Caught the overnight bus and ferry from Bangkok on 9th Oct and arrived in Kho Tao the following morning. Lovely to be by the sea again and a nice change of pace from Bangkok (although to be fair after Hanoi pretty much everywhere seems laid back!) Having booked my PADI in Bangkok I headed to Crystal Dive school on the beach with Luke (a guy from Warwickshire, who I met on the ferry and had also booked up with them) and Pablo (from Milan, who I met in Siem Reap and keep bumping in to along the way).

Deciding that starting our PADI that day, after a very long journey, would perhaps not be the best idea, we checked in to our huts (which are right next to the beach...fantastic!) and spent the afternoon just relaxing before heading out for dinner and then heading to a beach bar for some cocktails!

11th October

After a VERY late start, due to too good a night at the beach bar!, we spent the afternoon in the classroom doing our PADI theory and that evening grabbed some food and jumped on Pablo's moto and headed to a beach party on the other side of the island...resulting in another late night!

12th October

An early start in the classroom for a morning of theory and then after lunch we got our equipment, buddied up and had a session in the pool to get used to it. Fortunately my buddy James (from Durham) was a 6ft 2 gym-goer which was ideal for when we were kitting up with the tanks etc!! Also had really fun course mates which was really cool!The following morning we did our theory exam and then we jumped on the boat did our first open water training dive which was excellent, although I found it pretty hard to equalise at first which was pretty painful on the ears! Once we did our 2nd dive though it started to feel easier and started to really enjoy it. Felt knackered that evening so headed for some food with my coursemates (Luke, Declan, Tom and Edel) and popped to a beach bar for a quick drink where we met up with Pablo again.

14th October (yesterday!)

Another early start for our final 2 training dives and the weather was really amazing so it was nemo-tastic down there!!! They had a videographer filming our dives so there was much banter all round and comedy high fives etc underwater to make the cheesiset video ever!...and it worked!Finished our dives at lunchtime, by which time we were qualified...yippee, then spent the afternoon sunbathing before heading to the Crystal bar to watch our video and head out for celebratory dinner and drinks with my coursemates and our instructors (Greg and Erwen).

Today

...anyway it's the morning after the night before, just had some brekkie on the beach! It's been an awesome few days and will definitely be doing my advanced PADI course to check out the reef sharks and do a night dive!(although may wait until Oz to give my ears a break!)

Off to Kho Phi Phi in the next few days which should be lovely!

Time to hit the beach so bye for now xxxx