 10-12 meters. This would add a challenge to our dive skills but that's precisely why we needed to learn underwater navigation. At the bottom we split into two groups. We had another dive master in training with us, Lauren, who partnered up with me. I was suppose to swim away 100meters then swim back 100M on the opposite course. The dive master in training was being a perfectionist and kept pulling me sideways on my way back. I knew where I was going and proceeded to ignore her pulls. We came back to Darren our instructor in perfect sync from where I left him.
I did my 25M square skills and same as before ended up back in the same place. Lauren stopped pulling on me this time :) At this point we waited for the other two teams to come back to where we started. Remember the visibility was very limited so we couldn't see further than 25-30 ft from where we were in neutral buoyancy. After about 3-4 minutes we decided to ascend. When diving if you lose a person in the group you stop. Look around. Wait a minute then ascend to surface with no safety stop. We did that and surfaced. Another 10minutes passed.
Darren was upset that the other two students didn't do what they were suppose to. He told me to descend with Lauren so I could get my fun diving in with navigation. I was going to lead the dive and she was suppose to follow me. We descended to the bottom. I set my course and made for the shore to the west of us. We got there and broke right heading north. The underwater rocks and coral formations were amazing. We swam for about 15minutes then turned back around. Lauren started leading which annoyed me because I wanted to see if I could master this skill.
When we got back to a formation I recognized when we swam to the shore and I signaled Lauren to head back East toward the Red Rock formation. She followed. After about 15M she tugged me and lead me another direction. My brain told me that was taking us away from the place we were suppose to go. Every 10-15M I got another pull and point leading us to a slightly different heading. After what should have been 50-60meters we should have hit the rock and didn't I felt like we were in open water.
We made the signal to ascend and did our safety stop while swimming on. We ended up 100 meters from the rock formation but on the up side we were by the boat. I was bummed that I kept getting instruction instead of letting me fail or succeed on my own. I still think I could have navigated us back to the right spot without interference but I'll never know. She meant well trying to give me help. I found out later that's the one skill she said she needed to improve on. Sera sera.
Back on the boat the two lost students were still getting a lecture from our dive master. They were embarrassed but happy with the dive. We loaded up our bags and made for the shore. We had a 2 hour break before we had to be back for our night dive.
I met up with Dennis and had dinner at Bans restaurant on the water. After my shower and catching up on the day I only had a limited time to go somewhere to eat. With a really good Pad Thai in my belly I met up with my class again. We loaded up the long boat and shipped out for our main boat.
We were diving White Rock. This would be my second night dive at this location but so far it was one of my favorites. Its very diverse dive site with lots to look at with fun formations to swim around.
Visibility was good tonight. When we hit the bottom we swam off to do a few more skills in the dark. This was mostly hand signals using the flashlights and a few other exercises we do during the day. We made off for various formations and swam around looking at the sea life. Everything seems a little bit more mysterious in the dark when underwater. After about 20 minutes Darren swam us far away from main dive area and we shut off all our flashlights to look at the phosphorescent plankton. Its always fun looking at the little lights appear out of nowhere.
After a couple minutes of playing around with the plankton we kept our flashlights off and swam back toward the reef. I was surprised how well I could see in the dark under 40 feet of water. The boats above and other divers seemed to light up the water enough to see where we were going but also the sea life around us. It was a new experience to diving I was happy to indulge in. I liked it and had a feeling I would do it again in the future.
We surfaced about 48 minutes later, 3 dives down in my advanced course. Back on shore with all the gear washed and stowed I made my way back to the room to shower and change for my last night on the islands.
Dennis and I found a restaurant with these cool low hanging trees and lights you could eat under. We shared some laughs over a few beers. It felt surreal for me that I had been in Thailand for so long already and yet it felt so short. The dinner was good. At that point in the trip it was hard to compare one meal to another they were all so amazing.
There was a party next door to the restaurant at another bar that was packed. It was strange. My last night on the island and I really had no desire to drink or meet fellow travelers. I was content with my place in the world and running around drunk at a bar had no meaning for me. It was a funny moment realizing I didn't need that anymore to be happy or complete. In college I felt guilty if I wasn't part of the party and now I could honestly care less.
We stopped at a few shops and bars on the way back to the hotel but nothing to speak of. I was excited about my continued education in morning. I really love diving!
Fish from the dives we've seen
They said they had a dive going out to Chumpon. I asked if they had a advanced introduction dive available for it so I could go deeper than 18meters. They did. Dennis had some writing to do so we said goodbye and I sat down at the table with 2 other students and waited for the instructor. When Darren showed up he gave the class syllabus and I just listened as it didn't pertain to me. I said I wish I had time to do the advanced adventure diver course but I was leaving tomorrow afternoon. He told me to hold that thought and went into the office.
