On our second day on
Koh Tao, we got up at 7.00, checked out and got a taxi to the main
town where the diving shop was. We told the woman (Jemma's brother's
friend), that I'd decided against diving, but that Jemma would still
do an intro dive. We had breakfast in the cafe attached to the shop
(best breakfast ever – 'super beans on toast' = toast, topped with
crispy bacon, cheese, beans and Worcester sauce!)
 |
| Breakfast of kings |
and then Jemma got
kitted up and went out for her dive whist I went out to look for new
accommodation closer to the main town. After looking at a few places
for £5 each a night, I settled on a 'cottage' by the beach for £3.50
a night. Very basic (you have to flush the toilet by tipping a bucket
of water down it), with a fan, not air-con, but excellent location
and no bedbugs – we were happy! After an hour and a half, I went
back to the Goodtime Adventures office to meet Jemma after her dive.
It was a really hot day and I couldn't wait to get in the sea to cool
down. We decided to go on a trip in the afternoon with Goodtime
Adventures, starting at 1pm, so we went back to our cottage, got
creamed up and then came back to the office where we joined a small
group of 6 other people. They gave us all flippers and snorkels and
then we got onto a little speed boat with a boat master, diving
instructor and climbing instructor and we had the most spectacular
boat ride around the island, where they pointed out all the main
spots, and even some of the other islands in the distance (Koh Samui
and Koh Phagnan). After a while, we stopped at a snorkelling spot
that was beautifully clear and the sea was gorgeous. We all jumped in
and snorkelled for a while, seeing such an amazing variety of fish.
One guy on the boat was having a diving lesson with the dive
instructor at the same time. They told us nothing was dangerous, but
that we might see reef sharks, which aren't dangerous, and also
trigger fish which can chase and bite you sometimes but you just have
to swim out of their territory and they leave you alone. After
snorkelling, we all climbed back into the boat and sped along to
another spot where we did cliff diving!
It was fantastic! The water
was so refreshing and turquoise. The climbing instructor showed us
how to climb up the rocks and we then got to jump off cliffs of
3metres, 9m and 12m. I was the last one to jump off the 3m because I
found it hard to climb up the rocks (it was quite scary, often having
to jump across gorges to get to the diving rocks). I was too scared
to jump off the 3m (it doesn't sound that high, but when you're on
top of a rock looking into the sea it is!) One girl couldn't do it
and simply couldn't bring herself to jump. She spent the whole time
on the edge fretting, with her boyfriend trying to coax her off. I
went eventually, telling myself it wasn't even as high as a high
diving board. It was fine, except for a little water up the nose.
 |
| The sea |
We
then moved onto the 9m, which was a lot scarier, but I did it. I
could really feel myself falling for a long time and screamed
mid-air. I had a lot of water up the nose that time and clapped my
teeth together slightly, which consequently made me think it might
not be a good idea to do the 12. Jemma and all the others did the 12m
(apart from myself and 2 other girls) and most people who did it said
it hurt in some way, so I'm glad I didn't do it in the end. Jemma
said she did the splits in the water as she hit the surface and the
sea forced her legs into the splits which really hurt her hips. Some
people did dives and somersaults, and in the end, as the boat was
getting ready to leave, the girl who had been on the edge of the 3m,
by now for over and hour, was finally coaxed down by the diving
instructor and everybody clapped. It was an amazing experience, I'm
really glad we did it and I would highly recommend it!
 |
| Iced coke with the sunset |
After the cliff diving,
we did some more snorkelling in an area renowned for sharks, and to
our delight, we saw 5 sharks!
We were so happy, it really rounded off
our amazing day! We then got the speedboat back to the office on the
beach and all had a complimentary beer/ coke whilst watching the
sunset on the beach. It was a brilliant day. Once we'd had our
drinks, we went back to the bungalow to get showered and go out for
tea with Lisa in the town. As we were walking to the restaurant, we
bumped into the Chinese guy, Tony who we spent time with in Penang
and Langkawi. We invited him out for dinner with us and we had yummy
Thai curry. It was the perfect end to the perfect Round the World
day!
 |
| The sunset |
No comments:
Post a Comment