The High Season

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The high season is pretty much over now in Koh Tao, Thailand. I've had a busy last few months working at Ban's Diving Resort as a scuba instructor, mostly teaching First Aid and Rescue Diver courses, although I've had a fair share of Open Water and Advanced courses to teach. Here and there I've been able to steal onto the boat when I'm (luckily!) not working and have a couple of fun dives!! It really deos take it out of you teaching every day, especially when you have to get up at 6:30am to do the morning dives and don't finish till class is over at 4pm in the afternoons!
Highlights over the last few months have definitely been the birth of my first nephew, Finnegan (see last two posts!), and only my second sighting of a whaleshark, which I fortunately had an underwater camera on me! I also finally visited a new country, Malaysia, albeit very shortly for a visa run to Penang for a few days. Nice to get some good chinese and indian food with some of the local cuisine. One of the funniest things about Malaysia is how they spell English words phonetically, like 'farmasi' instead of pharmacy, 'elektronix', 'aksesoris', and so on! Funny that I still consider myself out 'travelling' although I've not been to a new country in the last year and been working and living in Thailand until the Penang trip!
So, the whaleshark.... Well as some of you know, I did manage to see my first one back in April, which is a short season for them to visit Koh Tao. The big season for them is from about now until end of December. Last year we saw loads (I counted 23 that the Ban's divers saw) which I somehow seemed to miss EVERY SINGLE ONE. So it's a breath of relief and wonder that I finally get to see them. Still I have to admit, the most amazing thing I've seen underwater has to have been the dungong last year in the Andaman Islands (see 'The Andaman Experience').
There are also currently lots of large Grey Reef Sharks at one of the dive sights here, some of you will remember my post from last year 'Sharks!' although this time I have photos to go with the post! They've been coming in real close to me (I've been dubbed the shark man here because of how close I manage to get to them!). I have to admit I've done a real no-no and actually touched one as it swam by my head. It was a little one and it kept coming by me over and over, curious as hell, swimming just off my shoulder about 20-30cm away, and I couldn't restrain myself, just touching the tip of the tail as it went by, just to say I've touched a real live shark! So sorry to all the hardcore conservationists out there (that's including me!). I kind of felt guilty afterwards.... but how many people can say they've touched a shark? ;)
As this high season winds down, I'm left wondering what I'm to do for low season. Money will be tight as there's not much work until the December-January Swedish high season. Then it'll be quiet again until next June. So I'm currently deciding with great difficulty to call and end to all this, and move to Hong Kong for some work to remove the remaining debts I have (student loan and some credit card), before heading off again. I'll let you all know as time goes.
I have to admit, South America needs to be travelled by my feet very very soon..... :)
Oh, and it's my big 30th birthday party come 21st September!!!