Luck was on my side. They were doing 3 dives today and 2 dives in the morning. That's the 5 dives total I need to get my PADI advanced adventure diver certification. I said I was in and got to reading. I was really lucky because this course is almost all hands on training so no class time.
We loaded up the long boat and made for a gigantic boat moored way out in the bay. This school was one of the biggest on the island and had all the trimmings. Even though it was big we had only 3 of us in the course total for our group.
On the 45 minute trip out into the open water off the coast we prepped our gear and reviewed our material for the deep descent. There really wasn't that much more you needed to do but unlike 18M dives you really need to slow your accent to a minimum 18M a minute. With your open water you can really descent from bottom to top without having to stop as long as you don't beat your bubbles. Its not advisable but it won't kill you. Under that mark you better keep your head on you if you want to avoid the bends.
We pulled up to buoys floating in the middle of no where. Small bubbles were popping all around from other divers under the water already. We were already geared up and I was excited to go deeper than I ever had before. After our buddy check we jumped in the water and swam over the buoy to start our descent into the abyss. I was super pumped to see if it would terrify me or feel scary. I had no idea what was ahead.
We started our fins down descent like any other following the buoy line down. It stopped on a large rock formation about 18M underwater. We swam away from the line to the edge of the formation to the deeper water below. I was pumped. We started our second descent this time swimming down instead of free falling. This way feels a lot cooler. The water visibility on the bottom was low. There was a slight current kicking up silt and sand.
We opened a raw egg. The yolk stayed together under the pressure. It was fun pushing the little yellow ball around underwater. Our dive teacher pulled it back to him then flicked it with his finger. It disintegrated and disappeared. It was very cool to watch. Next he pulled out a red tomato. At that depth red is the first color to disappear from the spectrum. It looked gray. Now I know what color blind people see when they see red. Its bland and kind of purple/grayish. We smashed the tomato and gave it the local fish.
We swam off in a stead circle going up the Champon pinnacles. There was tons of sea anemones on the tops of the pinnacles. It looked like a swaying forest. Not one portion was rock it was all life. We swam in and out of these tall underwater towers. As we circled up for our safety stop at 5meters the light shinned through the rippling water above.
My favorite part was the safety stop for 3mins. A huge school of fish circled like a giant wall of silver and yellow to the south of us. The west the buoy line was filled with descending divers and their bubbles. The bubbles broke and split with the light in such a fantastic dance on their accent to the surface. To the North was the main dive area teeming with life. To the East the shadow of the boat with its anchor floating in the water. It was beyond words. I felt a great breath of happiness and gratitude for the moment. It was life and I was blessed to be living it.
Back on the boat we made way for Red Rock our second dive spot. At this location we would work on under water navigation. We waited a hour interval before diving back into the water. This allows the nitrogen to leave the system and gives a longer second dive time. We talked about our navigation techniques and geared up.
We jumped in the water and swam for the underwater formation. We quickly reviewed the techniques and skills on the surface then descended. The visibility was low at 10-12 meters. This would add a challenge to our dive skills but that's precisely why we needed to learn underwater navigation. At the bottom we split into two groups. We had another dive master in training with us, Lauren, who partnered up with me. I was suppose to swim away 100meters then swim back 100M on the opposite course. The dive master in training was being a perfectionist and kept pulling me sideways on my way back. I knew where I was going and proceeded to ignore her pulls. We came back to Darren our instructor in perfect sync from where I left him.
I did my 25M square skills and same as before ended up back in the same place. Lauren stopped pulling on me this time :) At this point we waited for the other two teams to come back to where we started. Remember the visibility was very limited so we couldn't see further than 25-30 ft from where we were in neutral buoyancy. After about 3-4 minutes we decided to ascend. When diving if you lose a person in the group you stop. Look around. Wait a minute then ascend to surface with no safety stop. We did that and surfaced. Another 10minutes passed.
Darren was upset that the other two students didn't do what they were suppose to. He told me to descend with Lauren so I could get my fun diving in with navigation. I was going to lead the dive and she was suppose to follow me. We descended to the bottom. I set my course and made for the shore to the west of us. We got there and broke right heading north. The underwater rocks and coral formations were amazing. We swam for about 15minutes then turned back around. Lauren started leading which annoyed me because I wanted to see if I could master this skill.
When we got back to a formation I recognized when we swam to the shore and I signaled Lauren to head back East toward the Red Rock formation. She followed. After about 15M she tugged me and lead me another direction. My brain told me that was taking us away from the place we were suppose to go. Every 10-15M I got another pull and point leading us to a slightly different heading. After what should have been 50-60meters we should have hit the rock and didn't I felt like we were in open water.
