Final days in Thailand

Koh Toa seems to have a magnetic force that draws you in.  Ian says that the biggest lie told on the island is "I am leaving tomorrow."   He told us his first class as a diving instructor was the first time he's seen somebody call their agent so she could stay longer on the island.  He says it happens often.   It happened to me.

The staff amusing themselves

So true.

I went there planning to spend just 3 days to get my basic scuba certification and move on to other, better known islands in Thailand.  I ended up spending one of the best weeks of my life there, leaving at the very last moment possible.  Most days were full of classes and diving, followed dinners every night.  But even these long days were broken up with long breaks on the boat between dives, lunch breaks, and goofing around in the dive shop before dinner.  

Our classroom and my new happy place
With Sammy (fellow student) and Steve (our instructor)

I have loved the mountains on my travels, but nothing compares to the wonders below the water.  We saw turtles, manta rays, thousands of brightly colored fish, shrimp and squid doing everything from schooling, to sleeping, to feeding.  I was hooked from my first snorkel paddle to the shallow beach of of Nang Yuan Island for my confined skills test.  I have never seen this many fish before, much less with this kind of variety and they were absolutely fearless!  Koh Toa is one of, if not the, most popular place in the world to learn how to scuba dive. So the fish are now accustomed to these strange black creatures blowing bubbles.  I wish I had pictures.  Too bad I don't have a waterproof camera.  If our open water classmate Sammy sends the pictures from his GoPro then I can add some of them to this post.  But for now, just believe me that it is beautiful. 

Koh Toa

The view from the beach at sunset
So peaceful

Sairee Beach

The island is also very chill. Unlike the big party islands, most people in Koh Toa are here to dive.  And you can’t dive hung over without risking some very serious consequences.  What that means is that you can still find the party scene on the beach with bucket cocktails and fire jugglers if you want to. But most people turn in every night after dinner so they can catch the first boat out the next morning. 

Like everywhere else, it's the people who make or break the place.  I may have cried a little after hugging everybody goodbye the morning I left the island. 

Celebrating with a selfie the night
after completing our Advanced
Diving class

Let’s start with Philipp - a German Mechanical engineer who was on a 5 week vacation to Thailand.  He works with (and drives) prototype sports cars for a living back home.  I found it highly entertaining when Ian, who scuba dives on a tropical island for a living, became envious of Philipp's job.  Philipp and I struck up an easy friendship the first evening I arrived, as we did our "homework" together for the next day's class.   We were each other's diving buddies and dinner companions for the whole week.  As I was leaving Koh Toa, Philipp was still going  . . . taking his 3rd course to go dive inside a sunken WWII ship.  

Christmas time in Thailand
Check out the weather rock in the background :)

Steve was our instructor and is probably the longest-running employee of the shop besides the owner and manager Natalie and David.  His classes are both hugely entertaining and informative.  Like every instructor at Scuba J, he takes safety very very seriously.  (Teaching diving may be the only thing he take's seriously.)  He’s chosen to work at a smaller shop because he wants to teach his students instead of racing them through to graduation.  Steve had a personal story to emphasize almost every point in our SSI lesson plan.  He clearly cares that his students are competent when they get their certification cards.  Philipp and I enjoyed his open water course so much that we immediately signed up for an Advanced class.  A native Brit, he's taught scuba courses all over the world and tells me Koh Toa is where he decided to stop because it was the best place of them all.  I am sure meeting his "missus" in Thailand helped.  The two of them were on their way to Phuket or Phi Phi when he stopped briefly in Koh Toa and decided it was better than either of those islands.  Koh Toa is so relaxed.  So chill.  So beautiful . . . just two more victims to the island’s mysterious magnetic force.  They've lived there ever since. 

Philipp and Ian talking windsurfing
in between the morning and afternoon
diving sessions

Ian is another full-time instructor employed by Scuba Junction.  A native Scottsman, he is full of stories and jokes.  He played social coordinator all week - acting as the ring leader for dinner and/or drinks most nights we were on the island . . . or maybe that's just because he had all the open water certification celebrations while Philipp, Sammy, Clemont and I monopolized Steve's time. Ian’s fiancé, Marie, the Norwegian Scott, is also a dive instructor at Scuba J, and theirs is the best proposal story I have ever heard.  Amy, Grant, Thomas, Natalie and Kay were all great company as well.  We mostly saw them in between courses or at dinner.  Thomas took me on my first "fun dive" and we had fun listening to his dive prep spiel with an Irish brogue.

Dive Master graduation

If you haven't picked up on this yet . . . the island is run by expats.  We witnessed the beginning of a Dive Master class graduation ceremony one evening.  (It’s basically a roast to provide everybody else with entertainment.)  There were about a dozen new dive masters and all but 3 were from the UK, with one American, one Aussie and one Argentinian.  That's pretty representative of the ethnic makeup of all dive instructors on the island.  I am not sure why the Thais have resisted the best paying job of the industry that powers their island, but they have.  In fact, most of them don't even know how to swim (including the captain and boat staff for the diving boats.  The captain lives on his boat!). So restaurants, massage parlors and tourist agencies are run by Thais, and the dive shops are run by expats.

Amy and Grant were out of
commission at the same time :(

One thing that hits you pretty hard after getting to know the staff is that these guys don't make much money and they can't work while they are injured.  Injuries were shockingly common.  3 of the free-lance instructors at Scuba J were injured while I was there - one dog bite (!) while hiking, one bacterial infection, one motor bike accident requiring stiches.  Bang.  Out of work for weeks.  We had drinks one evening with another instructor who was freelancing at a different dive center who also got in a bike accident between dinner and drinks.  Philipp slipped on the stairs coming down to the ground level of the dive center accommodations and banged himself up pretty bad on his first full day of class. It can be risky living in Thailand.  Good thing meals cost about $2 and medical treatment is both high quality and cheap.

I did not explore much of the island of Koh Toa because I was diving all but one day.  Fortunately for me, the rain finally abated the day we finished our Advanced diving course.  The forecast for the foreseeable future is sun.  It was perfect timing.  The three of us classmates partied late into the night and took the next day off from diving.  All the dive instructors took us out to dinner, and Natalie sent us off with a bottle of Hong Tong.  Philipp and Clemont slept in the next morning while I went hiking.  That day, I climbed a peak, lounged on the beach, and occasionally threw a Frisbee around with Philipp and Ian.  I also practiced with the best yoga class ever . . . for the outrageous price of $9 for a 2 hour session! 

A view from one of the outlooks close to the peak
We didn't get further because we ran into dogs.

Frisbee by sunset on the beach

My last night on the island, we went on a night dive and toasted beers on the “sun deck” of the boat as we rode back to shore.  Bioluminescent plankton followed by beers on a boat under the stars.  Life doesn’t get much better than this.  

I’d have to get used to some things if I wanted to move to the islands - like having no money, no AC and no hot showers.  Still, Ian is convinced I am going to come back.  I am not sure he's wrong.  Remember the girl who called home to change her travel plans during Ian’s first class?   . . . she just passed her diving instructor's exam last week on Koh Toa, almost a year and a half later.  Ian is so proud. 

Next Stop: Singapore on the way home to Texas