January 06/07, 2018

Good evening - Good evening! 😊 Here is a more detailed report of the last two days - sorry that it turned out so long!

06/01/2018: Yesterday, Sophie and I went diving again in the afternoon. It was about time! 😅 You quickly get the feeling of missing out if you haven't been diving yourself and then in the evening all the divers come back exhausted but happy from their dive and tell stories about what they have seen. The day before, when Sophie and I were snorkelling, a group of divers actually saw a whale shark! How cheeky! 😅 So we were really excited to get back underwater. Our dive guide this time was a Frenchman named Maxim. He was very nice too, although his English was pretty poor. But that's how the French are. 😊😊 (Attention, Mom, there's a picture with fish coming up!! ♥)

We did two dives. The first one went back to the wreck that we already dived during our advanced course. Unfortunately, the visibility was still very bad and when we reached a depth of 27m, I noticed that suddenly everything started spinning. I was very confused and felt like I was swimming in circles and had no orientation anymore. The symptoms I felt were actually those of nitrogen narcosis. In this regard, we were tested during our deep dive in the advanced course to see if we can tolerate depth or not. Nitrogen narcosis (also called nitrogen narcosis) is caused by the narcotic effect of certain gases at high pressure, such as during deep dives. Typical symptoms include impaired judgment and logical thinking, as well as euphoria or fear. I think I have already mentioned in another blog entry that it can feel similar to being drunk. I really felt drunk and now I had two options: either panic or stay calm and wait until we ascend a few meters. I chose the latter 😅 Since the visibility was really poor, I tried to focus on Sophie, who was swimming not far away from me. I knew that at the depth we were at, we could only stay for a maximum of 20 minutes, so I just waited for us to move into shallower areas, which we eventually did. Suddenly, the feeling of drunkenness disappeared and I was able to enjoy the rest of the dive. Maxim told me afterwards that my nitrogen narcosis could have occurred because I didn't drink enough water or didn't get enough sleep. I am very proud of myself for managing to stay calm despite everything!

The second dive in the afternoon went to 'Red Rock'. I think it was the most beautiful dive I have ever experienced. I don't know how to put it into words, but if I were a fish - I would want to live there! 😊 The visibility was excellent, you could see very far and there were unbelievably many corals and anemones that almost looked designed. Little fish kept swimming through the holes in the corals and it looked like they were on a huge playground. I had to be careful not to lose sight of Maxim and Sophie because I just couldn't get enough of the view. Sophie and I immediately signed up for a night dive with Maxim the next day, which would be Sophie's last dive of this vacation.

In the evening, Naz joined us and he told us a lot about Thai culture while we sat on the beach and recovered from diving.

For my brother Felix, Thailand would be paradise, for example, because here almost everyone walks barefoot most of the time. It is customary to take off your shoes as soon as you enter a building, whether it's the reception, a restaurant, or a supermarket. Flip-flops pile up in front of the entrances, so you often have difficulty finding your own again. That's why I leave mine in the room and generally walk barefoot everywhere. Naz told us that this is done out of respect and to not bring dirt into the building, which I find somewhat illogical because I actually spread more sand with my bare feet. But oh well. 😅 He also told us that in Thailand, there is great respect for age. If the person you're talking to is older, they immediately deserve your respect. This includes, for example, never touching the other person's head. Hugging as a greeting is only seen among younger Thais or among tourists. Otherwise, a small bow with folded hands is much more common as a greeting. I think it's so cool to have met a Thai who can tell us so much about his culture and life here.

On the same evening, he introduced us to his 'sister'. We were initially confused because we had learned from an earlier conversation that Naz only has one brother. But we quickly realized that this, too, was just a sign of respect: people who are close to the Thais and are older, they affectionately call 'brother' or 'sister'. His 'sister' was very nice and has traveled a lot around the world. She has been to Italy, among other places, where she ate so much ice cream that she missed it in Thailand. So she decided to make her own ice cream, like the Italians do, and sell it on Koh Tao. We got to try some crazy flavors, take a look:

Which one would you like to try? Or have you already had a flavor somewhere? I was especially curious about the 'Butter Fly Pea Flowers' flavor because it's made from a flower. What do you think, how did I like the ice cream? 😊

07/01/2018: Today was unfortunately Sophie's last day. I'm going to miss her, she has already grown very dear to me in the past few days! 😊 Since Sophie wanted to soak up some sun before her journey home, we alternated between the pool and the beach in the morning and afternoon. Oh, and we both got tattoos! 😅 We actually only wanted to go to the supermarket to buy water when we saw a street artist in front of the store painting henna tattoos. Haha, as if I would get a real tattoo! Never! 😊 But I still think it looks pretty, now I almost feel like a half Thai.

At around 5:30 pm, we made our way to the dive shop where we met Maxim, who would be our guide for the upcoming night dive. I was soooo excited again. It's just a different experience to dive in the darkness. But our courage was rewarded: among other things, we saw two blue spotted stingrays, a giiant barracuda devouring a smaller fish right in front of us, and a small cute hermit crab. Did you know that if you turn off your dive lights underwater and wave your arms and hands in the water, you can admire a phenomenon called bioluminescence? The touch stimuli of a collection of microorganisms in the water create what is called bioluminescence. This means that before your eyes, small neon green lights glow for a short time, resembling sparkling stars. Sooo enchanting!

But so that I don't bore you with talking about my diving experiences any longer (for you it probably all sounds the same when I talk about diving, right? 😅), I'll just show you some photos of our boat trip and our 'post-dive' faces. 😊

Bye bye, Sophie! See you in France, Belgium, Germany, or Egypt! 😊