WOW!! Over the last five days we've been having a great time. I think Koh Tao has hooked us, the sports, the amazing scenary and chilled out atmosphere it was great. The smallest of the three islands in the gulf of Thailand and in my opinion infinately better than the rest. The area of Chalok Ban Kao was so beautiful, it has amazing relaxed yet trendy vibe going on there....all the divers were so chilled and by the end the end of the coarse I felt like family, I could of been tempted to do my advanced and teaching course as I loved scuba diving and could see myself living at the resort!! The first day of the open water course was funny aswell as highly embarressing!! Sam mentioned my hair went green, well that was an understatment it was so aqua marine it was unreal!! hahaha Everytime I surfaced from the practice pool everyone was like "Its getting worse, its getting worse!!" - I was a minor celebrity around the resort for a bit "the girl with green in her hair" - goodbye beach blonde HELLO punk greebo - not a good look! Luckily one of the English girls recommended tomato ketchup and after two 40min treatments my blonde had returned!! The wonders of Heinz!!! The course was by far the best thing Ive done in a while, our instructor a south American latino called Camilo was hilarious, he didnt wear shoes for two years once!! I did four open water dives to depths of 18m, we saw butterfly, angle, needle and trigger fish. barracuda, sea rays, held sea enemenies and urchins with one eye!! Best of all we swam with black and grey tipped reef sharks that have just returned to the area, it was amazing! Apart from the dives it was good to use my brain again and meet some interesting people! On our last night we all went out to celebrate getting our PADI certifications and it was Natalies 25th - it was a fun night and we're aiming to meet at the full moon party!! Saying goodbye to Koh Tao was hard the crystal waters and lush mountain greenery were alluring. I loved it there and felt at home, a guess it not often you feel like that. Still we had to make our way to the next destination Koh Phangan, on the hottest day yet we bathed on the top deck of the boat and took the two hour journey to Thong Sala (the main port). On our arrival we wee greated by hoards of Thai guys, "hey where you go?" "TAXI TAXI" a feature that wasnt present in Tao, but I guess with 10,000 people descending on one island we're going to be hassled. We made our way to the Lighthouse bungalows, a place we'd reserved on the net. Purched on the rocks away from the main party beach all looked well and first impressions were good. However, as we tipped towed round the rocks with our sacks on this rickety old wooden path I started to think "hhhmmmm, not so nice." Another 30m climb to our chosen bungalow and the heat had really gotten to me....the bungalow? Well what can we say it was damp, dark, dust everywhere, holes in the wooden flooring that dropped down to the ocean and a door that didnt lock. Not being funny but two girls on a rock with no/little lighting and a door that didnt lock is not happening.....so we made our excuses and got the hell out of there. After a ponder of the party town Hat Rin we decided to stay outside of the main town, the likes of Magaluf, Aya Napa and Malia havn't ever appealed to me really and this is whats created at Hat Rin around full moon.....a harsh contrast from our previous location. So, we've now resorted to some bungalows where our diving friends are staying which is nice and peaceful. Beach is right outside with hammocks on the decking and although its basic its clean and cosey!! We always try and make our bungalows homely in little ways!! Last night the six of us ate dinner and had drinks together, discussing our plans. I think we're leaving this resort tomorrow though and going up to the north side of the island to another beach, which sounds perfect......you can just catch a boat on party night so hopefully it'll all work out!! Giving our love to you all, I miss you lots!!! Emma send your love to Julie and the new baby, I bet its tiny....thought of you yesterday....keep in touch and let me know any news!!