Koh Lanta

I arrived at Koh Lanta with a feeling that I had missed some very important piece of information.  Was there a news broadcast telling people not to travel to Koh Lanta?  It was like a ghost town.  The stores were closed, the roads were quiet, and the hotel was nearly vacant.  My new friend Christine had one bungalow, I had a second, and there were lights on in a third bungalow, but we never saw another person.  Where was everyone?

We arrived at the resort in the morning, and I quickly decided to take a walk along the beach.  I told Christine I just wanted to take a walk, but really, I was looking for another place to stay.  Our place was fine, but there wasn’t anyone there: red flag!  My walk down the beach only made me more nervous of missing a piece of vital information.  Was this going to be the next tsunami?  

Check out the beach:  

You are open?  Are you sure about that?

That evening, Christine and I ate dinner together at our resort.  She told me that she spoke to a few of the employees, and they all said that there was no diving.  WHAT?!  I came to Koh Lanta for my scuba diving certification!  That was the reason!  Now it seems as though I am risking my life in some impending natural disaster to complete the certification, and I can’t even do that?  This was completely unacceptable.

Christine and I decided that we would rent a motorbike the next day, go into town, and find out the real deal.

This was the awesome sunset we watched while eating dinner.  

Things were already looking up!

Here is the deal.  Now is the lowest of the low season.  The weather is terrible, and most of the resorts are closed because there is absolutely no demand.  Therefore, the owners go on vacation, or they do renovations to prepare for the upcoming high season.    There was also a terrible storm for the few days before Christine and I arrived, and the few tourists that were around, left.

We also found out that yes, there is diving.  There wasn’t diving for the past few days, because of the storm, but there is diving.  Woo hoo!

After talking to a few of the dive shops, unfortunately not Go Dive, as Garvey had recommended, I decided to go with Julie of Lanta Divers.  I signed up for the three day course, only to find out it would be a private lesson!  Not bad, eh?