Its been just under 5 months now that i have been living here in Khao Lak. Where has the months gone? Im looking at the calander and I see only two and a half months left. Its starting to dawn on me that I will leave this gorgeous place... my friends, my little bungalow, the happy snapper, and manta queen 1.

Enough of the soppy nonsence... Lets get into the update. So I have now got a permanent position on manta queen 1. MQ1 is a 30m boat, holding 22 guests, 7 thai staff and 6 dive crew. It is the flagship of the company and its been my home for the last month or so... and will be until the end of the season! The dive crew on the boat are pretty awesome. They have been all close friends of mine before we got the permanent positions on the boat. Deano and Jonas are trip leaders and Marrko is an instructor/gas blender. The 4 of us are on every trip and we each schedule a trip of every 5 or so trips. This means 4night/4days... back for one night and then repeat... and sometimes there back to backs... which means we arrive in at 2:30 in the afternoon and then greet the new guests for the next trip at 5:30 that same afternoon! This is a little hectic. but we do only 2 back to backs a months depending on the demand! Each trip we do 14 dives (4 each day & 2 on the last day). We head from south to north over the 4 days where we will eventually reach richelieu rock; the priemier dive site in Thailand! Its honestly amazing. It is entirely covered in soft purple corals, purple anemonies and is home to an entire marine ecosystem. We joke to guests that you can see 95% of the fish slates at this dive site... and to be honest, we are not joking. you can see everything except humpback whales pretty much! I wish i could take you all and show you. It really is GORGEOUS!

More dive news. Well i did my gas blender course which means now i can mix the nitrox tanks on the boat. It is a good skill to have as it enhances your employability and also brings in extra cash. KSA pays 40baht per nitrox tank... which added up over 14 dives and say you have 8 customers on nitrox you are getting an exgtra 2500baht per trip! That is a little more than an instuctor sometimes. So this has been fun. A new skill and a new challenge.

So onto other news.. I have been busy planning my next adventure for when i leave here. Its a little exciting when the world is your oyster! Everything is still on the drawing board, but right now my plan is to leave here on the 4th of May bound to batan, Singapore where i will onjce again board the JAYA and embark on a 3 week dive/adventure/sailing trip bound for Komodo. Check out the link if you wanna know more... its going to be pretty damn sweet! http://wickeddiving.com/3-week-expeditions

From Komodo I will fly back to Bali and spend a few days catching up with friends... then fly to Manila where i will head south to batangas to board another 8 liveaboard with expedition fleet (the transition trip - which is a little longer). http://expeditionfleet.com/destinations/philippines/tubbataha/

From there is looks like I am heading to north thailand where Becky (an english girl from KSA) and I will make our way via boat up through no-mans-land to china... travel china exploring a little of the silk route but also sticking close to the tibetan border where the chinese hill tribes are. From there we will move east into kazakhastan, Uzbekistan, Turmenistan, Azerbaijan and last Turkey... Becky is planning to go all the way to Cairo by land... My plans can change depending on time and money.. but right now i aim to get to Turkey. So YEAH. this is my big plan. :) pretty damn excited!

Becky has a bet to accomplish... It is to make her way from Australia to Cairo by anything but aeroplane! She has made it to Thailand thus far... here is a link to a blog made by two gay guys who met Becky along the way. Its a pretty sound blog. Nice story! http://www.contemporarynomad.com/2011/09/beckys-great-adventure/

Moving on to adventures in khao lak.. On my last trip off Tuuloi, becky and myself went on a road trip north for the day to get out of Khao lak and spread our wings a little. We just cruised on the bikes, exploring the old parts, the rubber plantations, mountains and beaches that we havent experienced before! Then becky and I took our motorbike on a longtail over to Ko Kho khao (an island maybe 40 minutes north). We road to Hapla beach and drank cocktails seated on beanbags... on a deserted beach! absolutely stunning! Found a little cheap bamboo bungalow to sleep and woke up the next morning and explored the 25km island. 2 days away and it felt like a week long holiday! great times with great friends. definately more adventures like this in the future! I wish i had some photos. I have been very lazy with photo's. have not taken any in a long time! New years resolution = take more photo's!

I will put up a few dive pics. a few liveaboard pics.. and i will get some more!

Ok. Blog finished! hope that has kept you up to date. given you a little more information.

If you want to email me. my email is [email protected]!

Big shout out to Grandma and pa! love you lots and lots!

&

Aunty Kezza. big hello to you and the family!!!

xxx