Koh Tao Tattoo, Snorkel Test and more pictures!!

I know it has been a while since my last entry but here goes…

It’s official…I had my first moped crash (shhhh don’t tell my mum) and survived.  I am however scarred with my very first (and hopefully last) Koh Tao Tattoo.  This is the term that developed for this type of incident since it seems almost every DMT has crashed at some point.  My ego was hurt more than anything since I already drive like an old lady and somehow managed to lose control on some sand.  Then everyone told me how common a thing it is and that others have gone to hospital, slid to a halt on their face or worse. 

 I am 90% finished my Dive Master course and am learning a ton.  I am diving 2 to 4 times a day with some confined pool sessions in between.  Speaking of which, the pools here are NARSTY!!  Obviously visibility is an important thing to have when diving.  On average, ocean visibility generally ranges from roughly 10 metres to 25 metres.  If there has been some rain with run off, the viz can be much worse of course.  Due to the sheer volume of people, the resort swimming pools that we use for our confined sessions of courses have a visibility of less than 2 metres…disgusting and absolutely ridiculous. They’ve taken on the name of the gene pools which always continues with some pregnancy jokes and so on. 

And after that disgusting interlude, back to more on diving.  The diving has been wonderful. .  All of the instructors who I’ve assisted with on dives have been extremely helpful.  Each of them brings a different style and strength (i.e. fish identification, navigation tips, physics explanation, etc) and they are very patient even though they deal with so many new people coming through.  I believe one of the main reasons that the learning environment is so wonderful at Sunshine is due to Natalie Hunt who is the PADI Course Director.  She really helps create the family atmosphere and adds the mentorship element to the program. 

I am finally learning the dive sites and have tried leading my first dives (thanks Carey & Danny for supervising!).  This is something that always seemed very daunting to me….a bunch of wide eyed divers ready for a wonderful  diving experience filled with different fish that I can point out and name, coral that they’ve never seen before and comfort knowing the Dive Master (me) knows exactly where she’s going.  And then there’s my concern of getting them lost on some sand with no coral, not really being able to figure out where the hell I am or be able to get back to the boat all the while being attacked by Titan Triggerfish.   This is my nightmare.  I get lost on the PATH (underground hall system in downtown Toronto) on a regular basis…imagine me under water! The good news is, almost every instructor here has gone through some version of this scenario at some point.  Luckily for me, I can learn from their experiences and hopefully not relive them.    Here are some pictures a Sunshine Assistant Instructor, Janice, took recently. 

Nudibranch

Yours Truly

<3

Blue spotted ray

For those of you thinking “what the hell is a Titan Triggerfish”?  Please see picture below.  Just a picture of them looks mean!  They are extremely territorial…especially when they’re protecting their young (and they will be breeding soon I believe – yippee!) , they can be very large in size and have teeth that when they bite can pierce a diver’s fin…and they are EVERYWHERE!!  They swim extremely fast, can turn over massive rocks and will take a chunk of a bite out of you if not careful.  That being said, titan triggerfish are a beautiful fish and if you keep calm and there isn’t more than one after you they are easy to deal with.

Titan Triggerfish

Pissed Triggerfish with trigger up

Trigger teeth

I’m still amazed at how quickly the things I once felt necessary have become irrelevant.  While I once felt naked without my BB, refused to go outside of my apartment without makeup or my hair done living at King and Portland (beside Toronto’s club and boutique hotel scene), and would spend $150 easily on a dinner for two…I am now lucky if I have my Thai cell charged, I never wear makeup or even own a hair dryer, will wear pretty much whatever happens to be clean, and rarely pay more than $10 for dinner and drinks.  My rent is $150 a month and my scooter costs about $76 to run a month.   Boy is Europe ever going to be a wakeup call. 

And last but not least, as each DMT graduates, they must participate in their final and most important examination:  the Snorkel Test.  Basically, the snorkel is taped to the mask, the mask is blocked out so they can’t see and a bucket of alcoholic beverage is poured into the snorkel.  Due to the mask, the poor soul can’t breathe until the entire bucket is downed.  The event also includes a fashion show / pageant and game playing.  Shown here is the game Eat My Box where you take a box and the players have to pick up the box with their teeth without having any part of them touch the ground but their feet.  As each round goes on, the box gets cut down till eventually all that's left is a 1 inch square.  Good times. 

