I couldn't think of a better place to spend the final day of 2012!

Bringing in the New Year with some culture and a new experience, I left from Langkawi, Malaysia on a speed boat and headed west across the Andaman Sea.  I spotted some local fishing boats out in the Andaman Sea, which was quite surreal.  Small, wooden vessels in the middle of the ocean is a pretty scary thing to think about.  Thankfully my boat was bigger…and not made of wood.  After a bumpy hour on the open water, I could see land.  Yesssss!  Our vessel arrived at a small mooring roughly 100 meters (328 feet) offshore, and it was here that I began to really take in a new mouthful of Asia.  I boarded a long-tail boat - or 'long boat' - and, along with about two dozen other passengers from other vessels, was taken ashore.

Welcome to Koh Lipe, Thailand!

Koh Lipe is an island located in the Satun Province of southwest Thailand, and its calm, clear water makes it ideal for snorkeling and S.C.U.B.A. diving.  With 25% of the world's tropical fish species found in the area, Koh Lipe is laden with marine life.  There are large varieties of fish around the coral just off all of the island's beaches.  For a more secluded S.C.U.B.A. diving experience though, the dive instructors took me - in a different long boat - north of Koh Lipe.  Along with my dive instructor, I was dropped off at Koh Adang, a neighboring island

This was my first S.C.U.B.A. experience in open water, so I was stoked for the new adventure, and happy to be having it in such a remote part of the world.  I caught on pretty quickly, and after the brief safety introduction, I began exploring some of Koh Adang's abundant marine life.

There is a lot happening 25 meters (82 feet) beneath the Andaman Sea.  I spotted clown fish, moray eels, a puffer fish, a seahorse and tons of beautiful coral.  No sharks were spotted, and I later learned this is because fishing nets surround the marine park in which all of Thailand, Malaysia and a few other Southeast Asian countries sit.

Equalizing often, I felt calm and in control as I explored the ocean.  I thought snorkeling made me feel like I was exploring another world, but S.C.U.B.A. diving takes it to a whole new level.  Submerged well below the surface, I was truly in my own world.  Not knowing what I might see with the next blink of my eyes was somewhat intimidating, but also exciting at the same time.  I fell in love with S.C.U.B.A. diving and thoroughly enjoyed my Thai underwater explorations.

Making our way back to Koh Lipe - in a rickety, wooden long boat on rough, choppy seas - was quite an adventure.  Our Thai captain - who spoke zero English - operated the long boat with one hand on the motor and one foot on the wooden rudder.  Our aquatic transportation combined the old with the new.  The 'new': a motor (still not new).  The old: the wooden rudder to steer the vessel.

Arriving back at Koh Lipe safe and sound was certainly a mission, but one I thankfully can say was accomplished.  Whew!  Waiting for my  passport at the local beach pub was quite amusing.  I sat - amongst a dozen or so tourists - and waited until my full name was butchered - but audible enough that I knew it was me - and I went to the bar and collected my passport.  For the better part of the day, I left the one document that could single-handedly allow me to sink or swim off Koh Lipe, in the hands of a Thai man I did not know.  Talk about trust.

From the time I made the booking at my resort on Langkawi, to the time I returned at the end of the day, I dealt with exactly 12 different people who were 'in charge' or 'looking after' me.  From drivers to dive instructors, and boat captains to money- and passport-handlers, there were a lot of moving parts to make this seemingly straightforward excursion possible.  Although the entire process of getting from Langkawi over to Koh Lipe and then to Koh Adang could have been substantially more efficient, it was a unique adventure I will always remember.