Just Keep Swimming.... Just Keep Swimming

Our first dive spot

After my last post, one would think that I, Mary Peckenpaugh, would NEVER go scuba diving for fear of the unknown in the ocean water.  That statement would be true, but....believe it or not (pictures coming soon), I did.  Jason has wanted to get certified in scuba diving for some time and he never thought I'd do it with him so while the girls and I were in Krabi, I decided to do a Discovery Dive with the other girls to see if I would like it.  It's a cheaper way and only lasts a day - and......   the instructor is with you the entire time helping.  As I said in my previous post, Danielle is certified and has dove over 40 times (I think that was the number she was up to) so she went with us, but on her own with a dive master.

Kat and I with one of the instructors

I wasn't alone in my fear... Caitlin seemed to love it from the minute she was in the water though.  Kat almost chickened out before getting in and then we both chickened out when they wanted us to hold on to a rope to go down.  They kept telling us things to do at the same time and it was just overwhelming.  We didn't end up using the rope to go down, the guy just took us down on his own while Caitlin was at the bottom waiting on us wondering what was going on, lol.

Caitlin and Kat just out of the water!

Once we were under water, it was pretty awesome.  It took me a few minutes to get the hang of it and let go of Kat's hand.  I'm not really sure who was helping who... neither one of us seemed to want to let go for the first part of it!  We did great though and it was such an awesome experience.  We saw plenty of fish.... none of which I remember the name of - except clown fish (thanks to Finding Nemo) and even got to touch a jellyfish.  It was probably a foot in diameter (correct if I'm wrong, girls...) and was really slimmy.

Danielle about ready to get out.

After Danielle dove for awhile, she came over to swim with us.  It was fun with all four of us.  After lunch, we headed over to another island spot to dive for the afternoon.  The second time was easier and I think I got the hang of it although the current in that spot was a lot stronger.  I think Jason was slightly disappointed that I didn't dive with him, but now I'm willing to do the certification class with him instead of making him do a discovery dive with me first.  I don't want to be too sentimental, but it was such an amazing feeling to accomplish something that I thought I would never...... in a million years..... do.  I can't wait to go back and take classes with Jason and possibly plan a dive trip with friends :)    

The boat we took at the beach we stopped at.... unsure of the name.

You can't really see us, but we're all giving the PEACE sign... it's what Asians do and we were just trying to be cool.

After a day of diving, we stopped off at another remote beach where the water was perfectly clear.  The beach was very calm because it was mostly uninhabited except for a restaurant.  (the two pictures above)

We finished the evening off with a nice Thai massage for ...... you guessed it, $9/hr right by the beach.  I've only had one other massage and that was in China so I don't have much to compare it to.. but it felt great.  Don't worry... I didn't get the 'happy ending' people talk about.  Thai massages aren't as soft and gentle as you might think.  I believe they popped almost every bone in my feet and hands... then in my back and neck.  Maybe I would compare it to a deep tissue massage?  It still felt really good after getting a workout scuba diving!  I need to go back there... I could get used to that.  Diving by day...massage by night.

Just another sunset dinner on the beach... no biggie.

  During dinner by the beach, a guy was selling these lanterns that you light and they float away.  The story behind them is that you put all your bad energy and thoughts into them and they go away when the lantern rises.  There is fire on the bottom of it (kinda like a hot air balloon, I guess) that sets it sail.  We decided to give it a shot...       

...and it's UP!

 One of the scuba instructors was supposed to drop off a CD of the pictures he took underwater of us...but that never happened.  We hope to have the CD soon and whenever that may be, I will post some of the pictures on here so you will actually believe that I did it.  For now though... you have the trust in this post.