Hi everyone hope you are all well and enjoying the sunshine I hear it's really hot at home so enjoy it while you can!!

We arrived in Nha Trang after a 12 hour sleeper bus journey not as bad as the other one as the beds were much bigger! We were planning on just chilling on the beach for three days but after we had checked in the hotel which again was fine we went for a stroll round the town and ended up booking onto a three day scuba diving course. Joe had wanted to do the course anyway I was a bit unsure but we had planned on doing in Thailand, but after meeting the instructor who was from wales so sopke good english we decided it would be better to do the course with them, plus which is a bonus there would only be me and Joe with the instructor.

The course is three days day one you have to swim four lengths and tred water for 10 minutes which was a not easy for me and Joe and neither of us can swim very well we just about managed it!! We then got shown the equipment how to put it together etc, then we went into the pool to do some skills underwater honestly I thought there is no way I can carry on with this it was really wierd but once you get into it and breathe properly it becomes a little easier! Anyway day one we got through not too bad but was really worried about going underwater in the sea!!

Day 2 - We went to the dive school for 8am then got taken to the harbour where we got on board the boand met our instructor, we went out for about 45 minutes then stopped, Kris (instructor) explained what we would be doing so we got all the gear on and jumped in I was so scared you then have to deflated your jacket and you gradually start sinking it is really strange to start off with and it took us ages to get to the bottom but Kris kept reassuring us and was really patient if we had been in a large group I honestly dont think we would have passed! You have to carry out various skills you had learnt in the pool the day before one of them filling your mask with water and clearing it through your nose this was horrible made me panick just about managed to do it! It's a strange experience being underwater very peaceful but if you think about it too much it's like oh god I am however many meters underwater!! Had a good day and only one more to go and an exam at the end.

Day 3- Again was picked up a 8am and taken out on the boat the first dive we had to carry out the rest of the skills we had not completed the day before one of them being taking the mask off completely then putting it back on, I decided to leave that until the second dive and when i really had to do it. Joe was confident in the water and loving it, Kris had an underwater camera so thats how we managed to get the fab photos! Second dive yeaah I just about managed to get the mask off, on and cleared so was well chuffed with myself. We headed back and just had the exam to complete which was multiple choice from stuff we had learnt in the water and homework we had been given each night. We both passed (though it was a bit harder than we had thought) so we are really excited have our open water diving certificate so we can dive anywhere in the world up to 18m. We went out to celebrate had lots to drink met a vietnamise family on the way home who were selling beera nd cooking food so we stayed with them till about 3.30 not sure what on earth the meat was they were feeding us though now when we think back!! We forgot to set our alarm we were leaving the next morning at 7.30am luckily we awoke at 7am threw our stuff in our bags and caught the bus 6 hours down the coast to a small place called Mui Ne where we had a bungalow on the beach booked.

Missing everyone lots hope you are all well thanks for all your emails / messages keep them coming Love Gem & Joe xxxxxxxxx