The morning of our departure form Chiang Mai, we had a last minute change or route. We decided instead of going farther north for a few days that we should head south. Overnight train to a day train to a cab to a boat to a island to a boat to….. and we finally arrived in Koh Tao. We knew we wanted to get SCUBA certified here and we were on a time crunch. We found a man on the boat that offered a 3.5 day course with accommodations right on the water for only $270. Though we booked our tour on the ferry with a strange salesman, we were so happy with what we got. We had a beautiful room with a hammock on the porch overlooking the bay.

Everyday started with some classes around 8:30am before heading out to the dive boat in the afternoon. Each day we had to perform underwater tests in order to pass. These included removing our respirator, mask, BCD, and weight belt underwater and being able to replace them without needing to surface. Following out first test dive of the day, we then had a fun dive where we explored around a bit. The dive sights were beautiful. Coral, fish, protruding rocks, ship wrecks, and divers all around made for a very memorable certification class. Marge, Garrett, and I all passed with A’s and after 3 days, 3 new divers were born. Most of our time on Koh Tao was spend getting SCUBA certified, so we didn’t have much time to explore.

On our last day, Garrett and I hiked up to a lookout point with an amazing view. A small meandering trail through palm trees and rocks lead us of several massive boulders overlooking two of the bluest bays you could imagine. It was a great way to spend our remaining hours on Koh Tao.

Leaving Koh Tao, we took an overnight boat to Phi Phi island. Probably the sketchiest overnight boat you could imagine. We were in the lower deck of the boat in a dimly lit room full of spicy mustard colored, rusty bunk beds. The seas were rough as we rolled back and forth in our tiny beds. I heard someone on a lower bunk say “Have you all seen Titanic? All the poor people below didn’t make it when the ship went down”. At that point, the three of us decided to stop drinking our beers and try to get some rest.