Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus

The more I consider all the things that I want to do in Thailand, the more excited I am about taking a SCUBA course. Probably from the time I was nine (?) years old and Dad took me on a day long snorkeling adventure in Saint Martin, I always figured that I would eventually graduate to the world of SCUBA. I can still vividly remember starring into the turquoise reef watching schools of magnificently colored fish swim below me, while the Vernster took a big breathe and swam down to the reef below to get an up-close photo with our water-proof camera of the biggest and brightest fish. I remember that I couldn’t figure out how to close my mouth around the snorkel mouthpiece to prevent the water from rushing in from the top when you swam under and I was amazed that the Vernster could. I even got a turquoise blue tank top t-shirt on that trip that I wore for a few years probably between the ages of 9 and 12. Damn, I can’t remember all these memories are coming back. Mom or Dad, can you comment on how old I was when we went on that trip to St Martin?

Sure, land animals, especially of the African Safari variation, were my top animals of choice as a child, but I always had that spot in my heart for the reef world. From those childhood snorkeling trips to my salt-water seahorse aquarium to my whale and shark books, it only seems natural that on my upcoming quarter-life adventure, I finally learn how to SCUBA.

Here’s the breakdown. You have to get licensed to become certified to scuba. The licensing body is the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI). While there are many advanced courses, the Open Water Certification is the basic course that you need. Once you are certified, you are basically licensed to dive up to 60 feet anywhere in the world. The Open Water course is 3 or 4 full days, and consists of a theory class, pool training, a test, and 4 real dives in the ocean. Not all that difficult really. Kao Tao, which was on my original itinerary in the final quadrant of the trip, issues the second most PADI certificates in the world (behind some town in Australia by the Great Barrier Reef). It is really cheap to get certified in Ko Tao (probably 8,000 baht [$1 = 33 baht} or $240) and they are supposed to have some great dive sites, so I figured that would be the place to do the course. However, upon further research, I learned that the underwater visibility on the Gulf of Thailand side is bad in November and December. Upon further reading, the diving in the Andaman Sea is amongst the top in the world, and while it may be slightly more expensive (12,000 baht or $360) to do the course on Ko Phi Phi, the diving, visibility, and experience is supposed to be significantly better. How did I find all this out? Well, I asked a question on the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree Forum and got a near unanimous response.

Could this be me (on the left)?

Much like the elusiveness of the Cheetah in Africa (Harriett, remember how we didn’t spot one until our final day?), the Whale Shark is the prize “spot” in Thailand diving. Actually, its probably the #1 goal of many scuba diver to swim with a whale shark. For the few of you who didn’t spend their childhood reading about sharks, the Whale Shark is the biggest fish in the world, however they pose no danger as they only eat plankton. And it just so happens that they occasionally show up in the Andaman Sea. It is still very rare to see one especially while doing your introductory dives so I am certainly not counting on it, but I can say this: the chances of spotting a whale shark are significantly higher when you are scuba diving in Thailand as opposed to when you are auditing in Washington DC. And if I don't spot a whale shark, there are always manta rays, sea turtles, reef sharks, barracuda, moray eels, and octopus amongst all the coral and tropical fish.

So, there we have it. First change of plans is to do the Scuba course in Ko Phi Phi in the Andaman Sea during the 3rd quadrant as opposed to Kao Tao in the 4th and final quadrant. And how exciting is this! I’m going to Thailand and I’m going to learn how to SCUBA! And I just might swim with a shark the size of a school bus!