We checked out of Power Beach Resort and caught a ferry to Koh Tao - the rockiest ferry ride ever. The boat swayed from side to side, and Caitlin and I were planning a safe exit strategy in case we capsized. All the buds and the new Californians came as some of us wanted to do more diving.
After scouting out tons of dive shops, we went with Phoenix Divers - we got a good deal since 10 of us were diving. Five of us, including myself, did the advanced course, Caitlin and Jill (one of the Californians) and Lauren and Dave (friends from home) did the open water course and Alex did a discover dive. It was awesome to see Lauren and Dave - I hadn't seen Lauren since July of last year, and we had a great time for the few days we got to hang out.
Caitlin and I got rooms included with our course and the other four just crashed in our room for one night before they headed up to Bangkok. I had an awesome time on my advanced course, and four of the Californians were with me - they were great entertainment and our instructor, Neil, is a legend here!
On our 3rd dive, half of the people on our boat surfaced a few minutes after us and were frantically screaming that they saw a whale shark. There had been a few sightings this month, and I was bummed we missed it. We all decided to stay at Chumpon Pinnacle for the 4th dive and tried to find this shark. In our last 5 minutes, we saw it! Check out Peter's GoPro footage here. I felt pretty lucky since people have been diving everyday for years and not seen one, and this was dive #8 for me. We went back to land for a break before our night dive. It was cool, but I would prefer to dive in the daylight!
Meanwhile, Caitlin was struggling with her open water course and only stayed down 5 minutes of one dive. Her instructor said she could try again the next day, and she insisted that I join her if she covered the costs. I was kind of ready for a break from diving, but I really wanted her to complete her course. We did her 4 dives close to the beach - one just walking right into the water - and she passed!
We spent a little more time with Lauren and Dave before they headed to Koh Phangan and we headed up to Bangkok on the overnight to meet Kayleigh, another Korea friend. Dave left me with the best parting gift ever - his old iPhone! Connected again! I booked my flights from Bangkok-Kathmandu-Sri Lanka-Bangkok and then Bali! Scary.
After scouting out tons of dive shops, we went with Phoenix Divers - we got a good deal since 10 of us were diving. Five of us, including myself, did the advanced course, Caitlin and Jill (one of the Californians) and Lauren and Dave (friends from home) did the open water course and Alex did a discover dive. It was awesome to see Lauren and Dave - I hadn't seen Lauren since July of last year, and we had a great time for the few days we got to hang out.
Caitlin and I got rooms included with our course and the other four just crashed in our room for one night before they headed up to Bangkok. I had an awesome time on my advanced course, and four of the Californians were with me - they were great entertainment and our instructor, Neil, is a legend here!
On our 3rd dive, half of the people on our boat surfaced a few minutes after us and were frantically screaming that they saw a whale shark. There had been a few sightings this month, and I was bummed we missed it. We all decided to stay at Chumpon Pinnacle for the 4th dive and tried to find this shark. In our last 5 minutes, we saw it! Check out Peter's GoPro footage here. I felt pretty lucky since people have been diving everyday for years and not seen one, and this was dive #8 for me. We went back to land for a break before our night dive. It was cool, but I would prefer to dive in the daylight!
Meanwhile, Caitlin was struggling with her open water course and only stayed down 5 minutes of one dive. Her instructor said she could try again the next day, and she insisted that I join her if she covered the costs. I was kind of ready for a break from diving, but I really wanted her to complete her course. We did her 4 dives close to the beach - one just walking right into the water - and she passed!
We spent a little more time with Lauren and Dave before they headed to Koh Phangan and we headed up to Bangkok on the overnight to meet Kayleigh, another Korea friend. Dave left me with the best parting gift ever - his old iPhone! Connected again! I booked my flights from Bangkok-Kathmandu-Sri Lanka-Bangkok and then Bali! Scary.
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