Nitrogen Enhanced Neverland: A week in Ko Tao

After spending a week in Ko Lanta, Nathalie and I moved on to the up-and-coming island of Ko Tao. Our plan was to see yet another side of Thailand and on top of that, pick up a skill that we're hoping to use many times this year.

Ko Tao is located on the western side of the gulf of Thailand meaning that we'd be leaving the Andaman coast and crossing over the main land to get there. I won't go into detail about the trip, but it was much less painful than the trip to get to Ko Lanta, even if it did take eleven hours, two bus rides and a three hour ferry.

We chose Ko Tao for a few reasons: It's the smallest island of the Chumphon Archipelago meaning that there'd be less of a crowd; it's relatively new in terms of a tourist destination, which gives it a certain appeal to a particular flavor of visitors; we were curious in learning how to scuba dive and Ko Tao is renowned for its schools and dive sites and as it turned out; an old friend lived there for a few years and highly recommended it.

Our old friend, let's call him “Nick” (because that's his name), used to work at a diving school/resort called Crystal Dive Resort. Nick had left his life in Belgium at a moment that was good for him and spurned the office life for the open waters. You'd have to ask him about the details, but from all the discussions I've had with Nick in the past about it, he had a blast and no doubt made a big impact on him.

He was able to hook us up with contacts over there and we booked our spots for a basic open water course. I'm planning on writing a post that goes deeper into my experiences as scuba diving, but what's important for this article is that Ko Tao is one of the premier dive spots in the world and is Asia's self-proclaimed diving school headquarters. As such, the island is filled with tourists and students from all around the planet looking to get underwater.

Panoramic From Mango Bay Overlook, Ko Tao

This international vibe was felt pretty much as soon as we stepped onto the ferry to make our way to the island; there wasn't a Thai passenger to be found (at least from where I was) with mostly young European and Canadian tourists making up the majority of the visitors.

The island's economy is geared towards the young and the foreign, with a large population of hostels, restaurants selling an abundance of reasonably priced western food (on the main street to our resort were two Italian restaurants, an English pub, a taco joint, an international cafe, and a French bakery). At a certain point, I momentarily forgot I was in Thailand and only realized it once I got to a convenience store to hear Thai being spoken again.

This was something new to us. So far, we've seen various different views of the country, with Bangkok's incessant cacophony, Pattaya's jointRussian-Sex tourism, Ayuttaya's relaxed country feel and finally KoLanta's laid back island tourism. But up until this point, we felt that we've been adapting more to the local culture. In Ko Tao's case, it was the local culture adapting to its visitors.

The majority of these guests seemed to be early to mid twenty somethings. They all seemed to be on a quest; some sort of a journey to escape. What precisely they were escaping would be a tough guess, but we felt this common theme of trying to avoid the inevitability of becoming a boring adult; entering into the 8 a.m.-6 p.m. 5-day workweek that dictates how we grind out a stable, if uneventful middle class life.

Some of them have shunned off the conformity with high fashion, going full hippie and jumping into a stereotypical look of earth-kinder on the island. Others were recently finished with their undergraduate studies and were taking a gap year off 'waiting for the job market to get better' (this, in a way is totally understandable, although I doubt one year will make the difference). Some were just passing through looking for a great time and some world class diving. There were the bold scuba instructors who had given the world a giant middle finger and followed their dreams to spend their lives doing what they love. And then there was a group of people who didn't quite fit in their homelands and had voyaged out to the island to find their confidence.

Maybe it was the last group of people that stuck out the most as they were the most vocal and recognizable. After probably spending years throwing whatever attempts to command respect and gain friendship at their proverbial walls and nothing sticking, they bolted to the gulf of Thailand to find the respect and popularity along with the accompanying confidence that had alluded them thus far. In all honesty, I felt conflicted in how to read them. On one hand it was sometimes comical following their short story and almost smelling the insecurity, but on the other, I had a huge amount of respect for those willing to break away from whatever they were hung up on to find what they were looking for in life. Whatever it was, these people played a key role in molding my perception of Ko Tao.

Despite the diversity, there was one key element that tied it all together: scuba diving. As mentioned above, Ko Tao is world famous for its diving and this was reflected in the countless dive resorts offering to take anyone out with a dive license to the crystal blue seas to witness some of the gulf of Thailand's finest marine life.  Don't have a diving license? No problem! There are at least twenty different schools that will teach you how to do it.  Coupled with the schools are the innumerable shops selling all sorts of gear from fins and snorkels to complicated rigs to mount a camera on.

With all of these people constantly going in and out of deep water, there's another element at play that makes Ko Tao so unique.  For those of you who aren't familiar with scuba diving, there's a bit of an issue with breathing air out of a tank underwater. The deeper you go and the longer you stay underwater, the harder it is to regulate the nitrogen levels in the blood. We breathe mostly nitrogen so there's no inherent harm in inhaling it. However, when we're underwater, the nitrogen gas (along with the oxygen) gets compressed, causing the body to absorb it rather than immediately release it.

Dive boats waiting for their passengers to resurface near 'twins' in Ko Tao

As the body takes time to send the excess out, it passes through the circulation system. While doing one dive a day probably doesn't do much, going for multiple plunges in the sea causes a rich build up in nitrogen.  So after a day of say, four dives, you wind up feeling really mellowed out and tipsy even without having a sip of alcohol.  The effects last as long as it takes nitrogen levels to normalize in the blood, meaning that you're a bit high for hours. Couple that with the mild light-headedness that comes with being on a boat all day long and the fact that most people come to Ko Tao to do some serious diving, and you've got a bunch of loaded people stuck in perma-chill mode on a tiny island.

It was honestly a great feeling. Nathalie and I did 4 dives in 24 hours followed by a 24 hour break and another 5 dives the next 24 hours.  Good doesn't begin to describe the sensation. At the end of the week, we didn't want to leave and were fast getting sucked into this life style. If it wasn't for my teeth and our visas expiring, we would've stayed longer.

Perhaps the only downside to this was the driving.  On our second to last day and with our down time, we rented a moped. Usually this wouldn't have beenweren't wanting  a problem. Ko Tao is a one-road town and we're comfortable on a scooter. Not the case here. Driving wasn't a problem for the locals, but the foreigners on the island couldn't have cared less and just drove without abandon on the poorly maintained roads. Within two hours, we were almost hit three times. The insurance policy at the rental place stipulated that we were responsible for any damage done regardless if we were at fault or not. Coupling this with the average driving skill level, the average age and the elevated nitrogen blood contents, we returned our moped after only three hours and went for a stiff drink.

We left the next day (after doing two more dives) and headed back to Bangkok for a dental appointment before jumping off to Laos (where I'm writing this article now). Ko Tao has so far been the biggest hit for us on the trip.  We got a huge kick out of diving and much like watching the fish under the sea, a fascinating time observing the people on land, all while chilling in the sun in the gulf of Thailand.