For your eyes only.....

We've had more complaints about being slow updating the blog ... that's because we've been so busy learning to dive. More about that in a minute. Seeing as we have spent the week being 'buddies' to each other this blog entry is a joint effort.

We left Chiang Mai as planned on Sunday morning, flying with Bangkok Airlines to Koh Samui. At Chiang Mai airport there was a customer lounge offering free drinks, cakes and internet access so we made the most of that - our trip motto being 'Eat when you can, you don't know where the next meal is coming from'. The flight was uneventful although we had a slighty bumpy landing as it was a propeller plane rather than the Boeing 747s we've got used to over the last few weeks. Samui airport is very, very small - just a roof on stilts, the titchiest luggage belt EVER and a desk selling bus and ferry tickets. We hopped on a bus for Mae Nam, a little village a few miles up the coast. Mae Nam isn't really a tourist destination, I think most visitors are either avoiding the rest of Samui or using it as a base to get the ferry on to one of the other nearby islands, which is exactly what we planned to do.

All the accommodation in Mae Nam is on the beach, so with heavy rucksacks on our backs and under a red hot sun we trudged up and down the sand (and occasionally through the sea) looking for somewhere to stay. Along the way we found some extremely nasty huts and our first ladyboy, who had the longest, leanest legs in the shortest hotpants ever, but sadly couldn't hide his stubble and an extremely low voice. (During our stay in Mae Nam we heard that the ladyboys hang around ATMs at night trying to pick up Western men - I think it's the only time ever that Gareth has needed me to accompany him for protection).

Eventually we settled for a nice little mini-villa (Gareth thinks this is over-selling it) with a clean bathroom, bedcovers we could sleep under and a little verandah where we could sit and listen to the sea. Well we could have done if we didn't have to dodge all the mosquitoes. Our plan was to stay in Samui one night and then head off to Koh Tao but it was so nice to be back in a comfy bed after the concrete slab we had slept on (or not slept on)in Eagle House 2, that we decided to hang on another night and spend a lazy day on the beach instead. It's a hard life.

Tuesday morning we were up early to catch the 8am catamaran to Koh Tao. We don't normally suffer from seasickness but our 90 minute crossing was pretty choppy and they started handing out sick bags halfway through. Luckily neither of us needed one but we were really glad to get back on dry land.

Now the sole purpose for our visit to Koh Tao was Gareth's Big Diving Plan. This was the plan he'd been working on from the start of us planning this trip. Whereas Gareth is a proper water baby, I am most definitely not but Gareth's Big Diving Plan was for us both to get our Open Water Diving Certification.

I had already thought about the pros and cons of this crazy idea:

PROS
1) It might be fun (a bit like the train journey to Chiang Mai)
2) It would give me bonus points for being a good wife
3) Gareth would have a dive buddy
4) It would be a chance for me to feel the fear - and do it anyway

CONS
1) I hate water in my face, up my nose, in my mouth
2) I hate being out of my depth in water
3) I'm scared of what might be in the water e.g. sharks
4) I'm scared of being eaten by what is in the water e.g. sharks

I had put Gareth's Big Diving Plan to the back of my mind and decided I would cross that bridge when I got to it. Well now it seemed that it was time to cross that bridge, or rather that pier, as a smiling Thai chappie, wearing a bright yellow t-shirt saying 'Easy Divers' approached us as we stepped off the catamaran. Normally we do a Barry John style sidestep away from anyone trying to sign us up for anything but he had a nice smile and wasn't too pushy and as usual, we had nothing else organised. Easy Divers had all sorts of things to choose from, they did specialist courses, fun dives, night dives (...why anyone would consider getting in the water at night was nuts in our opinion but whatever floats your boat I suppose...). Minutes later we were signed up for the PADI Open Water course, starting that afternoon. So began five days of spending so much time on boats that we when we were back on land we never stopped swaying.

Our instructor Zigor was from the Basque region of Spain. (One night over a beer he confirmed something that I (Gareth) had long suspected. It's not just Welsh football supporters that think John Toshack is a useless manager, they think it in Spain as well!). By the end of of the four days he had persuaded us to go on and get our Advanced Certificate. This would only take two more days and five more dives, one of which was a dreaded night dive.....

Saturday morning we started the Advanced Course. One of the dives was a navigation dive where we had our first, totally silent, underwater domestic over the right direction to go in. (We were working from different information!- Gareth). We were then left by Zigor to explore the reef on our own for half an hour, then find our way back to the boat. Gareth - If I'm honest, I have to admit that this dive was the one I was most nervous about, which is probably a bit strange, because the following day we were supposed to be going diving with SHARKS. I have a greater fear of getting lost than of being eaten alive!

I never thought I would say this, but I was disappointed the following day when we didn't see any sharks. We were doing our deep water dive, down to 30m and were told that we were pretty much guaranteed to see sharks. Unfortunately the visibility at depth was very poor, which is a shame, because if you know you are surrounded by grey reef sharks, you might as well be able to see them. A few other divers saw a couple, but they were hiding from us. Maybe they were scared!

All that remained was for us to do a night dive. As we mentioned earlier nobody in their right mind would dive at night....would they!? Well here is the proof that we did!

There was a pretty scary moment for me when I couldn't keep up with the rest of the group (it's always the one at the back that gets taken isn't it). Gareth was ahead of me and his torchlight was getting weaker and weaker - eventually it completely disappeared and I was on my own, in the dark, 12 metres down. Or so I thought ... turned out I had been floating upwards and that was why I couldn't keep up with the lights. Luckily they found me and we carried on, with me and Gareth linking arms so I couldn't disappear again. We did the coolest thing at the bottom - we all switched off our torches and waved our hands around. It causes the plankton to phosphoresce and it looked like underwater fireworks. Magic!

Monday was our last day in Koh Tao and we decided to use it for a bit of exploring. We'd spent all our time in Mae Had but there were loads of other places around and the best way to do that is by moped. It's a bit scary how easy you can hire one - it costs less than three quid for a day's rental and they're not interested in seeing a driving licence - just your passport. Luckily 'Safe Hands Gareth' was in charge.

We'd had an idea to have a look at some of the viewpoints on the island but we quickly worked out that with two of us on board, the moped wasn't too good at hills. Instead we found ourselves at a beautiful beach called Shark Bay, with bright blue water and white sand. Tough day.

Tuesday it was time to head back to Bangkok - a 90 minute ferry to Chumporn and then an eight hour bus ride - so please don't think this trip is all sunbathing and beer! We headed back to Rambuttri Village Inn and got a last meal of Pad Thai and spring rolls on Khao San Road.

So our time in Thailand has come to an end and we've enjoyed it more than we expected. Koh Tao was definitely the best and we were both sorry to leave. The food is delicious, people are friendly and we avoided all the tuk-tuk scams.

Next stop Singapore!