After the whistle stop tour of Laos and Cambodia, taking in a couple of the most amazing sights that Asia has to offer and spending some quality time with my new friends, it was time to move on and split up. Ludo had decided that he would like to check out some of the beaches that Cambodia had to offer and so headed off to Sihanoukville. Kali decided that she too wanted to check out the Cambodian beaches and so followed Ludo a day later. This left Luciano and myself to fly back to Bangkok and then onward to the islands in the Gulf of Thailand. In particular we were heading for the diving capital of the world, Ko Tao.

I had been keen ever since arriving in Thailand to complete my diving license and after telling Luciano of this he too was keen on becoming a diver. With German being Luciano's strongest language we asked around fellow backpackers for recommendations of good schools with a good German instructor (I figured they would speak English as well so it wouldnt matter as much to me). Ban's was finally recommended by a couple of German girls Luciano had met and so we made arrangements on the boat from the mainland to Ko Tao to head to Ban's Diving School. What an establishment it turned out to be. By far the biggest school on the island it was more like a holiday resort than what I had imagined a diving school to be like. Ban's certifies more divers than any other school in the world, whether this is due to them having the best instructors or just by the sheer volume of people who pass through their doors and pay the money to PADI I don't know. What I do know though is that I dont think you could have asked for a better instructor than the three that we ended up with. It turned out that none of the instructors we had were or spoke German but Luciano was fine with this. Lucy, Stig and Michael showed us how to dive and how much fun diving really was.

Having the three instructors there meant that we were able to dive in small groups of 4 plus an instructor. Michael spent the most time with us and we had four amazing dives with him. We were very lucky with the marine life that we saw as well. First dive and we swim right into a school of baracuda, then parrot fish, fusilier fish, rabbit fish, angel fish and more were swimming all around us. Subsequent dives yielded clown fish, including a couple of the "Finding Nemo" clown fish. Highlight may have been seeing a couple of beautiful stingrays, blue with orange polk-a-dots and gliding over the seabed. Those first four dives were incredible and each time I came out the water I must have been grinning ear to ear.

After the last dive and the quick exam which we were all able to pass with a little help from Stig, it was time to party and party we did. Ko Tao is a really cool little island even if you are not here for the diving. There are dozens of bars along the water front serving up wicked cocktails whilst you are able to watcth the fire shows taking place on the sand. If you so desire, you are more than welcome to take part in these shows with fire limbo and also fire skip-rope. Its funny to watch as the backpackers burn themselves on the ropes and amazing at the same time to watch the local kids get so low in the sand under the flaming limbo bar. If you ever visit the island, be sure and get to the remote bar at the top of one of the two mountains that make up the island. It has a fantastic view and is a great place to chill out and take in a sunset. A hike is possible but a hike it is so I would suggest bikes are a wiser idea.

The party after the diving was good and late and in the morning, there was a small amount of regret that Luciano and I had signed up to do the adventure course the following day. There was also a fair amount of regret from Lucy that she had agreed to take us out, she even admitted to wishing that neither of us would show up at the arranged time. This soon dissipated however once we were back in the water and exploring the wreck of a US WWII warship on our deep dive. We got our diving gear on as quickly as possible in order to get into the water before everyone else and it was a good thing that we did. The wreck was pretty cool, lying on the bottom of the sea with its large guns pointing out into the depths. We were able to swim around and through the boat and with just the three of us down there, the visibility and peacefulness were perfect. Needless to say once the other divers were down the sand and silt was quickly disturbed and it wasnt as fun.

Our second dive was one without Lucy and it was pretty cool being able to go where we wanted and explore the areas we wished to. The best dive though was definitely saved till last. A night dive was our treat for getting out of bed in the morning and it was incredible. All the creatures who sleep during the day of course ome out at night so you are given the opportunity of seeing an entirely different world of fish. The best part of the dive however was when Michael indicated to us to turn off our torches. At this point we were in complete darkness until Micheal started to wave his arms around in the water. It was then the magic happened, the phosphorescent plankton began to illuminate and give the feeling of wonder and excitement. It was very, very cool.

The experience of the dives has been one of the best moments of this trip. The dives on the license course were a lot of fun especially with the group and instructors that I had. The three dives on the advanced course added to those immensely. The shipwreck and the night dive in particular were unbelievable. I am extremely glad that I have now got my license and with a bit of luck it wont be too long before I can put it to use again.