Written By Peyton
Hello everyone! This is Peyton writing to you from the beautiful Island of Koh Tao!
We started off our week here at Koh Tao after a long travel day from Surat Thani. October 21st was a half travel day and coincidentally Trev’s birthday! (Fun fact: this is Trev’s first birthday that consists of traveling on four forms of transportation: a plane, songtaos, a double-decker bus, and a ferry ride). When we reached New Heaven Dive School, we packed our day with food, sun, and the beach. We were provided a fantastic lunch consisting of a fried chicken sandwich (I proceed to have this same chicken sandwich every day for lunch for the rest of our time here. It was that good!) Honestly, all of the food we ate was wonderful and we will forever be grateful to the amazing restaurant staff that catered to us 3 meals a day.
Some of our group members were a tad nervous for our upcoming scuba diving adventures, so we dipped our toes in the water (literally) and snorkeled at a local beach about a ten minute walk from our rooms.
At the beach, the rocks surrounding us had a warm, almost earthen, hue to them. The water was the warmest ocean I’ve ever been in – both refreshing and wonderful. I found that I loved the stillness of the ocean (I had never been to a beach without huge waves before) and even the surprisingly severe saltiness of the water. The buoyancy made us feel weightless as we floated head upward looking at the sky. My favorite thing though, of everything here upon the group’s first experience together in the ocean, was actually something the group brought with us: Trevor’s volleyball passion class.
After learning skills like how to hit and dive for the ball we were able to make it to a group volley of 21 hits!! We spent hours basically throwing ourselves both in the water and at each other in an attempt to keep the ball in the air. The lingering toe scrapes from the group’s epic dives were totally worth it. We ended the night exhausted, but full of laughter, as we celebrated Trev’s big 19 with a nice dinner at a local spot that had a beautiful overlook of the ocean. We even ordered a delicious cake to finish off the perfect night!
The next day was our first full day of scuba and my group (consisting of me (Peyton), Danica, and Ava) was both full of excitement and lingering nervousness. To our relief, we had an amazing instructor, Nacho, who really put us at ease and full of laughter as we dived deep into the water. Nacho lovingly referred to us as his “mermaids,” and his calm attitude and patience really helped our group fly through the safety and training motions so we could spend the reminder of that first jump in the water diving down up to 5 meters! Throughout the dive some of us struggled with buoyancy which was both frustrating and hilarious. Nacho made sure to put the group at ease with his adorable mini claps (picture a subtle golf clap underwater) and his oddly-timed handshakes after completing an exercise.
Day two of SCUBA came with some adjustments in equipment and weights to help with buoyancy and comfort. We upgraded and got to do 2 dives in one day! Every dive is just about 50 minutes depending on how much air the group uses. Dan and Gabrielle were legends with their low air usage, while I tended to take very deep inhales and run out of air quicker. It varies person to person depending on breathing patterns. Also, our air tanks are much heavier then I expected on land, so it was always a great relief to quickly get into the water. A couple of us also learned how to exit the boat backwards in our scuba gear. That was 100% my favorite way to enter the water. It felt so much cooler to fall backwards and evenly submerge in the water compared to stepping forward. Usually between dives we would eat lunch and Nacho would show us what I like to call the “ocean dictionary picture book” showcasing all of the fish, corals, and other sea creatures we would have the potential to see. Nacho tried to teach us the charade-type hand signals to communicate the species of fish underwater, but there ended up being tons of signals to remember so we would end up asking the names of fish and coral we saw after the dive.
Day three of SCUBA was tinged with both adventure and lingering sadness. Almost no one in the group wanted it to be our last dive. Nevertheless, we made sure to soak up everything we saw underwater. At this point, everyone had taken our written open divers certification test that morning, so technically we were certified mermaids. Pretty cool right?
After cleaning our equipment for the last time we got to have an environmental discussion with Kirsty, the head marine conservationist. We learned about the varied work New Heaven Dive School takes part in and asked our questions about the specific areas we got to visit underwater. Many of us were curious about how healthy the areas were that we saw and if there was any major milestones Thailand has taken to becoming more ocean friendly. The group was extremely grateful for Kirsty because she was extremely engaging and knowledgeable about all things marine biology.
After the discussion, I realized that I might have never truly noticed water, had I never dived deep into it. My appreciate for the ocean and what it gives to our earth has vastly grown. I have a new understanding of how activities on land directly correlate to the health of our oceans. As it is, I loved to dive within the salty water and feel the freedom it gives, transparent and blue, soft and strong.
As a group, we got to experience the coral seemingly sitting with eternal patience as the sea creatures carry on their free form flash-dance above and below us. It was humbling to be able to witness just simple everyday lives of the swimming fish. I found it interesting to learn from Nacho that there are many sea animals cautious of scuba divers not only due to our odd shape, but because the exhalation of air from us is foreign to them. No other living thing underwater creates air bubbles, so the massive amount of bubbles coming from our mask must be startling. Sometimes it was disheartening to not see every cool sea animal I could think of, but throughout the dive I tried to take in everything around me in the point of view of a fish. Witnessing the varying health levels of the coral, the fish lovingly paired up with their partners, and even the small dirt/sand particles floating in front of us brought a strong sense of curiosity and wonder during the dive.
Overall, for me, this scuba experience made me feel both small and powerful. I felt small in the grand scheme of our vast world, but powerful in having the ability to learn and explore ways we can keep our oceans healthy and thriving. By diving down up to almost 18 meters (54 feet), our group got just the barest glimpse of the vast unknown of the ocean. By swimming deep down into the water, it created a strong meditative atmosphere where we all could be present in the moment. It brought a sense of inner peace and tranquillity that I will never forget.