DM graduates - Simon, Elena, Janice & Tamara

Honourary Sunshiner - Tura

During the Snorkel Test

After the Snorkel Test

Nadja - Eat my Box



Sarah - Eat My Box



The box is now a shred of cardboard

Tura - winning

Dave - the champion pro box eater

 Coming up in the next blog – Hong father and kids trip to Hong Kong and China…

From high heels to flip flops and everything in between...

View from my room at Ban's

From high heels to flip flops, peddling copiers to diving, taking the TTC to riding in boats and dredging through snow to basking in the sun…there’s not much to complain about in this new lifestyle of mine.  Just about the only things I have a mild concern about (and that’s the overstatement of the year) are how noisy my room can be (but really how often am I in it?), how morbidly obese I feel compared to the in shape bodies on the beach (although this goes both ways since the eye candy ain’t too rough) and…well, that’s it really. 

I completed my Rescue Diver course with a really fun and young German instructor named “Rocky” (her real name is Adrian so I’m sure you can all figure that one out) and my “victim” was Vikki who is also German.  With the two of them taking advantage of the English speaking student, it was easy for them to create some very challenging and hilarious emergency scenarios which included ketchup for blood and two idiot divers who both got caught on coral and ran out of air under water.   The whole experience was exhausting but I had such a blast doing it!  Rocky has been kind enough to take me under her wing socially so I have only spent one night on my own since arriving in Koh Tao.   I'll have another post on the food but so far so amazing...



Alex and his Sunday roast at Choppers



Pad Thai at Cafe del Sol

Two days after my Rescue, I have already started my Dive Master Training and done my very first Open Water assist at Sunshine Divers.  Sunshine is the sister shop to Ban’s.  Basically, I follow the instructor and the student(s) on their dive and help out wherever needed…at least for now.  I have two giant textbooks to get through and a series of physical and written exams to complete.  My head is still reeling from all of the information but if these 22 year old kids can get through it, so can I….even if it’s taken some of them 6-8 months to get through half the course and I’m planning to get it done in 3 weeks. 

Also, I need to get my dives up to 60 for the DMT and 100 for the IDC which I have no problem doing since the diving here is unreal. There are literally highways of fish.  It's like watching the 401 East and West but rather than being filled with cars, the water is filled with barracuda and other fish.  And the thing I am most excited about is that there have been 2 days in the past week where whale sharks have been seen.  I hope I am fortunate enough to see one before I leave the island.



Whale Shark



The dives so far have been good.  I have been “working” during all of them so far so it will be nice to do some fun dives.  That being said, “working” has its privileges!  Tomorrow I assist on a two day Advanced course where we will be doing a deep dive (100 ft), night dive and a DPV dive (YEAH!!!).  DPV stands for Diver Propulsion Vehicle…think James Bond.   How f’ing excited am I?!

DPV

Speaking of which, I finally picked up my sweet ride of a scooter…on the side of one of the busiest roads during rush hour.  I have never driven one before so the guy dropping it off says “oh…shit”.   Oh shit is right my friend.  Mum…don’t panic…it’s all good…for now…kidding!!!  It’s black, not the newest or sportiest of models but it opens up a whole lot more freedom on the island.  I have only had 3 close encounters involving a man with his daughter, a pick-up truck and a dog.  Not bad so far!  (mum kidding again…sort of).  For the family and friends that have experienced my very safe driving techniques in Toronto (and by safe I mean pushing my boundaries), I drive like an old granny here.  I could probably peddle a bike faster to be honest.

Off to Sunshine for some sunshine and more dives…boy it’s a tough life…

And I'm off!

To my family, friends and whomever it may concern, I have officially begun my journey.   I am one hour and forty four minutes into my dream trip.  I’ll preface this blog by explaining exactly what it is I’m doing. 

Here is a rough itinerary (pay attention for those of you who may want to join me along the way!):

April – Thailand (complete Rescue and Dive Master)
May – China & Malaysia (meet up with Dad and brother Ben)
June – Indonesia (meet up with Chris W)
July – Thailand (complete IDC and IE to become scuba diving instructor!)
August – Travel remainder of SE Asia first half / France & Spain second half (meet friends Shirleen, Chris H & Kirolus in Spain – oh yeah kids that’s right…it’s in writing so you have to)
September – Italy, Greece, Czech Republic, France (meet up with Mum)
October & first half November – Paris for pastry school
Second half November –  South Africa (meet up with Karen, Christy & friends post Karen wedding )
December – Ethiopia (meet up with Miles and Sarah) / other parts of Africa TBD
Late December - see if Xerox will take me back and head back home

