In 1986, when the world was sill young, we got certified as open water scuba divers by the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI for short). Not long after we got certified we dove (among other places) in the Florida keys, The Turks and Caicos, on Bonaire and eventually on the Great Barrier Reef of Australia.
But then we got busy and our attention got taken up by other things like playing music or running a little neighborhood bar and we just didn’t get back around to doing any diving. More than 20 years slipped by without us strapping on a scuba tank.
Since we are in the Islands of Thailand for almost two months it seemed like to perfect opportunity to try it again.
Recognizing that it has been many moons since we were trained, and while a lot of it is like riding a bicycle (you remember again as soon as you jump on), there are a lot of important details that we knew we had forgotten. So, “being charitable and cautious” we decided to take a refresher course before we headed back out into the deep.
There are a LOT of dive operations in Koh Samui, when we sat down to research them. What we found, in one recommendation after another, is that one outfit stood out among the rest. It is called 100 Degrees East
Since it was not far away, Bonnie and I jumped on the scooter and visited with the folks at 100 Degrees East at their dive shop and were quite impressed. We signed up for our refresher course and also for a day of diving on Koh Tao.
The story would not be complete if we did not talk a little but about pricing for dive trips. You can go cheap for long full day trip on packed older boat (around 40 people) where the ratio of guest to staff is about 10 to 1. As you can imagine there is little personalized service with this option. You bring your own beach towels, pay extra for soft drinks and the included lunch is quite limited. As an example, snorkeling gear with many of these operators include mask and snorkel but not fins.
Or you can pay about twice as much and go on a new boat with a typical limit of 12 guest. Everything is included and the guest to staff ratio is 4 to 1. Your fee includes pickup and drop off from your hotel, boat trip, full gear, water, fresh fruit, fluffy towels, a nice lunch and an amazingly attentive crew. This would be the 100 Degrees East trip. We saw “the other guys” while we out diving and were very thankful we had chosen to go the more pampered route.
On the day of our refresher we arrived at the dive shop to meet our instructor, a master diver named Kurt from New Zealand. We spent the first 45 minutes doing paperwork and then talking through how the refresher was going to work. We also reviewed all of the classroom stuff we learned so many years ago.
From there it was off to the pool, where we assembled our gear, did our buddy checks and demonstrated most of the basic dive skills. We were a bit rusty, but it all came back. We also spent quite a bit of time just swimming around the pool, getting re-acclimated, reviewing hand signals and working on neutral buoyancy.
We were back at our hotel in time for a late lunch and an amazing tasty Leo beer – the air in the tanks have no humidity and tends to make your throat quite dry, which makes that first cold beer taste awesome!
The next morning our driver was waiting for us in the parking lot of our hotel with a big smile on his face. He drove us to the scuba shop where we had one of the most complete dive briefings ever. Every little detail of the trip was covered. That would typically be the time that any other dive shop would have had you assemble your gear and carry it and the extra tank down to the boat, but not at 100 Degrees East – our gear was all set up and waiting for us on the boat. They even remembered to swap out Bonnie’s regulator mouthpiece to a kids size to make it more comfortable for her.
There were about a dozen guests on the boat which could have easily held twice that many. We dropped our flip flops in a dry box and climbed onboard a fresh clean new boat with cold water, soft drinks and even a marine toilet. From there it was about an hours ride out to the dive sites.
Kurt, our instructor from the day before was there with us and ended up being our private guide for our dives. What luxury to have someone with you who knew all the best spots. Gear on with lots of help from the boat crew, buddy checks done and then it was into the ocean, which was a balmy 27 degrees C. (about 80 degrees F).
While the water was delightfully warm, and most of the coral was alive and vibrant, it was a bit cloudy from a recent algae bloom, so visibility did not compare to what we remembered from dives in the Bahamas. However, the number, types of fish, marine life and coral was amazing.
As soon as we came back on board the boat the crew took our gear for us and set it up for the next dive. Meanwhile we were immediately offered cold water and fresh watermelon.
In between dives we had a freshwater shower, toweled off and headed over the the amazing beautiful Mango Bay. It is easy to see what so many movies are filmed in this part of the world. Lunch was served on the boat: white rice, massaman curry, fried chicken, egg rolls and soft drinks. It was delicious.
Our second dive was clearer that the first, and we had a great time with almost an hour of downtime on relatively shallow (20 to 30 feet) reefs. Schools of fish, rays, and lovely live coral beds.
On the boat ride back we were treated to a pod of pink dolphins, a rarity in the Islands of Thailand, the crew redirected and then stopped the boat so we could watch these lovely creatures breach and play.
