Hi again, It been a while since I left hospital and to be fair I forgotten a lot of the stuff I've been up too! But here goes..... The days after leaving hospital were pretty frustrating to be honest. I was still on plenty of drugs and my foot was still not really getting better. I wasn't allowed to dive or drink which makes life on Kho Tao interesting. The weather has been rubbish as well! I had to go to the clinic every day to have the wound scraped out and clean which was a joy each day. I technically wasn't allowed to dive or drink for 10 days but I got a bit bored! So I thought I would divide that figure by 2 and then minus 2 off that figure as well. My foot has fallen off yet so me thinks this was a good decision. I don't really remember what I've been up too between getting back in the water and leaving for a two day excursion to party on Kho Phanang. I'm sure it involved lots of diving and a little bit of drinking but nothing is really stands out. Other than my favorite drinking hole in Sairee being burnt down by a rival club! But I'm not talking about it as I get a little choked... I watched it burn down at about five in the morning which wasn't nice - gutted. So, after working hard it was time for a short holiday! Tom, Chanelle and I decided to go on a mini adventure to the august full moon party on Kho Phanang. This is the busiest full moon party of the year so accommodation was going to be a problem but we were prepared to sleep on the beach for two nights! Well, that or not go to bed at all. The trip didn't get off to the best of starts as we got stranded on Kho Tao pier for over two hours. The tide was so far out, the Catamaran couldn't get to the pier. The Catamaran left and moored at Kho Nang-Yuan. The Thai's that were trying to sort this issue out didn't have a clue what they were doing. It was so funny. They shipped all the customers that were going to Samui in a tiny boat that kept picking up one load and dropping then off at Kho Nang-Yuan then returning to pick up another. While this was happening all the customers that were going to Kho Phanang got loaded onto another boat that just traveled from one pier to the next pier on Kho Tao. We traveled in a semi cycle, it was magically. As all the choas had taken so long, the tide had come in sufficiently enough for the Catamaran to return with all the Samui customer and pick us up - brilliant. We finally arrived in Kho Phanang and the plan was just to try and get some accommodation. We managed to do this but we were on the complete opposite side of the island than we wanted to be. The be honest I don't think we could of got any further away geographically! and the island isn't exactly small.... We dropped our stuff off and sorted a few bits out before deciding that we were going to need to hire bike for two days to get about. We got ready to go out and hit the roads of Phanang, destination Haad Rin aka party capital of Thailand. It took us 45 minutes to get to Haad Rin and the journey wasn't exactly easy! What did this mean? Well it meant that we were going to have to stay in Haad Rin for the night as there was not a chance in hell that we were going to get back during the night! We all had the most amazing night. Tom met up with Becky, Chanelle was chasing a bloke called James who went to Eaton and I partied and crashed with 20 English chicks that Tom and I had taught to dive a week ago. Well, we taught six of them to dive but socialized with all 20 of them on Kho Tao. We started drinking at 18:00 and Tom and I got back to our accommodation at 14:00 the next afternoon after a boiled eggs and a Shinga for breakfast! Now that is a night out... We grabbed three hours sleep before heading back to Haad Rin for the Full Moon party. The first part of the evening we chilled out drinking on the beach until we hit the buckets and started the madness again. Quality night had by all. 11.00 o'clock the next morning we were at the pier waiting for our boat back to Kho Tao as we all were off the next day to sail out to sea on a liveaboard for two day to dive the best dive site in the Gulf of Thailand. The following day after arriving back from the mini adventure to Kho Phanang I was up at 06:00 and heading down the pier to sail off for two nights on a sailing boat called Sampai Jumpa. If anyone wants to check out the boat etc visit - www.worldwidediveandsail.com. This trip came about through Alex my OW and Advanced diving intructor and the guy who I've been assisting for a bit. Him and a guy called Frank own a sailing boat that they run liveaboard diving trips in south east asia. They are currently having their second luxury sailing boat built and Alex is leaving Buddha View after 8 years and wanted to offer a short trip to instructors, DM's and DMT's at a bargin price. Thirteen of us went and it was all the people that I'd been hanging out with so it was going to be a scream! To be continued ............ I'm back...... The trip was probably the best two days in my life. It was just amazing and definitely the way to relax and drive. We sailed out at 06:00 and had a briefing and a tour of the boat and it was beautiful. Shortly after we sailed off to our first dive site and on the way we all were relaxing and sun bathing in the sun as the weather was emasculate. We dived the secret pinnacle at southwest and it was just superb. It was so nice just to fun dive with quality divers and not never have to worry about anyone else. We could also dive to what every depth and we weren't restricted to time either. As long as we still had air, we stayed in the deap blue. It was cool... As soon as we got out of the water there was the beat breakfast waiting for us! Now that is service. We sailed off to our next destination which was Angthong National Marine Park. We moored up just on the out skirts off the park to dive our second dive - Yippon. This dive was a little poor just because the visibility was rubbish but it was again so much fun exploring a new dive site. As soon