Finding Nemo under a Full Moon

So I have not kept up with this blog as much as I would have liked, but I will try and fill in whats been going on the past couple of days. I am now one of the millions of travelers across the world who have experienced a Full Moon Party on the island of Koh Phan Ngan. HOLY SHIT is the best way to put it. Imagine the most gorgeous beach in the world. Now imagine a bucket full of Sangsom (Thai alcohol which some say is whiskey and some say is rum so iunno, but its STRONG), Coke, and M-150 (Thai Red Bull). Throw in 15,000 people from all over the world all dolled up in neon body paint (Mine was done by John from New Zealand and consisted of motorbikes and double helixes all over my face…unfortunately, the double helixes looked like sperm 😦 While we are at it, lets throw in slides, a jump rope made of fire, a shit ton of foam to play in, an a bunch of clubs, bars, and other stuff I probably can’t even remember…and THAT is the Full Moon Party.

For four days my only worries in life was what time to stop lounging on the beach and start drinking. I know some might say that this isn’t quite traveling but more of a silly vacation, but I DON’T CARE haha…it was honestly one of the best times of my life. I met a bunch of really amazing people, one of which I am traveling with now. His name is Will Shaw and he is from England. Apparently, we in America all say Shaw wrong, but I guess we do everything wrong, right? Sorry Jaime…

Eventually I had to drag myself off the island to both save my liver and also get the chance to actually see other parts of Thailand. I caught a boat to Koh Tao and signed up for a four day scuba diving course to obtain my Open Water license. There is a lot of class instruction involved which was LAME, but damn was it worth it. Scuba diving really is like a whole other world. The second you put your head underwater and are able to breathe, you know you are in for quite the experience.

Jumping ahead just a bit…We are all on a boat at our dive site which was called Mango Bay. We now know how to put on our equipment, what to do if we run out of air, lose our mask, if something breaks etc. Waddling around with my 60 kilo tank and fins and so on, I step onto the ledge of the boat to dive into the water. Jumping into water with that much weight is quite scary actually, but I let go and just did it. The second I got in I knew something was wrong. My BCD ( the vest that allows you to float) was leaking and it had an effect on me quite like what happens when you let go of a balloon. I started flailing around and had to be taken to the back of the boat and given a new one. WHAT A WAY TO START…

Once everything was back in order, I went under and got to experience the world underwater. No longer do I just have to depend on what Arielle and Nemo depict. The entire time I felt like I was in an episode of Planet Earth. Beautiful colors, coral reefs that resemble the surface of the moon, all sorts of crazy fish that were so pretty it hurt. Some of the fish that I remember and liked the best was the blue spotted stingray, as well as two clownfish. The funniest thing about the clown fish was that they never ever move from this one spot. Divers have made a giant circle around them out of rocks to give them some privacy, but still they never leave. I couldn’t help but be reminded of the beginning of Finding Nemo when Nemo’s dad doesn’t want to let him leave their home.

Scuba diving feels a bit like flying (really slowly) and was one of the coolest things I have ever done. I am now a fully licensed Open Water Scuba Diver!! Last nigh, everyone from the same scuba team (there were like 30 of us) all went out for drinks to celebrate. After 3 days of not really being able to drink I think I maybe had a few too many buckets and am paying for it right now. I decided to keep going on my scuba certification since I loved it so much and will now be taking my Advanced course, to get to a higher level of diving. I am going to be doing a night dive, going down 30 meters as well as a couple other amazing ones which I get to pick tomorrow…

I CAN’T WAIT!