Arriving back on Lanta with Ben we took the opportunity to relax for the next couple of days, along with a little shopping in Saladan.

On the 8th I took Ben on the Palm Beach boat (the company I have been diving with) for a snorkelling trip to Koh Ha. On the 9th I did my first ever night dive. It was somewhat eerie, particularly as I was the last one of everyone diving. I tried not to look behind me too often, as my torch only penetrated the water so far and I didn't want my imagination to run away with itself. Although I didn't see anything particularly different to any normal dive there were a lot more shrimp around. The best part was when we kneeled on the sand at about 6m, turned our torches off and moved around, disturbing all of the bioluminescent algae.

On the 10th Ben and I took a 4 island snorkelling tour from Krabi town, a boat considerably more crowded than the Palm Beach one. The best part was swimming through emerald cave into the middle of an island where there was a beach.

I had to say goodbye to Ben on the 12th when he headed back to Australia. With little else to do but relax on the beach, I spent the next 7 days doing just that. On the 19th I took another trip to Hin Dang and Hin Muong in the hope I would see some more Mantas. I was particularly optimistic as the last two trips that I had missed multiple Mantas (as many as 7) had been spotted. Alas, it was not my lucky day - I didn't see a single one!

On the 21st Claus and I dived together without any students/customers to complete some more of my training. He came as a "novice" diver, jumping in and swimming straight down. I could do little more than slowly descend after him, all the while trying to get his attention by banging my tank. During the dive he had "problems" with his buoyancy and at one point I turned around and he had his BCD on the wrong way with his tank on his front! Claus found this hilarious and I could hear him laughing underwater as I approached to rectify what he had done. The second dive of the day was my stress test, or equipment exchange as PADI now call it. It involves sharing one air source and swapping all of your equipment with your buddy, who was Simon (another instructor). It was not a pleasant experience and I was relieved when it was all over! Although, I have it on film, courtesy of A, the Palm Beach camera man.

On the 22nd and 23rd I had nights out with Fiona, Dave and Billy, by the 24th I had had enough of alcohol. My last chance to see Manta rays on the 25th, again they didn't show! Australia day on the 26th meant we had a table day at Koala Bar (floating table with lots of drinks and some snacks in the ocean), a great way to catch some sun.

Tuesday 29th I completed my DM (other than my snorkel test, as Lee pointed out). My snorkel test was arranged for the 31st, but postponed to the 2nd February. On the 1st I witnessed a snorkel test at cheeky monkey, only 24 hours before my own, not sure whether it was a good thing or a bad thing.

On the evening of the 2nd we met at Sans bar for my snorkel test. I started with 2 shots (tequila and B52), which I couldn't see, as I had a blacked out mask on. Then I had an orientation game, where I had to follow a long piece of string around an obstacle course. Then with my blacked out mask still on and a snorkel now attached, I had a bucket of Sangsom (rum) and coke poured into it, which I had to drink (it took around a minute I would guess). The remainder of the night was somewhat of a blurr… I do know that it involved going to Blue Cafe and then karaoke at Funky Monkey later on.

My remaining time on Lanta was spent relaxing on the beach. I had to take a boring trip to extend my visa on the 4th, due to only having 2 months, instead of the 3 that I thought I had. On the 6th I went to a Job2Do reggae concert. The on the 7th I had a goodbye dinner at Fat Monkey with Claus, Ralph, Remco, Steve and Sue and drinks at Blue Cafe.

After having been on Koh Lanta for 2 months it feels somewhat strange to be leaving, but I am looking forward to exploring more of Thailand.