as we were all out of the water, dinner was serviced. Frank, in his briefing had mentioned that the chief was the best in south east asia - he was not kidding. This was one of the best thailand meals I had had since arriving in south east asia and this didn't change. We moved into the park and moored in the middle as we wanted to relax and visit the lagoon when no one else was there. The park was fantastic and so beautiful and just how you imagine thailand to be. Crystal blue water, amazing sunshine, massive rock rising out of the water covered in palm trees which all had deserted beaches on each. To be fair it was just breath taking and the best views I've ever experienced in my life! While was were chilling on the beautiful sail boat in the middle of pure paradise, I decided to jump off the side of the boat and sit in the dingy. This was purely for sh*ts and giggles and before we knew it Tom and Jez had also dived off the side of the boat and joined me. Next thing we were paddling for one off the deserted/empty beaches. It must of been about three hundred meters and when we arrived we looked back and two kayaks were out and some of the other guys were coming to join us. The beach we quality and the views were again so magnificent, now with Sampai Jumpa in the middle of it. We collected some coconuts to taken back to the boat to eat. I swam to the boat this time and it reminded me of the film the beach so much! We visited the lagoon which was really nice but it was a hell of a climb. I was glad I bought the three cans of tiger with me as I needed then when we got the the summit. We stopped in the National Park for the evening and it was so cool and we were all so chilled and relaxed. The day was excellent and the evening consisted of playing cards, Daniel and Ian play guitar and lying on the deck listening to Pink Floyd and staring at the stars - nice. Ian and Daniel are so good on the guitar as well! Especially Ian playing the blues. The next day we headed back in the direction of Kho Tao and visited Sail Rock. This is the most famous and best dive site in the Gulf of Thailand. They are not wrong! The site was beautiful, the marine life was quality and the chimney was pretty funky too. To dive this site from Kho Tao you would pay three thousand, five hundred baht for one dive and that's a lot of pennies in thailand. So, I was well chuffed that we dived this site which was included with the full price of the liveaboard trip. The rest of the day consisted off sailing in excellent weather, sun bathing, eating amazing food, socialising with lovely people, diving two more sites and having the most enjoyable and laid back evening floating in the middle of the ocean. The next morning we were up at 05:00 to dive Chumpon Pinnacle. The goal was to see loads of grey reef sharks and if lucky a whale shark with are pretty rare. The reason for diving so early is that sharks feed in the mornings. Oh my god, the dive was probably my best dive yet, closely followed by the sail rock experience. As soon as we descended and hit the pinnacle I spotted a shark and before we knew it they was five all around us. It was so cool and in the end we counted that they was between 12 and 14 sharks about. I must admit there was one occasion that I was a little worry! There was big reef shark a couple of meters below me so I descended to have a closer look. He started to head straight for me which isn't that uncommon as they then normally dart off in the opposite direction. But this one didn't, it got about two meters away and just eye-balled me. Something contracted in my wetsuit and I thought it may be a good idea to swim in the opposite direction! Saying that and on reflection - I reckon I could of had him!! The dive was amazing and as per breakfast so ready as soon as we all had had hot showers! We sailed back to Kho Tao to end a quality couple of days. We arrived back on Kho Tao and I was going to be a busy boy. My time had come to move out of my accommodation that I had rented for the last two months. I packed all of my gear and moved in with Jaz and Graham in the hills. It was going to be a good laugh as it just reminds me of student digs and at least this place had a mirror! Oh and it's got a hot shower too.... which is so nice when you have been having cold showers for months. I've also remembered that before I partied on Kho Phangan I had to visit Burma. Lovely place! I was there for 10 minutes, bought two bottles of whiskey and the local childs were trying to sell me viagra - maybe in a few years boys! Anyways, it's another stamp in the passport. So, back on Kho Tao I started diving and assisting as normal. On one course we were traveling from one dive site to the next and Simon thought he had spotted a dolphin in the distance. We all started to look to see if we could see them. We started to spotted them and they were heading straight for us. In the end we counted approximately 14 of them. The caption turned the boat round and we followed them for about 20 minutes. Eight of them were swimming directly under the hull of the boat and kept jumping out of the water. It was only at this time we realised that they weren't dolphin's but pilot wholes. They were fantastic, what an experience. Tim, the videographer caught it of film. So hopefully I'll be able to get a copy. The only other news to report on is that the barnet has be cut off after 10 months of growing it! The casting vote when out to a lucky young lady and the response was to get it cut. Well, achually it was "I thing you look gorgeous with shorter hair" - yeah, that was good enough for me! Number one all over, so I now look like an AID's victim and as my head is now exposed to the sun, I'm waiting to get heat stoke...... then hospitalised. Oh and the only other thing I can think of this that my mate Paul got punched in the face by a thai taxi driver. Paul laughed and the taxi driver pulled a gun on him - so I call him pistol whipped Paul now. Anyway bye for now Miffy x x x