The alarm went off at 6.00am. It was a very peaceful morning, quiet with the sound of the sea gently lapping against the sandy white beach directly outside our sea villa. After snapping a few nice morning shots of the beach, we sat back and
indulged in some quite
moment taking it all in (the morning without dog barking and cat meowing for their breakfast back home). Then rushed the routine over and headed to the restaurant for breakfast. To our dismay, it was not a buffet breakfast. However, our choice of American breakfast turned out quite fulfilling. Toasts, scrambled eggs, beacon, ham, veg and tea. The nine-seater van arrived and we are traveling with a few young holidaying Bangkokians. These ladies were getting away from the hostile red-shirt army rally in Bangkok. I said, "You
have made the right decision". It was a 40-mins ride to the pier at Nathon coastline. Holy mackerel! The pier was so pack with holiday makers. A pair of me already felt suffocating. Hey, its a Tuesday! don't these people work?? Luckily we were not in that queue. We headed to Easy Divers hut and got our tickets immediately. About 15 mins later, we found ourselves squshing for the gate. Very disappointing. These South Koreans holiday makers were not any older than us, all looking very metropolitan with their stylish sunglasses and big couture-like hats and some were carrying LV bags, and they were acting like the Chinese in China rushing for their last train home for their Chinese New Year break.... dropped spectacles...
Smooth 2 hours ride to Koh Nangyuan.
Arrrhhh..... finally, the diving destination we waited for. Turqouise green sea and clear to the bottom. Even parrot fish was seen swimming close to this Lomprayah Cantamaran speed boat when the kurang-ajar mat sallehs started throwing food stuff into the sea while still board next to the huuuuuge sign prohibiting such act. First-world attitude?
Here is a picturesque Koh Nangyuan, courtesy of Easy Divers taken from the pinnacle of this island. We met up with the dive master and very quickly filled up some health and declaration questionnaires. While waiting for our turn, which was one hour away, we decided to lunch first. To add to our dismal list is the view of damn packed cafetaria with holiday makers mainly made out of South Koreans and Bangkokians. I think i can safely quote that there were probably about a thousand people on this little island that day
Lunch was a simple buffet of western salad,
fried mixed veg, fried chicken fillet, vegie-curry, sauced fish fillet, deep fried sotong/crab balls, white rice and fresh fruits-cuts. Coconut was priced at 90 bahts when it was only 20 bahts in Koh Samui. We started the crash course at 12pm. Went through some simple beginners theory on the functions of diving equipments and safety diving rules. One dive master for two dedicated for just the two of us. After picking the correct size, we put on the dive suit. Holy pomeranian! the gas tank weighed 40kg and the waist belt 5kg. And we walked all the way with these weighs for about a good 300 meters before reaching the water. And to slowly step ourselves out to the deep on the dead spikey corals
with these weighs on. Finally, the dive master came to my rescue, not for the badge of a heroic act, more for saving his time for his next batch of tourists as i was taking too long to tread myself gingerly over the sea of dead corals holding onto Dino dad. Hey, i don't care if your feet callous like the back of elephant skin but i am not gonna bleed my feet yet. The dive master inflated my diving suit a little and dragged me out to the depth while i floated on my back. That's better. Other instructors were doing that too to other Korean couples. Again, the training section of the sea was an ugly sight with so so so many beginners Korean divers like us. "How are we gonna dive in this chaotic reefs," we looked disgruntled at each other.
We had another short trial diving at chest-deep water and testing all equipments for another 20 minutes. Dino dad suffered his first bang of ear pain when he blew out of his mouthpiece. Despite trying a few rounds of submerging, the blow-out bubbles just kept on hurting his ear drums and he started developing ringing in the ears, stiffening of neck and throbbing headaches. The dive master didn't seem to care much for his condition, much less to make an effort to try to understand more when Dino dad explained. Sadly, Dino dad made a hard decision to abort his dive and retreated to the beach. His heart calculated the risk and not wanting to hinder the dive master in taking care of two very amateur divers in case of an emergency when we reach 10 ft depth.
haiya, haiyah, haiyah soooo sad we couldn't dive together. I started to duck-feet and waddled out deeper feet by feet. I was cautious to 'pop' my ear every feet depth.
