The island is privately leased from the Thai government and is under plan to be developed into a 5* resort. It currently maintains a level of exclusivity by charging astronomical fees for accommodation to anyone not on a diving course, a similarly priced menu, and charging an admission fee to anyone not staying on the island. This causes some people to view the island with resentment and others to bask in the feeling of being a part of somewhere special.
The Open Water Diving Course began with an enthusiastic introduction and discussion of what would be covered, and then onto the basics of underwater safety. We worked through the paperwork with a continuously increasing desire to ditch the books and actually get our feet wet. The procedure sounded simple enough - get your kit on, do a buddy check, a James Bond style water entry, breathe slowly & continuously, never hold your breath, and remember to equalise your ears as you descend - sorted.
Butterfly fish began to get restless in my stomach as we waded out from the beach and listened to our final instructions. I'd been looking forward to undertaking a diving course ever since sketching my travel plans over 4 years ago. And now, I stood on the brink of entering a new world, satisfying an ambition, gaining a new skill, and ticking one more thing of the list of life. The first couple of underwater breaths came as naturally as you'd expect from someone that has been competently breathing for over 25 years. The weird moments came when a fish distracted you from thinking about the breathing, and then when you remembered, the initial reaction was a reflex urge to head to the surface. The revelation of taking that next underwater breath and accepting your new lack of environmental constraints were immediately followed by a rush of adrenaline.
Once you have attained neutral buoyancy, you assume the mannerisms of a fledgling phantasm that has just realised it's flight potential, and is still getting to grips with the propulsion system. You then glide through the sea without a hint of urgency, taking in new sights in all directions and pitying the snorkellers hastily stealing a taste of this world with each breath held.
That first dive was at a site called Japanese Gardens and located to the east side of the islands. Within minutes of looking around we had already seen a massive variety of animals from coral banner fish & parrot fish to barrel sponges & tree worms. The sensation of skimming the sand bed, and flying between and over boulders, coupled with the high water visibility, provoked a strange feeling of being in a new additional to someone's tropical fish tank.
The second dive was to the east side of the adjoining sand bridge and at a site named 'Simon's Hangover' - probably named for where sections of rock protrude over the lower reaches and create a fun park of underwater tunnels, caves and causeways. Our entourage now included a school of bat fish, yellow margin trigger fish, hexagon groupers and the occasional reluctant appearance of a blue spotted lagoon ray.
With every minute breathing underwater, the whole situation became more easily accepted and taken for granted. We were beginning to feel like the initiation was over and we were rightful visitors to this new world. In the afternoon we headed out on a boat to Chumporn Pinnacle and reached our official maximum depth of 18m (I say official as Luke and I were checking out the scenery from 22m - well, rules are there to broken, aren't they?). After each dive we utilised the encyclopedic brain of Sally, our instructor, and accessed the names of all the fish we'd seen. Unfortunately my fish like memory has reduced many of the technical names to gibberish and descriptive terms such as the 'yellow goldfish'.
The final day of the Open Water course consisted of a morning and an afternoon dive, and an early finish that enabled us to set sail from the island and head to the darker recesses of an infamous full moon party on Ko Pha Ngan. We completed the last of the dive skills at the sites Green Rock & Twins and finished the course with a mandatory swimming test (note the sensible chronological placing of this event). The swim was completed to the applause of the instructors and to the sound of our newly attained titles of 'Open Water Divers'. I assume that we had shown excellent understanding of the course literature and technical information as our titles were bestowed on us before we had actually taken the final exam.
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