Day 12: Arriving in Koh Tao by boat
I woke up to see Tommy excitedly looking out of the boat’s window like a kid on Christmas morning. He poked me and pointed outside. I sat up and saw a beautiful sunrise over the sea. Tommy sure has a knack for noticing the great things in this world and reminding me to be excited about this amazing adventure that we’re so lucky to be having. :)
In less than an hour we were at the pier of Koh Tao having our bikes unloaded by strong Thai boatmen. All of our gear together, we headed into town. Most shops were still closed, it was probably only 7am, but we found a place to grab breakfast. A cute dog took turns begging from each of us. This is pretty typical in Thailand. He’s probably not anyone’s pet, doesn’t wear a collar, just chooses his place and the people he likes and hangs out with them.
After breakfast we found Golden Impian Divers — the aforementioned dive shop that Stefan had highly recommended when we were in Khao Sok. At the shop, we met another Tommy, along with Christian, Robert who seemed to run the shop, Renaud — a French fellow who would be our instructor for the next few days, and a handful of others, all really pleasant and fun.
The vibe of the shop is laid-back and fun, and in the coming days I realized how lucky we were to find these guys. It seems that some of the other dive shops on the island are like certification factories. You’ll see 40 people out on their boats, whereas there were only 3 student in our class — Tommy, me, and Ivana, a really nice French girl who is in the midst of what sounds like an epic journey through just about all of Asia. I was glad that we found a shop that was more personal and by the end of the affair, you feel you’ve made friends with everyone there.
Turned out that we could start our course right away. No classroom theory, just straight on the boat! We stowed our bikes and gear in the shop and headed out to sea.
Our first day was spent in a spot called The Japanese Garden
[ ok, I’ve been typing quite a while, I’ll have to finish up later or give Tommy a chance to type, cheers! ]
1 year ago