Changes

‘… flames to dust, lovers to friends, why do all good things come to an end?’

We’ve been on Koh Tao now for more than two months and we’re leaving in about ten days. We met loads of people, went to numerous parties and, most importantly, did a lot of diving! Last week we finished our Divemaster program by doing our snorkeltest (which doesn’t really have anything to do with diving – all new Divemasters, 14 in this case, sit on a stool in the bar, wearing their mask and snorkel. Their mentor then pours a bucket full of alcohol, that’s, let’s say 1,5 liters, into a bottle that is attached to the snorkel. The contents of the bucket depend on your relationship with your mentor, but a lot of people drank a mixture of vodka, orange, eggs and tabasco. Yummie. After you’ve drunk all this, you need to spin around your stool ten times, then run into the sea to submerge yourself completely and come back.
In Loes and my case it went as follows. Since our mentor had four protégées, he had to pour four buckets into four snorkels at the same time. Which is impossible, so he created a special device. Loes, me and two German guys were drinking and drinking and I thought to myself, when is this ever coming to an end? – and I spit the snorkel out. I was spinning around the stool, not counting how many times when our mentor shouted ‘Get into the sea!’. We ran, completely disorientated by the spinning and – possibly – the alcohol and came back. My stomach wasn’t too happy with what I’d done, but now it was over.
It was not. Everyone who had spilled alcohol now had to drink a big bottle of Chang beer through the snorkel. A Chang is dangerous. It may contain 4 per cent of alcohol but it may also contain 15 per cent. I can’t I can’t I can’t! I told my mentor and then he poured most of the beer into the other three protégées’ snorkels. I remember parts and bits of the rest of the evening but I think we had a lot of fun.)

I still have to get used to the idea but now we are Divemasters. We can take people out fun diving, we can assist on courses and conduct Scuba reviews, for people who haven’t been diving for a while. Some of our friends already left, they went home or continued travelling. Some are staying and doing the instructor course. And as I said before, we are leaving in ten days. I will miss this small but beautiful island. I will miss the people, I will miss diving. Right now monsoon is kicking in: heavy rainfall, strong winds. So it’s time for a change and a new adventure.