We made the signal to ascend and did our safety stop while swimming on. We ended up 100 meters from the rock formation but on the up side we were by the boat. I was bummed that I kept getting instruction instead of letting me fail or succeed on my own. I still think I could have navigated us back to the right spot without interference but I'll never know. She meant well trying to give me help. I found out later that's the one skill she said she needed to improve on. Sera sera.
Back on the boat the two lost students were still getting a lecture from our dive master. They were embarrassed but happy with the dive. We loaded up our bags and made for the shore. We had a 2 hour break before we had to be back for our night dive.
I met up with Dennis and had dinner at Bans restaurant on the water. After my shower and catching up on the day I only had a limited time to go somewhere to eat. With a really good Pad Thai in my belly I met up with my class again. We loaded up the long boat and shipped out for our main boat.
We were diving White Rock. This would be my second night dive at this location but so far it was one of my favorites. Its very diverse dive site with lots to look at with fun formations to swim around.
Visibility was good tonight. When we hit the bottom we swam off to do a few more skills in the dark. This was mostly hand signals using the flashlights and a few other exercises we do during the day. We made off for various formations and swam around looking at the sea life. Everything seems a little bit more mysterious in the dark when underwater. After about 20 minutes Darren swam us far away from main dive area and we shut off all our flashlights to look at the phosphorescent plankton. Its always fun looking at the little lights appear out of nowhere.
After a couple minutes of playing around with the plankton we kept our flashlights off and swam back toward the reef. I was surprised how well I could see in the dark under 40 feet of water. The boats above and other divers seemed to light up the water enough to see where we were going but also the sea life around us. It was a new experience to diving I was happy to indulge in. I liked it and had a feeling I would do it again in the future.
We surfaced about 48 minutes later, 3 dives down in my advanced course. Back on shore with all the gear washed and stowed I made my way back to the room to shower and change for my last night on the islands.
Dennis and I found a restaurant with these cool low hanging trees and lights you could eat under. We shared some laughs over a few beers. It felt surreal for me that I had been in Thailand for so long already and yet it felt so short. The dinner was good. At that point in the trip it was hard to compare one meal to another they were all so amazing.
There was a party next door to the restaurant at another bar that was packed. It was strange. My last night on the island and I really had no desire to drink or meet fellow travelers. I was content with my place in the world and running around drunk at a bar had no meaning for me. It was a funny moment realizing I didn't need that anymore to be happy or complete. In college I felt guilty if I wasn't part of the party and now I could honestly care less.
We stopped at a few shops and bars on the way back to the hotel but nothing to speak of. I was excited about my continued education in morning. I really love diving!
Tues Mar 3
I woke up excited about my last two dives before becoming an official advanced adventure diver. It was something I wanted after my open water certification and I felt blessed to be completing it before leaving. I was down at the restaurant early eating breakfast and drinking coffee when the rest of the dive party showed up.
We loaded the boats and made out for our first deep water dive of the day, the Sattakut Wreck. Its a US WWII ship that was decommissioned and sunk. I was excited to touchdown at 30M again. We descended the buoy line. I was getting really good at clearing the pressure now and dropped much quicker than the rest of the group. Half way down we swam off toward the wreck and continued our descent by swimming. It looked like a ghost ship. We peaked in the windows as we dropped. The fish inside swam about doing there thing.
It was amazing that the spot they dropped the ship was exactly 30M deep at the bottom. We did a few more drills then swam around the ship looking at various aspects. I was laughing in my regulator because our instructor Darren said be careful on this dive it rains Chinese. This is exactly what was happening. Tourists taking photos of everything not paying attention. It was actually kind of dangerous having people not paying attention to their surroundings.
We swam thru the main viewing deck and blew bubbles in the confined spaces. The air that was trapped looked like mercury and was fun to play around with. There was a couple giant groupers that lived in the viewing deck that wanted me to get the hell out. I complied and followed the group to the aft end of the boat and swam toward the distant coral reef. Right when we got there one of the other students sucked to much air so we made our back to the buoy line and started our safety stop. This was another moment I laughed at because it literally was raining tourists all around us diving to the shipwreck.
Back on the boat we unloaded our gear and made for the upper deck to talk about our last class of the day. Our final and last dive of the trip was the Twins. My hovering skills got really good and my O2 use was way down. This last lesson was pretty much a fish idea course which meant just having fun.
Back on the shore I felt a great sense of accomplishment. I was excited about my new skill I now possessed.
After our bags were packed we caught the shuttle to the pier and hopped on the high speed boat to Chumpon City to catch a train. After a short bus ride we were at the train station with 3 hours to kill. We ate a local street restaurant. I liked it immediately because the head chef came out at sunset and made an offering to a local shrine. I love the spirituality of the people here. The food was excellent and it was a nice finishing meal to my time of the islands.
We got on the train with a slight buzz. The sleepers were already set up for us when we got on board. I watched a movie on my iPad and set my head down thinking I am truly blessed.
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