Went with Jo to a place called Klong Muang or something like that.. really quiet place we just spent a few days on the beach.. still not quite high season so the beach was still pretty empty and one day we were able to crash the Sheraton and make use of their fancy pools and beach. Really nice place if you are after seclusion and peacefulness, but after staying in our bungalows.. with ants, gekkos and oh yeah.. scorpion! Ok it was smallish but still a scorpion and luckily Jo managed to trap it under a glass and we nudged it out the door. Also the guy who owned the bungalows was not a particularly friendly or helpful man, so we moved back to Ao Nang for a couple of nights before going to Phi Phi islands. Beach at Ao Nang was not great, really shelly not very sandy beach with really annoying people selling stuff, and super busy! We only meant to go to Phi Phi for one night but ended up staying 5 nights.. I kept trying to get to Koh Tao but because of high winds and ferries cancelled it just wasnt happening. We had a good time though, met loads of people, saw some fire shows, caught some sun and went on a boat trip snorkelling and visiting Maya Bay where they filmed "the beach". Good stuff.

Then it was time for me and Jo to say our goodbyes and when she went to Phuket I finally managed to get to Koh Tao by ferry, bus and night ferry... The night ferry is not a pleasant experience, and it was only through necessity that I repeated it again a couple of weeks later on the way back. I think I was very naive in what I expected.. its basically one empty floor with small thin mattress type things and a bit of foamy pillow.. I was so happy I had my sleeping bag! The whole thing really resembled a prison ship or something along those lines. Its a good thing as well that I dont get seasick because the ferry was still rolling and pitching a lot.. it was not a good nights sleep. Arrived at Crystal dive resort in Koh Tao at 7am, so I couldnt check in til about 9 but once I did I slept until it was time to start my scuba diving education. There was 5 of us altogether, me, Lucy, Ryan and 2 dutch guys.. the first day and a half were spent in the classroom and the afternoon was spent in the pool learning all the practical stuff. It was weird breathing underwater to begin with and the next day I was freaking out a bit about going in open water.. but it was actually really good and over the next few days I really enjoyed it. Although after the 1 day we lost the 2 dutch guys because somewhere along the way they had somehow managed to check in at the wrong dive school.. who knows how. So then there were 3 of us.. and 4 staff. So it worked out well in the end, and I really enjoyed it! So much that I decided to do the advanced open water course after the full moon party on the Sunday.

So me and Lucy (not scuba buddy Lucy, different Lucy) headed off on the ferry at 3pm to Koh Phangan, and after a really REALLY long but good night we got the ferry back to Koh Tao at 8am. Soooooo tired.. I dont know how I coped all day without sleeping but by the time I was eating dinner I was half asleep and I started my advanced the next day so went to sleep. But the next day was super sunny so me and new diving buddy Ryan spent the morning doing our classroom bits by the pool. Over the 2 days we did 5 dives, buoyancy (doing somersaults and swimming through hoops etc), deep (down to 30m.. we were looking for whale sharks but the visibility was rubbish though so saw nothing and I got lost!), navigation (underwater compasses are not my strong point but I just managed i think!), night dive ( really cool with this glow in the dark plankton stuff.. but the boys kept blinding fish with their torches so that the barracudas would eat them.. not nice but as the only girl I was overruled) and then there was just this one where youidentify fish.. dead easy but one of the other guys in our group had a problem with his tank so we had to surface swim in full scuba kit for about 40 mins because the boat had moved.. it was sosososo much effort but the dive after was good and we saw I lot but I was not impressed by how much harder it is to swim on the surface than under the water. After a good celebration that night, I spent the next day relaxing by the pool and topping up the tan.. building up the courage for the next night ferry episode...