Dam Naam & Other stuff
Did you know that Thais refer to themselves in the 3rd person habitually, or don't include themselves in a sentence at all. The Gibbon thinks this is entirely sensible.
Out of bangkok, and into the south for island fun. Here is the Thailand of all-night parties, fire dancers, pristine blue seas filled with rainbow coloured fish. And here, too, were F and The Gibbon.
Koh Tao
The Turtle, island of diving. Here only divers go, for here is the best east-coast diving sites. Apparently. All the accommodation on the island is cut-rate for divers, expensive for anyone else. Here, F and The Gibbon took an advanced diving course. Unfortunately, although the diving sites are excellent, the visibility was not. "Visibility" is measured in the number of meters away you can recognise another diver. 30m is usually as good as it gets. When you can't see your own fins, it is recorded as <1m. The advance course was in 5 parts.
1. Navigation.
In <1m visibility, this is basically "Swim that way. If I ever see you again, you've passed."
2. Deep dive.
In <1m visibility, this required torches to see at all. The Gibbon did not enjoy this one bit.
3. Fish Recognition
In <1m visibility, The Gibbon thought there would be no fish to identify. However, a 2.5 foot triggerfish was kind enough to attack F for a few minutes; long enough to properly identify it, anyway. "Titan Triggerfish. Found in tropical waters. Highly territorial, will attack divers that wander into its territory". F and The Gibbon can identify them from dental records now; chunks were taken from F's fins.
4. Night Dive (inc. Night Navigation)
In <1m visibility? Remarkably like the deep dive. You mean it's night? How can you tell?
5. Multi-level dive
You may have spotted the pattern here. F and Gibbon swam at different levels. F and Gibbon returned to the ship.
After all that, The Gibbon decided not to dive again until the visibility had improved. After 4 days of no improvement, F and The Gibbon left Koh Tao.
Out of bangkok, and into the south for island fun. Here is the Thailand of all-night parties, fire dancers, pristine blue seas filled with rainbow coloured fish. And here, too, were F and The Gibbon.
Koh Tao
The Turtle, island of diving. Here only divers go, for here is the best east-coast diving sites. Apparently. All the accommodation on the island is cut-rate for divers, expensive for anyone else. Here, F and The Gibbon took an advanced diving course. Unfortunately, although the diving sites are excellent, the visibility was not. "Visibility" is measured in the number of meters away you can recognise another diver. 30m is usually as good as it gets. When you can't see your own fins, it is recorded as <1m. The advance course was in 5 parts.
1. Navigation.
In <1m visibility, this is basically "Swim that way. If I ever see you again, you've passed."
2. Deep dive.
In <1m visibility, this required torches to see at all. The Gibbon did not enjoy this one bit.
3. Fish Recognition
In <1m visibility, The Gibbon thought there would be no fish to identify. However, a 2.5 foot triggerfish was kind enough to attack F for a few minutes; long enough to properly identify it, anyway. "Titan Triggerfish. Found in tropical waters. Highly territorial, will attack divers that wander into its territory". F and The Gibbon can identify them from dental records now; chunks were taken from F's fins.
4. Night Dive (inc. Night Navigation)
In <1m visibility? Remarkably like the deep dive. You mean it's night? How can you tell?
5. Multi-level dive
You may have spotted the pattern here. F and Gibbon swam at different levels. F and Gibbon returned to the ship.
After all that, The Gibbon decided not to dive again until the visibility had improved. After 4 days of no improvement, F and The Gibbon left Koh Tao.