Day 17 (Thursday 2nd November 2006)

Sarah awoke from her awful night's sleep...and no it wasn't a nightmare...she was about to begin her scuba diver course!! Marc went to bed the night before with a slight ear ache and when he awoke it was apparent that he had caught an ear infection. He was so looking forward to tomorrow's dives, he decided not to get it wet today and picked up some ear drops at the pharmacy.

Blurry eyed, Sarah began her theory (the watching of some terribly corny American videos...remember them Stevie??) at 9:30am, before passing her exam with flying colours...30 out of 30, that's our girl!! She then had a couple of hours to kill before her 'confined water dive' out by the beach, so Marc took her for lunch. His constant moaning about his ear did a decent job of taking her mind off the prospect of sticking that head of hers under the water for the first time. It's not often Marc moans, so while he was at it he was busy boring Sarah about how Arsenal should have beat CSKA Moscow about 35-1 the night before, or so he was reliably informed. We did also find a cute little hermit crab who popped up to wish Sarah all the best.

Then it was down to business and yes guys, we've got it all on tape!! Cole ran Sarah through the process of setting up the gear and after going through their buddy check (Bangkok Women Really Are Fellas...which translated is BCD, Weights, Releases, Air and Final check), she strolled, with their gear on, through the Phi Phi streets and down on to the beach.

Sarah was a little apprehensive, but had so far taken it all in her stride and as they waded out in to the shallows, she looked relaxed and calm. However, the thought of that dreaded mask flood still loomed and as he looked on with anticipation, Marc , with all fingers and toes crossed back on the beach, prayed that nothing went wrong.

He needent have worried. Sarah completed the first and arguably the biggest part of the battle with no difficulties, although Cole did say that she managed to create a whole new way of performing a mask clearance under water, kind of pinching her nose for a second, then blowing out, then pinching her nose again...a process that took a while, but got the job done. Cole, who wondered if he would be back for tea, was chuffed to bits with how well she did.

With all the gear rinsed, Marc booked himself up for two fun dives for the next day and an opportunity to join Sarah out on the boat and share the special moment of her becoming a Padi Scuba Diver!!

With one day down and one to go, we went out for dinner, before Sarah returned home for another sleepness night.

PS How did Arsenal not stuff CSKA and more importantly how did Rosicky miss that chance???

Well done to West Ham for finally winning a match...get in there Teddy!

And Chelsea...you jammy b******s!

Dan mate, chuffed to here about your flat! You should be Ok without a sofa for a while...plenty of padding down there if you know what I mean!!

Day 18 (Friday 3rd November 2006)

Now Sarah was really getting nervous. After leaving her uneaten toast at the cafe, her and Marc reported bright and early to the dive centre at 8:15am. However, Marc's ear had got considerably worse and with his little eyes almost welling up, he was told not to dive. How Sarah would have gladly traded places right now, but it was too late to back out and before long we were on the boat and making tracks towards our first dive site. Bida Nok was one of two tiny islands literally just off Phi Phi Lay.. The water was clear, the sun was shining and as the divers began jumping in to the water, Marc would have given his right ear to go in for a dive...and that was his good ear!!!!!

But he did have the camcorder and it was a good job he had a spare battery because the first, along with about 35 cassettes, was used up taking footage of Sarah standing on the edge of the boat waiting to take the plunge. After the 9,876th 1,2,3...she finally jumped and she was in, ready to do the first of her two 'open water dives'.

Marc and the Thai boat captain shared a moment, bobbing about waiting for the divers to re-appear. 50-minutes later Sarah emerged at the surface, still alive and excited about telling Marc all about her fishy encounters. As well as successfully completing the first of her skills, she saw starfish, shoaling moorish idols, tuna (and it didn't look anything like what she has in her sandwiches?), loads of pufferfish (respect to the puffers), Nemo's (alias percular clownfish), a nice big lionfish, angelfish, butterflyfish, as well as plenty of other things she had no idea what they were....but the grand finale, capping off her first ever dive, a magnificent hawksbill turtle.

Marc even saw the turtle surfarce from the boat, which gave him a little something to smile about through his half-paralysed face. Having confronted so many fears, Sarah still had to tackle the daunting task of her 10-minute float at lunch...something many people would struggle with in open seas, especially with the strong current. Like a pro, she lept in (all right, kind of shuffled off the end of the boat, and aided by her wetsuit, bobbed about for a bit in the open sea. Marc saw this as an opportunity to get a little wet and holding on to the ladder as not to get his ear wet, he had a good splash around...so good our friends, that he managed to soak all our money and god knows what else he had in his pockets...muppet!!

Having floated like a Sarah-shaped piece of sponge, she grabbed some lunch before the boat turned around and headed to dive site number 2, Maya Bay. Back at this beautiful spot, Sarah only needed 9,875 1,2,3's before jumping out of the boat! Actually she was in straight away and was beginning to look like something of a pro!

49-minutes later and Sarah was officially a Padi Scuba Diver!!!!!!!!!! Once again all skills were completed without any trouble, which included removing her regulator underwater, and she was back on the boat celebrating with a nice warm cup of tea! On this dive she also came across a large mean looking moray eel, a funny sea worm thing (we think that's its latin name anyway), triggerfish, barracuda, masses of rabbitfish, filefish, squid and two enormous, beautiful jellyfish (which laid of the stings this time).

So there you go peeps, she's all qualified for 12metres and together, when Marc's ear has finally dropped off, they can dive together.....arrrrrrrrrr!! After watching herself back on tape back at the dive centre, Sarah accompanied Marc down the hospital where he was prescribed some antibiotics and painkillers...now he sounds like daffy duck!!!!!!

Marc, all doped up and Sarah drousy on nitrogen, are going to set the party to life tonight at the Reggae Bar for a few celebrative drinks with Cole and the gang and a ringside seat at the Thai boxing!

Tomorrow morning it's on to Phuket. We sorted out all the problems with the date changes and everything, but I'm sure we'll find something to go wrong...!

Night fans x

PS Mummy Ferroni glad to hear that all the beasts are doing ok although my affection for frogs is slowly disappearing thanks to the rendition of Rupert Bear and the frog song we have to endure all night! We are really choked to hear how cold it is back home, but if it makes you feel any better, Christ it's hot over here!! Tee-hee...

Marc's mum, hope the internet's all sorted soon...miss you guys xx

Monty thanks for your message. Your all heart!

Fitzy glad to hear the new job's going well pal! If only Kanu could have done that for us!!

And of course, thanks once again to Cole...you surely must be a miracle worker!!