I’m sitting on Freedom Beach, at the south tip of Ko Tao. It’s a great beach, it reminds me a lot of beach 69 on Hawaii, but a bit more busy and developed. So a great beach, but beach 69 remains my favorite beach in the world. Freedom beach has a wonderful shallow white sand, and trees just 10 yards from the surf. So you can sit in the sun or in shade. Strings with chunks of white coral hang from the trees, swinging in the breeze. It’s much more relaxed here. Were I to come to the island again (and didn’t need to be at Scuba Junction at 6:45AM each morning), I’d definitely stay on this side of the island, it doesn’t tickle unease like Sairee does.

This morning we did our last two dives. Both were at the wreck, the H.T.M.S. Sattakut. The Private Eye took notes on the wreck, its condition, and potential hazards. She sketched it while I took measurements of its dimensions (65 kick strokes long, 10 kick strokes wide). It was almost as if I were helping her with an investigation, her making a map of a scene.

The ship was given to Thailand by the U.S. it saw service in Okinawa in WW II and was sunk 1.5 years ago to make an artificial reef.

The old wreck near Ko Tao had been in a shallow channel and monsoon season destroyed it. At the end of the second wreck dive we came up to 23m to wander a bit around Hin Pee Wee, the dive site it’s near.

With those two dives, the second of which was EAN, we completed all of the skills necessary for our certification. So we are now certified deep divers (up to 38m/130ft), enhanced air divers (up to EAN40) and wreck divers!

— The Professor