Thailand Prevails

After two days of class and diving in a chlorinated pool we found ourselves "ready" for our first experience scuba diving. The morning began with a 7:10 am pickup from the end of our driveway. We sat in the back of a pickup on wooden benches nervous for our first day of diving. I wondered would I be eaten by something that they forgot to tell me about and Liza concerned that she may choke on her own saliva. We got on our dive boat along with a handful of other people, somehow seeing everyone calmed my nerves. As we were waiting for the boat to take off, I wrapped my hand around a pole and felt a hard pinch. Ouch! I looked at my hand and low and behold, there was a black stinger in my pinky. It was about the second time that I had seen a bee in the past 2.5 months, go figure! I quickly removed it and put some ice on it. Is this a bad sign? God, I hope not. My finger seemed okay and we ate our breakfast and off we went. About and hour or so later we arrived at a small lagoon, where we would begin our new found skill. We were loaded with our weight belts, regulators, BCD jackets, ridiculously heavy oxygen tanks, wetsuits, goggles and snorkel, and lets not forget our flippers! I don't think that diving falls in the attractive attire sports. We stepped off the boat and into the 30 degrees Celsius ocean. It was a bit choppy at the top, making me a little anxious, but as we began our decent down the rope the water felt calm. All I could hear was my breathing and the bubbles rushing out of my regulator and up past my face. We finally got to the bottom after lots of equalizing and okays. The fish around us were happy to see us, mainly because we kicked up the ocean floor, which meant more food for them. I looked below me at the neon and bright blue colored wrasses, watching them swim through my legs. I was delighted. We swam for about an hour, past huge coral, sea anemones, and reefs full of life and through thousands of fish. When we came out of the water and onto the boat, it all seemed like a dream, like it almost wasn't real. I was terribly excited and couldn't wait untill I could be back down in the calm quiet ocean world. I was hooked. As we put our gear back on I cut my other finger by pinching it in my weight belt. Liz, our instructor joked that she wasn't sure how I had managed to stay alive this many years. We got back in the water and enjoyed our swim 10x more, probably because we both were relaxed and knew what we were getting ourselves into. We sat back on our trip back to Koh Lanta amped up from our first successful day of diving. Almost no injuries, no drowning and all of our skills completed. As we were heading back, the boat slowed just in time to see about 7 dolphins swimming past us heading back the way we had just come. I figured that if the day started out with a bee sting, at least it ended with dolphins (my first time seeing them out at sea).
The second day was even better than the first, with two new islands and lodes more fish than the day before. Up on the boat Liz had told us that sometimes the wrasses (a fish) liked to nibble on people's ears or pick off their scabs. EW, I thought:) As I was practicing my buoyancy I felt a couple pinches on the back of my calf. The small scab that I had forgotten about on the back off my leg didn't exist anymore and shortly after that another one was gone from my ankle. I guess scabs must taste good! What is it with me and stinging, biting creatures? Guess I am the lucky one, while Liza escaped with only a couple scratches from her BCD. After two days of diving, now we both can say that we are certified (amatuer) open water divers and I suppose our vacations will have to revolve around diving from now on cause if I wasn't broke about now I would spend the rest of my time here in the water.
With its gorgeous white beaches, gorgeous warm ocean and everyone's sweet, mellow demeanor I think that Koh Lanta was one of my favorite places that we visited. I really didn't want to leave. You can't really compete with ocean sunsets, the sound of waves crashing and relaxed environment. :) I think Thailand has definately gotten under my skin and will keep me wanting more!
PS The photos below were supposed to be added to this blog, small mix-up, sorry:)