From Ko Pha-ngan we headed to Ko Tao, otherwise known as Turtle Island. Ko Tao was named by its first settlers for both the island's turtle-like geographic shape and for its role as a breeding ground for both Hawksbill turtles and Green turtles. Another interesting fact about Ko Tao is that the island has more coconuts per square kilometer than anywhere else on earth. (Not a useful fact but it may come up in a quiz??)

We headed to Ko Tao, with one aim only, to further improve our diving skills. Nick enrolled on a Rescue Diver Course and Helen went on a underwater photography course. Somewhere along the middle, we arranged for some fun dives. As we had booked our courses with Buddha View (as per recommendations from 2 diving friends) we got free accommodation thus saving some money!

The first morning was spent diving at Chumphon Pinnacle, a dive site to the west of Ko Tao which has a reputation for both whale sharks and bull sharks but because of the warmer water temperatures over the last year a great amount of bull sharks have migrated to cooler waters (Or...they have been killed for shark fin soup). Needless to say, we did not see any sharks however, the coral and marine life observed was stunning. Chumphon ranks similarly to Hin Daeng on the West coast of Thailand. We did one more fun dive which was...nothing special and therefore nothing to report.

The afternoon was spent doing our EFR course (Emergency First Responder) in layman's terms, a first aid course. The whole course is so Americanised and we even have to introduce ourselves to patients/victims as "Hi, My name is ***** and I am an Emergency First Responder, How may I help you" cue cheesy grins!! Ridiculous, as this shaves off 10 seconds in rescuing someone!!

Eating on Ko Tao was a shock, as god knows how many different dive operators there are on the island. There is still a huge demand for fish on the menu, we thought that the dive operators would have grouped up together to pay the local fishermen NOT to fish like they do on Phi Phi. Whatever happened to sustainable fishing!! Both of us haven't been eating fish, unless its tinned tuna and we have avoided all restaurants that serve Shark! We cant tell you how much we miss eating fish!

In the last 10 years of scuba diving, there has been a very noticeable decline in the number of sharks which is saddening. Helen cant wait to dive in the Gili Islands where its a no fishing area and is well pleased to hear the news about Mircronesia. Lets hope Sipadan and Mabul follow suit as they are currently petitioning for a shark sanctuary. *fingers crossed*

Over the next two days, Nick did his Rescue course where he had to 'rescue' people from various scenarios to brush up on his skills and gain confidence. Nick really enjoyed doing his course but it left us wondering whether the UK is more stringent in passing students or whether the courses have changed as Helen remembers doing her rescue course and her dive club were ever so strict. This led to another discussion as to whether dive clubs on Ko Tao are more interested in quantity than quality, after all Ko Tao is the second most popular place in the world for scuba certifications after Cairns.

After completing our courses, there was nothing left to keep us on Ko Tao so we caught a Catamaran boat to Chumphon where we caught a bus to Bangkok taking 8 hours (and we were lucky enough to catch another bus in Bangkok to take us to Chiang Mai which took another 10 hours and Nick had to put up with Helen declaring her everlasting love for Hugh Jackman!).