TIME high school abroad – The internship to Open Water

Hey everyone!

It’s now time for new post and a lot have happened since we posted on the blog last week.
This week we started our Open Water course and we joined the Kon-Tiki crew on a boat trip to Koh Haa and discovered the beautiful reefs. We have continued working on the website and we have done a lot. But let’s talk about the Open water course and the trip to Koh Haa instead.

We mentioned in a post earlier that Kon-Tiki kindly had given us the opportunity to get an Open water certification. Of course we took this opportunity to do it. We started the course on Monday with the theory where we had lessons with our supervisor and instructor Niclas after working hours. On Wednesday we went to a pool and exercised the skills you need to become an Open water diver. Some the requirements are taking of the mask under water and put it back on and helping your friend if he would be out of air under the water.

After the day in the pool we kept on working with the theory and on Saturday we would do the final test to get our Open Water Certifications.  We went down to Ao nang beach at Saturday morning where we met the friendly crew from Kon-Tiki and jumped on a boat. The trip with the boat took about 3 and half hours. We finished the last parts of the theory on the way to the diving point.
One requirement to get the certification is to do 3 dives the same day. Niclas, our supervisor and instructor, told us that we would dive three times this time and it would be demanding.

We prepared our gear and checked all the functions. When the boat was close to the diving point we put on our gear and got ready to jump in to the blue. Kon-Tiki served us large breakfast on the way to Koh Haa, in that way we wouldn’t get hungry while being in water. When the boat reached its point we jumped down in the water at once. While down in the water we did some test that we had learned in the pool earlier this week. We had to do an emergency ascent which is a requirement in the course. After the test we went down under water and stopped on the bottom. Here we would do another couple tests to show that we were ready become divers.

We were underwater for about 35 minutes and we managed to see a banded sea snake, a devil scorpion fish. The visibility this day was really good, a perfect day to explore the beautiful marine life in Thailand. When we got out of the water we changed our cylinders with air immediately because we were about to go into the water again.

After 20 min on the boat we went down into the blue again. This time we would do the last part of the requirements to become an Open water diver.  In this dive we followed a reef and it’s probably one of the most beautiful things we have seen. It’s not only the fish species that amazes us, but the all the beautiful colors from the plants at the reefs. To float over the reef and view how the whole reef works together in one unit and supports each other, undoubtedly something everyone should experience. It’s a completely different world under the surface.When we were hovering over a reef, Niclas managed to locate a Hawksbill turtle. It was swimming about 10 meters away from us and luckily the sight was very good. Our instructor Niclas always manages to find something that amazes us! After about 5 minutes it went deeper and out of our sight. Along the way to the boat we encountered a big shoal of barracudas. Their glistening scale was really beautiful, especially when they were some many. We were under water for about 35 minutes.

On the boat again it was time to get a well-served lunch from the Kon-Tiki crew before getting in the water again. We took the opportunity to get some free soft drinks and fresh fruits.  After eased our hunger and thirst it was time to back into the water, the last dive before becoming a certified diver.

We did only a few skills on the last dive since there was alot in the earlier dives. The plan was to swim along a reef downwards and in this dive there was a current but if we stayed close to the reef we wouldn’t notice the current. This time we had moved to another diving point which contained a very beautiful wall of marine life.

We went down under the water and the visibility was still great. Along the reef we saw a Spiny lobster and a couple lovely Banded Sea snakes. As the earlier dives, the reef was covered with beautiful colors from the coral. And again we were amazed by what the marine life offered us. With all the shoals from different species it was like swimming in aquarium.  You can encounter the fishes really close without frightening them.

In the end of the dive we saw Great Barracuda that was drifting in a current not far ahead of us.  From our location it seemed to be big and it was bit scary with its teeth.  But no aggression was shown at all and we could remain calm. The marine life is so friendly to divers!

On the way up to the surface, Niclas congratulated us for becoming Open water divers.
The whole crew would congratulate us on the boat as well when we were about to reach Ao nang.
Once again, Niclas and Kon-Tiki have given us an unforgettable adventure and we are really grateful for this opportunity.

Take care!

TIME high school abroad – The internship continues

Hello again.
It’s time for another post from our adventure in Thailand. We forgot to introduce ourselves properly in the first post, so we will take the opportunity to do it now.

Our names are Marcus, Alexander and Erik, as we mentioned in the post before we are from Karlstad International TIME program which is an upper secondary school in Sweden.  We have been educated in IT, media and entertainment enough said.

We have now spent one week here in Ao Nang, Thailand, with Kon-Tiki. We have been working from Monday till Friday where we have been helping Niclas and Martin with a web project. We have been designing buttons and working with menus for the website most of the time. One of the main goals with the webpage is to make it more accessible for mobiles as well. As I mentioned, we have been working a lot with the design.

Last week we hired scooters to make things easier for us here in Ao Nang. Our hotel is situated between the office and beach, in that way it takes some time to travel between the places. Using scooters make things much easier and cheaper. When we have finished work on the weekdays around 5 pm, we take our scooters down to the beach and get ourselves a swim. The weather has been most of the time great, so taking a swim is a great way to cool down and the beach is beautiful here in Ao Nang.  Some of the days we have been on the streets of Ao Nang and checked out the local shops.

At Wednesday we were on Discover Scuba Diving trip with Kon-Tiki, you can read more about in our first post. Otherwise our days here Thailand have been kind of similar, working on the webpage in the office with Niclas and Martin. We had free time on the weekend. At Saturday it was raining a lot but we went down to the beach anyway. Near the beach at the southern side, there’s a national park where monkeys live. It’s a staircase that leads along the mountain and through the jungle. In here you will meet pack of monkeys and be careful because they might steal your belongings, especially if you bring food with you. Actually they tried to steal my bag with a pair of pants in it. We visit them both Saturday and Sunday to get some nice photos of them. At the weekend we have also tasted a bit of the night life here in Ao Nang.

In week number two we will be starting our PADI Open Water course and after work we will have lessons in diving at the office. On Thursday morning we will be in the pool to practice the important parts in Scuba diving and after that we will make our dives. But more of that later!

Our time in Thailand has so far been very good, the Kon-Tiki-staff have been very welcoming and they are taking good care of us. They help us a lot to make our staying in Thailand as good as possible.

See you around!

The adventure of a Kon-Tiki intern!

Hello! My name is Daniel Nilsson and I am the new intern at Kon-Tiki here in Thailand. My intern started two weeks ago and I am going to be here until the 20-12-13. During my time here I have been in the shop, copying papers, marked fins and talked to customers, cleaned the windows and helped out in any way I could. But this isn’t all I have done, I have also been on some of the boat tours, assisting the snorkel and dive guides, helped the guest to find equipment that fits them, like mask and fins. I am going to write on this blog once a week and talk about what I experience and what I am doing. I hope you will continue reading about my time here at Kon-Tiki.