Day 222! Another day of no fun divers means more fun dives for me! I also dove into reading some of my last certification as a DMT as well as hung out with friends to enjoy another sunset. I’ve gotten into a really fun rhythm here on Koh Tao, it’s been a great time and I’m glad I still have another month on the island.

Today was another morning of no fun divers for Kit and I, which meant we could fun dive together! There were also a ton of pro divers and instructors fun diving this morning as well, so it was going to be a fun morning.

Our dives this morning started at Chumphon Pinnacle. Kit and I were diving together and Polish Krys was tagging along (we have young Chris, old Chris, and now Polish Krys as well). We hopped into the water and looked down to some of the best visibility we had seen in a month!

It was amazing to drop down onto a dive site and be able to see the entire area. We could basically see all the way to the bottom which was incredible! However, there wasn’t much wildlife around today outside of one moray eel that I spotted, a school of small barracuda, and of course the giant school of fusiliers.

The visibility was so good, we could see all around barracuda rock as well. But the big barracudas didn’t like the lack of thermocline, I guess, and weren’t around today.

What was fun though, my friend Chelsea brought her camera along! She was doing a photo shoot with two of the instructors Theo and Guada. But since we were just fun diving, we could tag along with them too! So soon I’ll have some cool pictures to share from today. But that’ll be after Chelsea edits them.

Our dive lasted just under 45 minutes but we hung around fairly deep for a while.

Our second dive was at Suphairin, one of the shipwrecks we frequently go to. The visibility at the wreck wasn’t nearly as good as Chumphon, but it was still an enjoyable dive.

Again, Chelsea had her camera. So it made a semi lack luster dive a fun one!

Almost 50 minutes later, we surfaced and were finished with our morning of diving. It was really fun having a bunch of friends in the water to goof around with. I also haven’t dove much with Theo since my advanced course! So it was fun to be diving with him again as well.

On the boat ride home, I received a FaceTime from some of my friends back in Kansas City! We couldn’t really talk much because of the boat engine, cell service, and the loud bar they were at. But it was really nice seeing their faces and showing them the beautiful scenery from the boat ride back to the dock!

I then got myself a quesadilla from Taco Shack, played some pool with my Burmese friends, and then went to my room for a nice long nap.

When I woke up, I started reading the material for my last diving certification course, Dive Guide. It’s a bit silly I’m reading this after already guiding for a while… but it’s important nonetheless. After this certification is over, I’m basically finished with the education portion of my DMT! The end is quickly approaching.

While reading, I received a text from my friend Chelsea asking if I wanted to hang out at a cafe while she edited her pictures she took today. I had nothing else to do so I hopped over to the cafe to hang out.

I continued my reading of Dive Guide and got sneak peaks of the pictures she took today. They turned out really good! Chelsea is a fantastic photographer and we’re lucky she likes to practice and take (and edit) pictures of us for free!

After a while, our friend Hector showed up… I know, I thought it was his last night on the island yesterday. Well turns out, he got his dates mixed up and TODAY was his last night. So we got a bit more time to hang out.

We eventually left the cafe and went on a mission to find Hector a small backpack for his travels. We weren’t successful but it was nice to walk around a part of Sairee I don’t walk around much anymore.

With that… it was actually see you later with Hector. He sets off early tomorrow so this was the last time I’d be seeing him for a bit. He taught me a lot about diving and was a really good friend to have on the island. I’m gonna miss having him around but I’m so happy he’s going to go travel again and take a break from all the working he’s been doing.

I then raced home to drop off some things before heading to our secret abandoned building viewpoint. Sunset was starting and a group of us decided to go watch it!

We sat up on top of the building watching another insanely beautiful sunset go over the island. I’m really a big fan of sunsets, especially the ones in SE Asia.

After the sun went down, I went to Mama Tams for dinner. Everyone else had ate already, so I was planning on going solo. But I stopped at Taco Shack to fill up my water… and the power was out. Because of stopping at Taco, I ran into my fellow DMT, Chris, who was about to eat at Taco Shack. So he changed plans and joined me to Mamas.

The power wasn’t out at Mamas thankfully. So I was able to get a mango smoothie and a chicken pad Thai. The restaurant workers know me and when I walked in they said “mango smoothie no sugar” and after I said yes and thank you they started it for me.

Chris and I had a lovely dinner and chat. We talked a lot about diving and the DMT program. But we also dove into some deeper topics about traveling. It was a very nice time.

We then headed over to Taco, which still had no power, to play some pool. Eventually the power came on… and then immediately turned off again. But shortly after it came on for good.

This meant I was going to be able to go home and shower (my power was out too). So I called it a night.

Tomorrow I’ll be back to leading fun divers. But not just any random fun divers, Michael. We’ll see how it goes!

– Elie