As i ventured to about 6ft down, i began to get routine with my breathing rhythm through the mouthpiece while the dive master stayed a little behind me. When my heart started to gain
confidence with the breathing pattern, i began to be awarded of the many beeeeeeaautiful corals and fishes surrounding me. Here they are, wonderful undersea photos courtesy by Easy Divers. Had we knew it was 1000 bahts to rent a water camera, we could have brought more money for this dive. Most fish were bigger than table-size (i don't mean the size of the table). "This is how the undersea looks like. This is how it feels to slowly kicking through the quiet blue while the sound of bubbles gently brushing my face", i thought to myself. Look!! the lush green parrot fish is within my reach. Look! this coral is exactly those i
saw in Discovery Channel. The nemos and dories were weaving in and out of the flying tentacles of the sea. The dive master pointed out to carried me over many huge round boulder-liked corals as i was merely inches away. At one point, the dive master took me to sort of 'kneel' on the bed of the sea to observe up close to a small sea slug on thr coral. I swam through schools of fish, yes, i really mean fish that swim in uniform even after i trespass their formation. But my spell was disrupted when i have to make way for a tri-pair of incoming divers. On top, i need to duck carefully not to be kicked by divers who were resting on the surface while i was careful to avoid kicking on huge coral clusters or 'kneeling' divers. At
one point, it was like a highway down there
. It seemed time flew passed really quick when the dive master showed the 'sign-up'. It meant time's up and we need to return to shallow water before the gas ran out. When we reached shallow water, i had difficulty finding my feet on the floor. Probably due to gravity adjustment and a 45kg body metal weighs. The dive master was in such a hurry that he left me standing at the 3ft water as soon as i stood my ground. My dear thoughtful hubby was waiting at the beach with my slipper. He rushed to the sea as soon as saw me emerged from the sea with slippers on his hand. Thankfully for this pair of rubber slipper, the walking back up to the beach through spiky corals + 45kg weighs was tolerable. When my feet reached the shore, the dive master disappeared. Hellloooooo...... at least help me to get off this weigh first
. The Koreans' dive masters helped their students with so much hospitality. We got help from one female Korean dive master to disrobed my weighs 당신을 감사하십시오 (thank you).
After receiving my first Discovery Diver Certification (to be hanged on my wall a home), we spent the rest of the time snapping more shots and lounging on the white sandy beach. The beauty of Koh Nangyuan matches our Pulau Redang arm to arm. We decided we'd prefer here than Pulau Redang as soon as we saw a few tourists even brought their pet dog along. See here's a white miniature poodle with his master. How i wish our Islamic country can be more liberal
towards dogs. At 2.30pm, we boarded the speed boat back to Koh Samui,
contended with our collection of scenic shots and a dive experience, at least to me but Dino dad is just as happy for me to be happy even he didn't get the dive. Oh, and a very bad sunburn too.
The alarm went off at 6.00am. It was a very peaceful morning, quiet with the sound of the sea gently lapping against the sandy white beach directly outside our sea villa. After snapping a few nice morning shots of the beach, we sat back and 
moment taking it all in (the morning without dog barking and cat meowing for their breakfast back home). Then rushed the routine over and headed to the restaurant for breakfast. To our dismay, it was not a buffet breakfast. However, our choice of American breakfast turned out quite fulfilling. Toasts, scrambled eggs, beacon, ham, veg and tea. The nine-seater van arrived and we are traveling with a few young holidaying Bangkokians. These ladies were getting away from the hostile red-shirt army rally in Bangkok. I said, "You 
have made the right decision". It was a 40-mins ride to the pier at Nathon coastline. Holy mackerel! The pier was so pack with holiday makers. A pair of me already felt suffocating. Hey, its a Tuesday! don't these people work?? Luckily we were not in that queue. We headed to Easy Divers hut and got our tickets immediately. About 15 mins later, we found ourselves squshing for the gate. Very disappointing. These South Koreans holiday makers were not any older than us, all looking very metropolitan with their stylish sunglasses and big couture-like hats and some were carrying LV bags, and they were acting like the Chinese in China rushing for their last train home for their Chinese New Year break.... dropped spectacles...