Two thumbs up for the pampered service we got from Kurt and the team at 100 Degrees East. Hopefully we will be back out with them for another dive before we leave Koh Samui.
speed. So we made our way up to the top of the Island to an area called Bophut, and more specifically the 
For those who are planning a longer stay and are willing to live a five minute walk to the beach; you can get a serviced mini apartment for around $10 USD a day when you commit to a month.
For Longer Stays:
In the midst of all this deferred maintenance there is an oasis called the 
The hotel is managed by two delightful gentlemen one named Thep and the other his cousin Poo (along with a myriad of other cousins). Together they great guest, help with baggage and keep the hotel polished and shining. We were really surprised to hear that the place has been open for 5 years, because everyting looks so brand new.
As with the elephants, we were picked up at our 
After a tour of the garden we were led into the main school where we were each assigned our own cooking station compete with utensils, a burner, chopping block and several different types of pans and woks.
As each dish was completed it went under our bench while we worked on the next. During our first snack break we got to enjoy our soup. At one point in the prep, we were shown how to inject a bit of flair with a flaming presentation of the stir fry.
I am sure that it will not surprise anyone who knows us to hear that that ride back to your hotel was followed by a nice long nap…
Nothing can prepare you for the experience of spending time with these gentle giants, but we will endeavor to provide some detail about the experience. As a tourist you must be aware that there are two types of elephant experiences available, one involves riding the elephants on a jungle trek of sorts and the other is visiting a sanctuary to interact with them in a more caring way. We will not lecture on either path, but suffice it to say we chose to visit a sanctuary.
Once outfitted the group of about 15 of us looked like rodeo clowns ready to hit the circuit. Our guide then spent some time explaining to us that the elephants we were going to be interacting with were domesticated and were used to being around humans. They also advised that they were very curious and nimble with their trunks, so we needed to hang on to our phones lest the elephants grabbed them from us to take a selfie. Other simple rules: don’t run away from the elephants because they may see you running and chase you. Stay out from under their feet, and try and stay in their field of vision so they can be aware of you and where you are.
After our “getting to know you” period in the fields, we retired to a small pagoda for a lesson on elephant eating habits and differences between wild and domesticated diets. We learned that domesticated elephants do not get the robust diet that wild elephants do and as such require supplements. We then where taught how to create large meatball sized lumps of supplements that included bananas, tamarind, vitamins and more. With our tray full of “meatballs” we headed out again to feed the elephants, but unlike before when they took the snacks from us with their trunk, we placed the vitamin balls directly into their mouths. You have never lived until you have stuck your hand into an elephants mouth and placed a meatball near the back of her tongue. A shout of “Bom-Bom” would cause the elephant to open wide to accept the sticky treats….
With their bellies full it was time for a bath so we all headed down to the lagoon where the elephants plopped down and rolled over and gleefully lounged as we poured buckets full of water over them and scrubbed their hides with soft bristle brushes. Occasionally one of them would trumpet and shoot a spray of water through their trunks giving everyone in the area a nice cool shower.
We booked our tickets (USD $41 each) via 
The waiting area at the train station was huge. People from all over the world were seated, mostly on the clean floor, in groups waiting to board trains. Once your train shows up on the big board, you drag your bags down the platform until you find your car number as indicated on your ticket. From there it is up and into the train to look for your assigned seats. Couples traveling together should try and book upper and lower berths. In our case it was car 5 seats 13 (lower) and 14 (upper). Every berth is equipped with a power outlet to let you charge your phones, tablets etc. The plugs are the same in Thailand as they are in the USA, and also have European slots built in.
Around 6pm we hopped on the subway to Bangkok’s famous Chinatown. It was a bustling swirl of color, and smells and crowds. We wandered the streets for about an hour and decided it was finally time to eat…
no we did not try the bugs!
The next morning we headed out to see the Grand Palace. We hopped onto the Skytrain, connected to the subway and finally boarded a riverboat ferry to the Old City. As we started across the street towards the palace we we stopped by the inevitable tuk tuk driver offering to take us to all the sights and sit and wait while we wandered around and took photos for a mere 500 baht. We decided it seemed worth it, so we climbed in.
First stop was the sitting Buddha followed by the Grand Bhudda followed by a “short stop” at a jeweler in 
between…it seems that shop owners offer the tuk tuk drivers fuel vouchers to bring potential customers to them. Since we were just touring the city with no real schedule, we decided to go along for the ride. After the Grand Bhudda we stopped at the tailor to have some clothes made – cause that’s what you do in Thailand, right?? All the while James, our driver, sat and waited…
stall selling every tchotchke and food you could ever imagine (an
