Food for the fishes...(posting from the road)

I have learnt one thing while travelling, if a place is worth seeing it will suck trying to get there. Koh Rung Island in the Bay of Thailand is no exception. I set out from the port city of Sihanoukville Cambodia early on a Sunday morning with 8 other folks from around the world. According to the glossy brochure we were to be boarding a luxious dive boat for a 2 hour ride across the bay. What in fact happened is we boarded a richety wooden fishing boat for a slow, long putt across the bay. We had been gone for about 30 min, so we were a good 6 feet from the dock when a Cambodian Police boat pulled up and spent 10 min arguing with the Cambodian crew aboard, I can only assume some money changed hands and then we were off.

Many hours later we pulled up to a wobbly deck on an stunning island. White sand beaches as far as you could see...palm trees...crystal blue waters...and the best part, virtually empty. My time was not spent enjoying paradise however; I was in school - scuba school. The only other student in my 'class' was a 6'4 gentleman who used to swim for the national team of Denmark - I think you can imagine how well our joint swim test went. Mathias was already out of the water, finished a drink and I swear his hair was dry by the time I finished.
After a short class(we had done some homework the day before) we were in the water for our first dive. Following our skill demonstration lesson, we had time for a "muck" dive. It was amazing!! We saw giant crabs, octopuses, seahorses...sorry no pictures, I was busy trying not to drown.

The second dive, after some more lessons and quizzes, did not go so well. In fact it might just be one of the worst dives in the history of diving. I wasn't feeling quite right after a lunch of vegetable curry, plus swallowing a gallon of salt water on the swim out to the dive site did not help matters. It was time for more skills, under 2 metres of water. I was kneeling on the ocean floor, wating patiently for my turn, gently being swayed back and forth by the currents when the feeling came back. Never in my entire life have I been as nauseated as I have on this whole trip. Just think back to the last time that you vomitted...now imagine being about 7 feet under water when you start. These werethe thoughts that were racing though my brain, promptly leading to chest pain and anxiety. The more I thought about it, the worse it got. And then I started...I'll spare you the gory details, needless to say I shot to the surface like a rocket and the local fish dined well that night.

I laid in bed after that, feeling like a total loser. Here I was alone on a gorgeous island and so far the higlight had been a delicious dinner of schnitzel and an amazing sunset. Worse then that, I was going to have to go back and tell everyone how I failed. I took a handful of gravol/dramamine and fell asleep to the waves lapping up against my walls.

Shina, my dive instructor was amazing. She had me up at the crack of dawn, and we were in the water before 7 am. In less then an hour, I was back on track. We did 3 more dives that day, all of it was awesome. A collection of unusual fish and creatures waited for us 12.6 metres below the surface. I tried to take photos of them all to share with you but I had some difficulties. First off, the fish do not like to remain still for the photos. Secondly, I have not mastered the fine art of buoency. So while I am trying to take the photos I seem to either slam into the reef or float a few metres up towards the surface. I will keep practicing - in time the photos will be awesome.

So that is it, good bye from paradise. I am back on the Cambodian mainland. My newly acquaried dive certificate and I are heading out for a celebratory beer. Chull moy (cheers in Kuhmari).

A-gun for reading!