Arrrhhh..... finally, the diving destination we waited for. Turqouise green sea and clear to the bottom. Even parrot fish was seen swimming close to this Lomprayah Cantamaran speed boat when the kurang-ajar mat sallehs started throwing food stuff into the sea while still board next to the huuuuuge sign prohibiting such act. First-world attitude?
fried mixed veg, fried chicken fillet, vegie-curry, sauced fish fillet, deep fried sotong/crab balls, white rice and fresh fruits-cuts. Coconut was priced at 90 bahts when it was only 20 bahts in Koh Samui. We started the crash course at 12pm. Went through some simple beginners theory on the functions of diving equipments and safety diving rules. One dive master for two dedicated for just the two of us. After picking the correct size, we put on the dive suit. Holy pomeranian! the gas tank weighed 40kg and the waist belt 5kg. And we walked all the way with these weighs for about a good 300 meters before reaching the water. And to slowly step ourselves out to the deep on the dead spikey corals 
with these weighs on. Finally, the dive master came to my rescue, not for the badge of a heroic act, more for saving his time for his next batch of tourists as i was taking too long to tread myself gingerly over the sea of dead corals holding onto Dino dad. Hey, i don't care if your feet callous like the back of elephant skin but i am not gonna bleed my feet yet. The dive master inflated my diving suit a little and dragged me out to the depth while i floated on my back. That's better. Other instructors were doing that too to other Korean couples. Again, the training section of the sea was an ugly sight with so so so many beginners Korean divers like us. "How are we gonna dive in this chaotic reefs," we looked disgruntled at each other.
We had another short trial diving at chest-deep water and testing all equipments for another 20 minutes. Dino dad suffered his first bang of ear pain when he blew out of his mouthpiece. Despite trying a few rounds of submerging, the blow-out bubbles just kept on hurting his ear drums and he started developing ringing in the ears, stiffening of neck and throbbing headaches. The dive master didn't seem to care much for his condition, much less to make an effort to try to understand more when Dino dad explained. Sadly, Dino dad made a hard decision to abort his dive and retreated to the beach. His heart calculated the risk and not wanting to hinder the dive master in taking care of two very amateur divers in case of an emergency when we reach 10 ft depth. 
As i ventured to about 6ft down, i began to get routine with my breathing rhythm through the mouthpiece while the dive master stayed a little behind me. When my heart started to gain 
confidence with the breathing pattern, i began to be awarded of the many beeeeeeaautiful corals and fishes surrounding me. Here they are, wonderful undersea photos courtesy by Easy Divers. Had we knew it was 1000 bahts to rent a water camera, we could have brought more money for this dive. Most fish were bigger than table-size (i don't mean the size of the table). "This is how the undersea looks like. This is how it feels to slowly kicking through the quiet blue while the sound of bubbles gently brushing my face", i thought to myself. Look!! the lush green parrot fish is within my reach. Look! this coral is exactly those i 
saw in Discovery Channel. The nemos and dories were weaving in and out of the flying tentacles of the sea. The dive master pointed out to carried me over many huge round boulder-liked corals as i was merely inches away. At one point, the dive master took me to sort of 'kneel' on the bed of the sea to observe up close to a small sea slug on thr coral. I swam through schools of fish, yes, i really mean fish that swim in uniform even after i trespass their formation. But my spell was disrupted when i have to make way for a tri-pair of incoming divers. On top, i need to duck carefully not to be kicked by divers who were resting on the surface while i was careful to avoid kicking on huge coral clusters or 'kneeling' divers. At 
one point, it was like a highway down there 
After receiving my first Discovery Diver Certification (to be hanged on my wall a home), we spent the rest of the time snapping more shots and lounging on the white sandy beach. The beauty of Koh Nangyuan matches our Pulau Redang arm to arm. We decided we'd prefer here than Pulau Redang as soon as we saw a few tourists even brought their pet dog along. See here's a white miniature poodle with his master. How i wish our Islamic country can be more liberal 
towards dogs. At 2.30pm, we boarded the speed boat back to Koh Samui, 
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