Leave of Absence: 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

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.