While some of you may view this as a mix between an Eat, Pray, Love and Julie and a Julia trip / story, I must with the utmost respect tell you to piss off  ;o).   It’s not to say that I haven’t had my fair share of unsuccessful relationships, a broken heart, identity crisis, food gorging, longing for more in my life etc, etc….it’s just that this trip has not stemmed from some momentous occasion.  In fact it seems to have stemmed from a lack of occasion.  I am 32, I don’t have any kids, I don’t have a mortgage, and I never did the travelling trip in my university years that many of you did.  I went straight from university to work for Xerox and have been there for close to 8 years.  I have to admit the company has done something that not many do...agreed to give me a leave of absence for up to a year to do as I please with an open door to come back when I'm done.  Basically, I am taking a vacation for close to a year...YAY!!!

This leads me to my next point. I have discovered that there are those who travel and there are those who vacation.  In sharing my trip of a lifetime plans to family, friends and colleagues, there was a great divide that seemed to occur.  It’s not to say one is better or worse than the other.  It’s just the preferences that people have. 

Those who are travellers responded with words of support and wisdom about their own experiences, a little bit of envy but happy for me comments, and a general positive reaction.  These are the types that when they get vacation time, it is not as likely to find them at an all inclusive.  They want to experience more than one location / culture within a country and are willing to put up with more planning in order to do so. 

Then there are those who vacation.  These folks responded to my plans with a lot of questions and a whole lot of confusion.  For example:

“So you’re just going to quit your job?”
“I don’t get it.  You’re just going to travel…for a year…to do what?”
“You’re going to travel on your own?  Well, that will get old in a month.”

Those who vacation are the types who you will be more likely to find in an all inclusive.  They enjoy the ease of one stop shopping and are ok with staying in one spot.  In my humble opinion, often times this is as a result of working too hard so they really need a mental break, having a family so it’s more difficult to travel and/or not having much experience travelling so they either don’t have the desire to break outside what they are comfortable with.

Alright enough about that, on to Cathay Pacific.   I feel the need to discuss this wonderful airline since my experiences with predominantly North American airlines has generally been a nightmare (with the exception of Porter).   My flight to Hong Kong was a dream!  Not only did I have a 3 seat row all to myself on the flight (which doubles as a twin bed for someone my size 5’2”), but the food, service and entertainment system were also all fantastic.  If you have the opportunity to fly with Cathay, it’s worth every penny more.   And with that, I’m off to sleep…

Tuesday, April 19^th

It has taken me a few days to get this blog going so I’m posting all of these at once in one long first entry. 

Bangkok (April 14^th)

I’ve officially landed in Bangkok and have checked into my hotel – Novotel at the Bangkok airport.  This place makes the Royal York in Toronto look like a HoJo’s.  My room is huge with a Jacuzzi tub, marble counters, air con and 24 hour room service.  I have just settled into bed with two Singha (don’t judge, these are going to help me get to sleep on Bangkok time which is 13 hours ahead of Toronto time) and my favourite Thai dish – coconut curry soup.  I am in heaven.  I figure I should enjoy this now since I know my digs going forward will be nowhere near as nice.

Koh Tao (April 15^th)

I have arrived in Koh Tao…finally!  That being said, my journey here has been extremely easy.  Once off the ferry from Koh Samui to Koh Tao, I was picked up by the diving centre where I will be doing my Rescue, Dive Master Training (DMT) and Instructor Development Course (IDC/IE):  Ban’s http://www.idc-koh-tao.com/.  The sun is out and it is beautiful here but the heat is going take some time to get used to.  Although my room is humble, the view is fantastic (pictures to follow soon)!

Before I go on, I need to give my Canadian scuba centre some props - the Toronto Scuba Club in Toronto:  www.torontoscubaclub.com.    I did my Open Water class and pool, Advanced Open Water, EFR & Rescue Diver class and pool with TSC.  I have met and been trained by both TSC principal instructors, Chris Williams and Peter Mikhail.  Both are wonderful to work with and very different in their approaches.  Most of my training has been with Chris who is a very thorough instructor and has a ‘mother hen watching over her chicks’ way about him in the water.  While on the other hand Peter has a bit more of a relaxed teaching approach and his sense of humour shines through in the water.  Either way, you come out very confident and comfortable with your skills.

And with that, I am going to sign off to go meet the instructor for my Rescue Diver open water checkouts.    More updates soon…