Day 37- Koh Tao Diving..I feel like Ariel the little mermaid!

"OH SHIT!" I yelled, as I looked at the time on my watch.

9:15 and I was supposed to be taking my final dive exam at 9 am. I threw on a my brown zebra bikini, pink shorts, and Lao Beer tank top and raced down to the beach to meet the rest of my classmates.

I was relieved when I made it to the beach and saw that everyone was still hanging out on the bean bag chairs in the beach front bar waiting to start the exam. Everything is on beach time, so 15 minutes late isn't technically late.

I sat down next to the other American named Jack and we started our test. The whole time I was taking it, my head was spinning from the pina colodas from the night before. It was pretty simple and straight forward, but I was unable to do any of the complicated questions because I felt completely drunk.

I tried to sneak a look over at Jacks test, but he finished quickly, so I was left to guess the last few questions on my own.

But basically, to scube dive you just need to know a few simple rules and not freak out. It is definitely more complicated than this, but if you are curious this is what I thought was the most important
I guess you need to know your

EQUIPMENT
-BCD (buoyancy control device with inflator) the life vest you wear when you dive that fills and deflates to help you float or sink
-Dive tank
-Regulator it is 4 tubes that attach to the BCD and the tank (they give you air, inflate the BCD, let you know your air pressure)

HOW TO DIVE
-Just always go with a buddy and check all of your equipment.
-When you get in the water deflate your BCD (vest) and slowly go down (there are more details but that is the main stuff).
-Equalize as you go down (pop your ears)
- Once you are down just relax and chill and BREATHE!
-Just check your time and location and have fun
-When you come up to the top you have to surface SLOW SLOW SLOW and release air from your BCD because air expands as it rises

Anyway, basically that is the main stuff but there are more complicated with the safety and everything, but the most important thing is BREATHE! :)

So after we finished our test, the instructor told us to get in the ocean because we had to do our 200 meter swim test. I was still feeling the effects of the pina colados, so jumping in the water with my waterproof camera I had a great time clicking photos and joking around. Once we made it out 200 meters, we had to float in one spot for 10 minutes. It was pretty easy, but I was surprized because everyone in our class did it no problem.

We all had passed our tests and swim tests, so the next step was OPEN WATER! I was so excited to get to go out in the ocean, but also a bit nervous because I wasn't feeling the best. Me and some of the other students sat down for lunch and I had some chicken pad thai and a Singha thai beer in hopes of a little hair of the dog curing me.

We got on board a big boat and traveled north up to our first dive location. The water was sparkling, and the sun was shining overhead. It really was unbeatable.

I was excited but also scared. I didn't know what it would be like traveling up to 18 meters beneath the ocean. I thought that it would feel scary when we had to do our dive tests (taking off our masks underwater, switching our air source, following a compas) but I just jumped in.

Liran the instructor was joking around with everyone and putting everyone at ease. He has been working on Koh Tao for 6 years as an instructor, so he is confident and fun to dive with. He told us S O R T E D before we went in the water which stands for Signal, Orientation, Resperator, Time, Elavate, Descend (a pre descend checklist) and down we went.

I think there were 7 or 8 people in our group and we all were amazed as we descended down into the water below. We stuck with our partners and floated to the sea bottom. Fish were swimming around us and I really felt like I was Ariel from the little mermaid. It was a sensation that I had never experienced and I couldn't stop singing "Under the Sea" from the little mermaid in my head.

Colorful parrot fish, harlequin sweetlips, schools of baracuda, brightly colored anenomes surrounded us as we practiced our diving. We all had a great time and the 31 minutes at 12 meters deep flew by. We ascended to to the surface slowly, and jotted down our experiences in our dive log books. Then we had an hour and 40 minute break and left Mango Bay and to our next dive location called Japanese Garden.

I had so much fun the first dive, that I thought this one would be no problem, but my hangover was setting in. On the descent down, my right ear was giving me a terrible time, and I almost freaked out. Luckily, I just ascended slightly and equalized and was able to clear the blockage, but that was the only scary experience I had.

We made it back to Crystal Resort at about 6 and everyone was exhausted but happy. We had all made it and passed our first 2 training dives! The first one was 31 minutes and the second was 42 minutes. It was a cool experience to have spend over an hour living in a world that I had only imagined before.

A few of us headed to dinner at an Irish pub and laughed and joked the night away. We probably still drank more than we should of, but we all managed to get back and to bed by about 11 or 12 in anticipation of our 2 big dives the next day!