For the last 4 days, I have been back to school, training for my PADI Diving qualifictaion, which has been traumatic. Despite my previous Sincronised Swimming experience, it turns out that when it comes to Diving, rather like my hair, I'm not a natural.

It all started off so well, we did 2 hours of classroom on the first day, then hit the swimming pool on the second day, learning how to breathe underwater & set up all the equipment. Piece of Piss, or so I thought. After Day 2 I got cocky & stupidly ended up having a few too many Singha's the night before my first Sea Dive. Of course this was a bad idea, as soon as I entered the water, I started to freak, it was such an alien environment & instead of being a mermaid I was like a fish out of water! The first 2 dives were so traumatic for me, that at the end of Day 3 I actually didnt think I could continue with the course, despite completing the final exam.

This morning (Day 4) I turned into a crying, dribbling mess when faced with the sea again (well I was trained at the the McMullin School of Amature Dramatics) I got myself into such a state there was no way I wanted to go back into the Ocean ever again! It was almost as traumatic as the Mountain Bike ride in Laos, but I refused to quit & I'm so glad I didnt! Dive 3 was so much better, I managed to relax & start enjoying the scenery instead of worrying about my ability to breathe! Dive 4 really did save the best til last as all my panic slipped away as we glided around the most amazing flourescent coral reef & floated alongside Angel Fish, Butterfly Fish, Trigger Fish, Jelly Fish & we even saw Nemo! It was amazing. It wasnt til the end of the final dive, that for the first time in 4 dives I didnt want to come up! I think part of my problem was not being able to talk for 45 minutes (which for me is an acheivement in itself!) & feeling completely isolated. In the end once I started to get used to this wierd feeling, the underwater world became so beautiful & so peaceful!

Last night, I was convinced that I was going to fail the course, (even though I had already passed all the underwater skills & written exam!), so I decided that if I completed the course I would get a new tattoo...

Well I passed & I'm now a fully qualified PADI Open Water Diver & looks like I need to make a trip to the Tattoo Parlour! Thankfully there are almost as many Tattoo Artists as there are Dive Schools on Koh Tao, so I dont need to go far!