Woo hoo!!! I’m on Koh Tao, and there is nowhere I’d rather be right now (except maybe Nanjing?!?)

Koh Tao is a tiny, forested island, and the most remote island of Thailand’s east coast archipelago. And despite the fact that you can hardly call it untouched, it has maintained much of its beauty and charm.

To get to Koh Tao I had to travel by bus for nine hours, from Bangkok to Chumphon. From there, I caught the catamaran to the island, which took approximately three hours. The sun was rising as we left Chumphon, and by the time we reached Koh Tao, any early morning mist had been burnt away, leaving a clear, beautiful blue sky.

On arrival, I headed straight for the dive school I’d be diving with for the next few days, Planet Scuba. It was here that I met some absolutely fantastic people, and the people I’d spend most of my time on the island with… D-Mo, Toby, Claire, Ash, Roger (a big hello to you all!)… All Dive Masters and Dive Instructors… And all such laid back and funky people!

… As they say on the island, they’d been ‘Koh Tao’d’… As in, they were all so laid back they were horizontal!

I did a refresher Open Water course first, which they filmed and gave to me on DVD… Oh dear! I looked pretty cool until the forward roll entry, which was more of a belly flop entry. Very embarrassing!!! Don’t ever ask to see the DVD… I’ll never, ever show it to you! Ever!

I then did my Advanced Open Water course and Nitrox course, which involved loads of tests and homework… And therefore lots of early nights (yeah right!)

My Nitrox dive was hilarious. D-Mo taught me how to tie a special knot whilst we were on the dive boat… When he timed me, it took me thirteen seconds to tie. He then timed me at thirty-two metres… Hhmmm?!? The same knot took me nearly three-and-a-half minutes!!!

I also seriously enjoyed the underwater photography dive. It was surprisingly difficult though! You’d set up the perfect shot, and shoot, but the time delay meant that all the fish had disappeared by the time the shot had taken… So I blame the rubbish photos on the camera! It couldn’t possibly be my lack of talent.

Having said that, all the dives were amazing! The visibility got better and better as the week went on, the underwater scenery was soooooo impressive, and I got to swim with whale sharks, trigger fish, angel fish, a mimic octopus, and a strange unidentified crustation (?!?... Which we named Crusty)… Amongst loads of other marine life!

When I wasn’t diving (which I was doing most of the time, actually!) I was relaxing on the beach, sipping cocktails, or mountain biking round the island taking in the scenery… Which is surprisingly hilly!

My evenings were spent sitting in bars and restaurants with my dive buddies, eating, drinking, dancing, and talking about diving… I mean, what else could we possibly talk about?!? These people live and breathe diving!!!

Stupidly, I fell asleep on my front on the hottest day. Silly, silly me! Even more unfortunately, I had the bow of my bikini hanging down my back… So, I now have a peeling lobster red back with a pretty, white bow shape which stands out like a sore thumb… Not a good look!... At all!!!

On my last day I rented a motorbike and made my way round some of the more secluded, and less touristy, areas of the island that I couldn’t reach by mountain bike. I was a little concerned about traveling via this means of transport, as I’d seen each of my friends topple off theirs, one-by-one, causing themselves surprisingly serious injuries… However… I figured the risk was worth it.

All had been going well until late in the evening, when traveling at a lightly silly speed, I hit Koh Tao’s version of a speed bump, as in, a massive lump of wood lying across the road! This catapulted me off the bike with some serious force… Yet somehow I landed about ten metres from the bike, unharmed (apart from a tiny scratch on my knee) to a round of applause from onlookers. What were the chances?!? And… Even better than that… The bike had landed in a prickly bush, and was completely and utterly unharmed… Yaaaayyy!!! The gods of speed were looking down upon me for once!

Well… Today I’m catching the fast boat back to Chumphon, before catching the bus back to Bangkok… Then… Who knows?!?... The world is my lobster!

Raaaaaa!!!

E x