Certified Diver

One of the reasons i chose to do my Open Water Dive course in Thailand was because the whole course is done on the island. This is our 'classroom'

Outdoors, in the morning sun. British instructor on the left. Only two students per class =) Diving regulation says that an instructor can have up to 8 students but Scuba Junction is cool cuz they have small classes of up to four.

I was surprised we were allowed open book exams, discussion is okay too! So my dive buddy (you cannot dive alone, u must be assigned to a dive buddy if u go diving) and i had brunch while doing the exam

We had lunch at this place like... 3 days in a row, through the whole course. With views like this, not far away.

Good restaurant but i could never see its name, its the restaurant that plays movies at night on Sairee Beach

Some of the exam questions really made me laugh!
Check out the answers i marked with an X. Hahahha. Do u know the right answers? =) Loved the calculation part though i dont remember much now =P The next time i go diving i am sure they are going to make me take the refresher course.

Since it was the last day of the course, i took the risk and brought my camera on the boat!! Dont know what was i thinking, if i lose my camera i would go to Vietnam without a camera!!!

In my wetsuit =) Air tanks in the background... they have special names that i cant remember. And the blue blue sea =)

Post card picture perfect stretch of beach called Japanese Gardens. Would love to go there again. So pretty, we went there on the first dive day's 'confined dive' which is normally done in a swimming pool if u took the course in Malaysia.

Our instructor made us do the fitness test in paradise, it was hell swimming 3 rounds around the boat, especially when i had to swim against the waves! Haha, then we had to thread water for 10 minutes!

There was a bit more underwater tests after that, one of them was to remove your mask underwater and put it back on. The other is removing your air supply underwater and putting it back on. Won't lie to u, i was scared but needless to say i passed it all anyway =)

Like almost half the people on the boat are instructors or crew in Scuba Junction

They have to load and unload the equipment after each dive. While they were doing so, i took pictures!

Scuba cat, his name is Meow!

A photo with my instructor

Didnt realize he was wearing the Oceans Below t-shirt. He arranged for a videographer to film us diving on that day.

A photo with my videographer below, she's British. She's doing an underwater documentary course, filming underwater. She filmed us on the final day and made a video we could purchase. I didnt buy it cuz it was RM250. Awww, it was fun, i remember climbing to the roof of the boat and jumping in the water twice for her to record!!!
It was cool, the next night, her videography coursemate, my dive buddy and i went to Hippo Bar to watch the video on projector and chit chat! I loved the ambience and badly wanted to photos but i forgot my camera =(

Another instructor who briefed us on the first day.

Italian guy who can speak some Malay! You dont find many people interested in Malay!
L, another instructor who checked me in the first day, and M, a sweet friendly Thai girl who showed me to my bungalow

That night, my dive buddy n i went for BBQ dinner since we didnt have to study anymore! Yay!!!

Most restaurants in Koh Tao are this pretty =)

Irish, T and i, waiting for our food, watching fire dancers and enjoying the cool seabreeze. Sipping mango slushie for me and Chang beer for him while surfing the net, exchanging stories and looking at pictures of Ireland and Malaysia.

Chang Beer is one of Thailand's two local beers. The catch phrase for this one is, you'll get a 'Chang over' instead of a 'hang over'. The other Thai beer is Singha.