We took the flight from Very North and Cold China to Thailand! We were now following our dreams. We were courageous and daring! We were becoming beach bums. We were becoming PADI Scuba divers! We had a little under six hundred thousand Thai Bhat in our possession, and now we were going to try and set our lives up for good. Although it was not a massive amount of money, it will give us a good enough start.
Our instructors received us at the pier on KohTao. They helped us to get into the truck. They were also surprised at all of our luggage! We drove to the lodge and asked hundreds of questions. We were in awe of where we were, listening to all the crammed information they were passing along. That was where the best pizza was, and that was where we could get the best smoothies, and that was where the dive shop was and oh my word, I cannot find myself on a good day, but we would figure it out, Koh Tao is about ten minutes from point to point.
So we arrived at the resort, checked in, got our room, and did all the basics, and BAM! We find a bar with the vibe we were looking for in Thailand. We got everything, the sunset, the beers, all of it! We were mind blown.
The next thing we knew, we were getting all of our paperwork, we were in class, we were getting safety briefings and BRAF, five-point descends, mask cleaning, breathing and constantly blowing bubbles, falling backward and trusting the water will catch you. FUCK! Information overload!
The next thing we knew, we were on the boat, these people did not mess around, we didn’t go to a splash pool to have cocktails first, oh no, we jumped in the pool, did the safety briefings, and to the big blue ocean we went! This big blue ocean had a lot of fish, and I WAS GOING TO GET LOST!!
We were on the boat, nervous as hell, but we were too cool to show anyone. We couldn’t lose face! Our dream was to make diving our lifestyle and career. So we got ready and counted, tree-two-one, signal, mask, regulator, breathe, sit back and roll over the side of the boat.
In the water we were, where were you? Shit, how did this work? I was still floating, don’t forget buoyancy, fear and adrenaline lit the sparkles in our eyes! We were down. We were mind blown! We swam, and all we could do is focus on our instructors! We couldn’t be bothered by any fish, corals, sea slugs, or anything other than just breathing, and nobody likes the guy who runs out of air in 10 minutes.
DONE!
MIND BLOWN!
WE DID IT!
WE WERE WALKING ON-AIR!
We went for beers after the second dive, and we couldn’t stop talking. We were like two chatterboxes figuring this shit out!
We saw our very first tornado on the water on the way to a dive site!
We were actually doing this!