Living the Good Life: Ko Tao

Hi everyone!

So the blog is somewhat operational again, still working out some kinks. Like Jared said in the last blog, we took a ferry from the mainland (Chumphon) to Ko Tao which is a little island in the Gulf of Thailand, most famous for being the cheapest place in Thailand to get your open water diving certification. Jared already has his from the Great Barrier Reef so he planned to do fun dives, hikes and island relaxing while I took the three day course. We also can't get our camera pics on the blog, just iPhone stuff so can't show the underwater shots (maybe when we get back?) so we'll have to make do with the above ground stuff.

Ko Tao is a beautiful little island, it's much smaller than its neighbours Ko Pha Ngan and Ko Samui, so lots of people say it's the best of the three. Really just depends what you're into. If it's diving, this is your place.

The first day of the course was some classroom work and a dive session in the swimming pool.

You certainly had your choice of dive outfits to go with (there is around 40 on the island). I went with Ban's Diving Resort which is kind of like the Walmart approach to diving (which I don't love) but they were a well-oiled machine and very organized- definitely not a common trait in Thailand. Jared went for an adventure to Mango Bay Viewpoint and got some sweet pics before going down to do some snorkeling.

We met up most days for lunch and supper, and got some great beachfront meals

There's an ocean out there it's just dark

The last night we were there we went out for some drinks with the people I'd met on my open water course. Basically all of Sairee beach is just a line of bars and there are groups of people all along. We walked down to a particularly large group of people and watched the fire shows for a bit. They take ropes and such, soak them in kerosene, light them on fire and do all sorts of crazy stuff. They had lit up one really long rope and were using it for a flaming skipping rope. Add some drunk tourists and you've got a real safe activity.