diving | weltgereist

„Diving? Diving!“ That was probably what my roomie and I both thought when a friend told us about her diving vacation on one of the Thai islands. We were both interested in trying something new and both took the chance to get our Open Water certificate during our week of vacation. For that we traveled to Koh Tao, an Island in the south of Thailand above Koh Pha Ngan – famous for its full moon parties – and Koh Samui. According to my Dumont guide on Thailand, Koh Tao is especially popular amongst divers, due to the numerous coral reefs and the clean and crystal clear sea. This popularity amongst divers strikes directly on arrival on the island, which is populated by dozens of diving schools.

We booked our bus and ferry ticket from Bangkok already beforehand in the internet. You can do that for example with “Lomprayah”, on whose internet page you can directly book the whole package with bus and ferry. A return ticket with them cost us 2050 Baht. In total we were travelling for approximately 11 hours, starting in close proximity to Khao San Road in Bangkok. On the journey there we took the night bus, starting at 21 pm and arriving in the morning around 8 am on the island. That way you basically don’t lose a precious day of vacation. The bus journey was also better than we thought beforehand. We were lucky that our bus wasn’t that full, wherefore everybody had 2 seats on the bus to stretch out and get a sleep, making the bus ride quite acceptable. Furthermore they handed out blankets in the bus. The return journey was a day ride, as there was no night journey offered. That wasn’t also not as bad as expected. The ones, who don’t want to take the bus, can also take an airplane or train going from Bangkok.

We also decided upon the diving school beforehand and booked it on the internet. Already upon arrival we realized that “Davy Jones Locker“, situated directly at the main beach Sairee, was a good choice. We were picked up at the pier – which was included in the price – and received a warm welcome in the diving school. We still had to wait a bit until our bungalows were tidied up, so we made use of our time and got some refreshments in the café “New Heaven”, directly opposite of the diving school. Together with the “DJL Bar” this proofed to be our favorite hangout; you get really nice breakfast and lunch there, while at the “DJL Bar” which belongs to the diving school, you can enjoy delicious Thai and Western dishes. The bungalows we got assigned, belonged to “Silver Sands Resort”, were also included in the package of the diving course and were situated only a few meters from the seaside. The diving course at Davy Jones starts every day and therefore we started with it directly on the first day we arrived with our 4-day long PADI Open Water diving course, which is given in small groups of approximately 4 people. The first day consisted merely of theory; we watched a few videos about diving and did some quizzes. We also got to know our diving instructor Ben, which proved to be very capable and always open for a little joke during our course. Therefore the course was very lively and still informative with Ben getting across the theory very well. On the second day we did the rest of the theory and got ourselves familiar with the diving equipment. The whole morning we spent practicing the most important skills for diving in the swimming pool. That included learning what to do when you have a flooded mask under water, how to take of your diving jacket with tank in the water, and how to provide an alternative air source for your buddy when he is out of air. On the third day we had our first dive in the sea. We drove with the long-tail boat to the actual bigger boat which brought us to the dive site. Our first two dives were at the sites “Lighthouse” and “White Rock”. There we got familiar with diving in the sea and we practiced some skills underwater. On the fourth day we took the boat at 6 am to do our third and fourth dived at “South West” and again “White Rock”, where we also so a huge sea turtle. After the dives we still had to do our final exam and then we got certified divers, who can dive anywhere in the world 18 meters deep. On our last day of diving we also got filmed over and under water and a small movie was produced. Ours was made by Bella and was definitely worth the money; the price varies depending on how many people buy the video. The diving course cost 9500 Baht in total, including accommodation for 4 nights, pick-up at the pier and all teaching materials.

After our diving course we still had two days in Koh Tao left before we would return back to Bangkok. We decided to stay at the same beach for that time as there is really everything you need. There are a couple of shops with clothes, restaurants, beach bars, and massage salons. We also stayed at Silver Sands Resort, but moved from the bungalow to a room. The room cost 1500 Baht per night for two persons; not really cheap but compared to the bungalow – which was already quite nice – absolutely awesome. After we spent one day at the beach to relax from all that diving, we decided to go to Koh Nang Yuan on our last day. We took a taxi boat to get there, which cost 200 Baht back and forth. On the island we had to pay another 100 Baht entrance fee. Furthermore one should keep in mind that it is not allowed to bring plastic bottles or cans to the island, as well as snorkeling equipment. Koh Nang Yuan basically consists of three islands which are connected with a long beach. On one of them there is a very nice viewpoint for which it is definetly worth climbing up all those stairs to the top of the hill. Also it is very nice to snorkel on the island; snorkels can be rented there. The swimming I liked much better on Koh Tao, as on Koh Nang Yuan there is everything full of dead corals and sea cucumbers. All in all it is only worth a day trip in my opinion. However, to Koh Tao I would definitely come back!