Pure Shores

AhS

As I write this, suspended in a flimsy green hammock tied to the edges of a beach-front cabin, I don't feel much like a back-packer, but rather a guest at a 5 star luxury resort.

The journey getting to Koh Tao however, is a different story. After leaving Bangkok at 6pm on tuesday evening we boarded a bus headed to Chumpon, a 9 hour journey south through the night. Luckily, the bus was air-conditioned and the seats were relatively comfortable. The bus was packed full of like-minded travellers chasing the sun to the islands. A friendly German couple, who had very little understanding of where they were or where they were going, regularly disturbed my slumber, while a chripy fellow named Hugo bragged and boasted about the adventurous Thai travels he had already experienced. As he sipped on several Changs (his voice getting louder and louder) I decided to phase him out by putting in my ipod headphones and drifted off to sleep.

I awoke at approximately 3am - Hugo was wrapped in a blanket with beer still in hand, fast asleep. We were all told to exit the bus here and get a van to the port of Chumpon. The van resembled a cattle truck in which we were all piled into the back of, along with our stuff, People started to wake up, lit their cigarettes and chatted amongst themselves, while the poor German couple at the back had the job of making sure peoples bags didn't fall out of the back of the van and onto the road.

At the port we boarded a boat that would take us all to Koh Tao. As we sat and dangled our feel over the edge of the front deck, the sun began to rise in the sky - a breathtaking view I won't forget. Beneath us, the water was disturbed, the sun playing tricks in the sea. Gold shapes like a shoal of fish spun beneath the surface matching our speed. "If you look down you will feel sick. Wa'ch th' island. The islan', it does not move," yelled a Thai worker behind me. I looked where he pointed and strangely, Champon seemed miles behind us, but the chop off island still appeared as distant as it had an hour ago.

It had been decided before we arrived that we would enroll in a PADI diving course when getting to the island, and many men on the boat were keen to advertise their agency. The choice was overwhelming but I'd done some research before coming and knew of a company I'd like to try - 'Davey Jones Locker'. Luckily, a man from this company was on the boat and thanks to some skillful bartering from Gordon we managed to get a fantastic deal. We paid 9000 baht each for a 4 day PADI course, free accommodation, 4 days food, a free dive after the course, a DVD of our action and a free lift to our accommodation when arriving at the port. After securing the deal we were all very excited!

As we neared our destination, we were overwhelmed with the islands beauty. The water beneath us turned from a dark, deep blue to a glistening turquoise in the bad and the hilly landscape trapped and secured us in paradise. When leaving the boat we got into our taxi along with two other girls named Catherine - from Oakham school! After discussing our school rivalry, love of Thailand and excitement about diving, we arrived at the dive school. To our embarrassment, we discovered the girls had paid 600 baht more than us for the course and were expected to stay in a crowded hostel.

Our accommodation however was luxurious. A beach front cabin nestled amongst coconut trees, exotic flowers and fire lit walkways. Heaven. We spent the rest of the day at the beach swimming and relaxing in the glorious sunshine. In the evening we had dinner at the beachfront and enjoyed a few cocktails before bed.

We awoke early this morning and headed to the pool for our first dive taster - getting used to the equipment and learning the essentials before we head out to the reef tomorrow. To our surprise, the two Catherine's had been enrolled onto our session which was great news - it was lovely to have some like-minded girls around! We all had amazing time with our instructor Chris, who has invited us to the bar this evening to enjoy some Changs.

The sun is now beginning to set from my hammock and the view is spectacular. Red sky is fading into deep blue where a few bright stars are already shining, and orange light is throwing elastic shadows down the beach as people begin to stroll back to their huts.

I could stay here forever. xxxx