1-9-08 Ko Lanta

After arriving at Ko Lanta, we had the bus drop us off at the recommended Lanta Divers. They were very helpful and we soon had a bungaloo on the best beach on the island (longbeach) and a free ride there for a mere $23/night. Upon arriving, we grabbed dinner at a local restaurant and promptly passed out. It had only been one day, so the time change still had us in it's grasp. In fact, it was a few days before we stopped waking up at 5am and passing out as soon as it was dark.

One crazy thing about Ko Lanta are the bugs. They screech like crazy right at sunset and sunrise. Nath was terrified, I laughed and told her they weren't mosquitoes, they were probably more like grasshoppers. I was right.

We woke up in the morning and went diving, me at Ko Ha and Nath in a swimming pool. I was diving in an island paradise two hours off the coast with Deep Water Soloing potential, while Nath was studying her books and learning to dive. Ko Ha was awesome, but they wouldn't let me climb the rocks for "insurance reasons". Next day, I wandered the town while Nath took her class and I tried to figure out what I wanted to do on the 12th. There was a trip supposedly going to the "best diving around" but the depth started rather deep, mostly 18m (60ft). It's just not fun to dive there if you aren't Advanced certified. I decided to be efficient, and start working on my Advanced cert and dive there at the same time! I just had to pay 800 baht more (~$24) and I had my own dive master/instructor to dive with, and we were headed to a depth of 30m (100ft) at the best diving at Ko Lanta!

I boarded the boat for the 4hr ride out into the ocean, Nath was finally headed for Ko Ha, the place where I did my first dives and was out of the pool. As we approaced Hin Dang/Hin Muang we geared up. My instructor had given me a series of tests that I was supposed to take at 30m to see the effects nitrogen on my system. Nitrogen causes "nitrogen narcosis" and bad things can happen to some people as they experience side effects similar to drinking. We jumped in and promptly descended 30m to take the tests. Once we found a sandy spot (so as not to disturb the coral) I deflated my BCD to be negatively boyant and stood on the ground while I took the tests. I quickly realized that while I felt fine, I could forget details very quickly and the tests took, on average, 50% longer than on the surface! After that, we proceeded to slowly work toward the surface for the next 30-40 minutes. Once we reached a height of 5m for the "safety stop" of 3 minutes to let the nitrogen out of the system the currents were so strong that we grabbed on to a lifeless piece of rock with two fingers and the most amazing thing happened. Right in front of us a 10+' manta ray came gliding past, and started hovering about 2 meters from where we were! It sat there for the entire 3 minutes before finally moving on. It was amazing!

We hopped on the boat after the dive, ate and relaxed, but quickly someone pointed out there were mantas just under the surface at the new dive site! One of the workers grabbed his snorkeling gear and jumped in, and I quickly followed. I dislike snorkels, so since I couldn't breath efficiently anyways, I just started skin diving. The mantas were EVERYWHERE! I would hold my breath and swim down 7-10m and they were RIGHT THERE! If it weren't bad to disturb the wildlife, I could have easily grabbed on for a ride!

I boarded the boat, geared up, and we dove again down to 30m and slowing worked our way back up. This time the mantas would drift by regularly out of the dark depths, and at one point one turned toward me and I ducked instinctively and I could have touched its stomach as it glided past. It the best diving I've ever done! The location lived up to its reputation and Lanta Divers lived up to Lisa's recommendation. They were AWESOME.

The next day Nath and I both went to Ko Ha again. Her for her last day of class, and me for more "fun dives" as they call them. It was another day in a natural aquarium with beautiful corals, fish, and this time snakes! I saw 4 banded sea snakes, apparently very deadly but they can't get their mouth open enough to actually inject their venom in a person.

Our last day on Lanta we rented a motor scooter for $5 and found a cave that was on our map. Our funny guide lead us up through the jungle to the cave into huge rooms, small crawl-throughs, and a room full of bats. It was a good way to spend a few hours. Then we rushed back, packed, and caught the 1:30 express boat to Ton Sai! Off to the climbing mecca of Thailand!