another cliché
travel blog

Pretty much just slept and relaxed all day. It was perfect.

Commentor: Cindy Date: 2015-02-04 05:52:16

Matt, I’m grateful for your posts. I think you edit the experience less than KC does. Or maybe we just didn’t have time during our skype to get into near-death experiences you witnessed. Then again, I’m also glad I had spoken to her after some of these posts, so I knew she had safely scootered around a crazy-traffic island with you. Thanks, from me, to your parents, too, for your scooter-skills. Or maybe KC was driving??

We woke up early for a prompt 7:10am pick up by Charlie, a gloriously sarcastic Brit with zero regard for your feelings. Fucking brilliant. Sail Rock Diving totally has their shit together, if I’m ever out here again I’ll definitely look them up.

Regardless of their prowess, they’re still at the mercy of the moon and tides. When we finally reached Sail Rock, conditions were rough and visibility was shit–under a half meter. It was like swimming through soup. We spent the entire dive losing and looking for each other. Twice during the dive, I was reminded that I was there to look at stuff, not just to dive. Both times it was the unexpected appearance of the urchin strewn reef that reminded me. Luckily there were no accidents, but we ended up relocating for our second dive. Visibility was still low at Thong Salad ( pronounced tong salahd) but still much improved. It all underscored how lucky we were diving on Koh Tao.

That night, we went to a party out on a floating platform in the bay. Neat gimmick but we had a good time nonetheless. Our taxi back to the hostel damn near killed someone though. A drunk idiot raced past us on a scooter, then immediately stopped and flipped a u turn. We missed him by inches. Driving in Thailand is always a bit intense, but even our taxi driver was shaken by it.

Rented three scooters for the six of us and went around the north west side of the island. 600 baht (~$20) and a passport for a deposit was all it cost for all three. No forms. No insurance. Some things are a bit more sane here. Unfortunately, roads aren’t one of them. Despite the small size of the island, crashes happen daily (we passed one) and the shop was clear, unless we had prior experience with scooters, we shouldn’t rent them. So, thanks dad (and mom!) for the KDX 80. Experience on that got us through the unmitigated shitshow that is driving in Thailand. No real lanes, drive on the left side, no traffic control, and pedestrians in traffic. It’s horrendous.

Other than traffic though, the scooters were really fun. We took them up to Koh Ma beach (beautiful, swankish resort beach) and spent the afternoon there. Then hiked to a couple beautiful waterfalls. Those we cool. Pics to come. Tomorrow, diving at Sail Rock, supposedly the best dive spot in the gulf of Thailand. So there’s that.

This entire island seems to exist to help foreigners get altered. It’s bizarre.

Weird Things We Found

Last two dives this morning. Saw a turtle! The girl working the camera got a great shot of it (Finding Nemo totally nailed the stoner turtle look).

Did the tourist thing and bought the video so I can cherish the experience forever. I was worried if I didn’t buy it I wouldn’t be able to properly cherish it.

Felt exhausted, so I crashed early. Everyone else did drunken acro yoga on the beach. Not a bad day.

commentor: Cindy date: 2015-02-04 05:40:37

If you don’t have the video, the experience didn’t happen. Don’t you know that? Glad you learned it before your life never happened. BTW, what is drunken acro yoga and was my daughter a party to what sounds like debauchery?

Class in the morning, where we learned again, that you’re supposed to breathe underwater. Then we did our first two dives. So cool!

The girls did two of their fun dives the morning, then once we were all back we grabbed dinner and called it a night. We all have to be up early tomorrow morning for our next two dives.

Spent the morning in the classroom. Learned that when scuba diving, you’re supposed to breathe underwater. Who knew?

Actually going under water for the first time was a bit weird, but after the first couple breaths it started making sense.

Met up with the last two of our group!

Hiked around the island, then started diving school. Just class work.