We arrived at this large beach town on 30th May and immediately Stuart signed up for his PADI open water course over three days so he can become a trained scuba diver. At $174 it was an absolute bargain, more than twice as cheap as you will get in Thailand so why bother to wait? DAY 1 The morning was spent watching three DVD's in the morning explaining much of the theory involved in diving. The afternoon was spent in a local swimming pool where I did two confined dives and a few excercises in case of emergency such as a quick ascent or if your mask gets knocked off. It was fun and apart from the mask off excercise (a bit disoreintating) I managed pretty well. The trick is to understand how to get yourself neutrally bouyant and control your depth with breathing, a skill akin to riding a bike. ie a bit tricky at first but once you have it you will never forget it. My instructor was a Spanish guy called Ben who was good fun but fortunately serious when he needed to be as getting it wrong in this sport is obviously no laughing matter! DAY 2 It was out in the ocean for the first two open water dives. Jo came out too and snorkelled for the day and watched and photograped my first steps into a new world. Apart from the first twenty or so seconds of the first dive (I have to admit to a slight touch of panic as we went down) I could not have enjoyed them more. Visibility, particularly on the first dive was superb and I saw loads of exotic fish and coral. Four of us went down on both dives; myself, Ben, his colleague Emel (and girlfriend I think) who is studying to be a master diver plus another PADI student like myself, an Israili called Liran. We got to a depth of around 15m at the most and practised an emergency ascent which went perfectly. I didn't find it easy getting the neutral boyancy on the first dive but found it easier on the 2nd. After the dives there was a few hours break before some more study back at the office and even a little back at the hotel after dinner (oh, the dedication!) DAY 3 There were two more open water dives on this the last day. The first of the day was the best of the whole course, starting with an excellent controlled descent (unlike the previous days opening dive panic!) followed by a 55 minute dive going to the maximum allowed depth of 18 meters. I saw a large moray eel, a lion fish (poisonous) and an enourmous parrotfish amongst other spectacular marine life and coral. I had to do the remove mask and replace excercise which was still a little disorientating and I choked a bit which isn't pleasant when you're 15 meters down but I got there in the end. The second dive of the day and last of the course was a little more cloudy but still alot of fun and superb marine viewing. It was back to the hotel for a little revision then to the office for some more review before completing a 50 question exam. It was multiple choice but it wasn't all a doddle but fortunately I passed and I'm now a PADI qualified scuba diver I'm pleased to say. It was a brilliant three days helped by an excellent instructor (Ben) and I look forward to some more diving in Thailand and maybe taking it up in New Zealand. While I was having all the fun on day three Jo made use of her time and arranged for some job interviews by phone. She has applied for a few jobs so she can hopefully start work soon after we get back and fortunately all the schools seem to be falling over themselves to hire her. Our last day here was 3rd June when we took a night bus to Hoi An. We spent this just pottering around and on the beach which whilst quiet in the morning, got really busy later in the afternoon with holidaying Vietnamese, of which there are many this time of year. It's a decent beach, nothing spectacular but the water is lovely and clean and security guards do offer you a certain amount of hassle protection against the sellers. The restaurants and bars here are pretty good and wonderously cheap and there's also a good selection of hotels. We paid $14 for a large double room with air-con, TV, free internet and breakfast which obviously you can't argue at!