I rose at 8.30am to a gorgeous view of sunshine and sea..... I enjoyed it while it lasted because by 10.30am, when Scott finally decided to get up, the heavens opened. The rest of the day was spent debating how far we could get between torrential downpours, having found ourselves stranded in the middle of town without a raincoat and the streets flooded with a good foot of water!

But anyway - back to 8.30am when it was bright and I, smiling, took to the beach for a morning jog. The beach was much better for jogging here - the sand smoother and more comfortable under my bare feet, and the beach much longer lending itself for a more decent run. As I plodded along the sand I thought to myself how much fitter I'd be if I woke to this every morning; and resolved that I would surely be out running 7 days a week - that was until I reasoned with myself and decided that in fact the novelty would eventually wear off. I was starting to settle into my morning routine now of jog, followed by 100 sit ups, 20 press ups and then a dip in the sea. The sea here was calm and exquisitely green; and my excitement levels rose when I noticed with my swimming goggles on and front crawl stroke, that beneath me lay a world of coral and multicoloured fish! Now that's how to make the monotony of a swimming stroke more eventful!

Back at our beach side bungalow I smugly showered and settled down to read a few more chapters of my book, patiently waiting for Scott who was watching another episode of Breaking Bad. The book I'm reading 'It's not about the Tapas' is the true story of a woman cycling alone across the Pyrenees. At 100km per day over mountain terrain my morning jog and swim combo suddenly seemed a bit pathetic in comparison, and my smugness slowly dissipated.

We managed to make it for breakfast before the rain started, and in a brief moment of respite from the downpour headed into town to get our laundry done and find an internet cafe. After an hour each on the computer, that's when we ended up stranded in the deluge; and soaked from just dashing across the 5metre road, fell into a coffee shop. Scott whiled away the time ordering a big burger and chips - I restrained and just had a coffee and nicked a few of his chips of course!

When we did finally make it back to our bungalow, the remainder of the day was spent looking out at cloudy sky from under our veranda. Resolved to make more of my time here in Ko Tao I headed out to research the options and costs of diving. Scott had tried it before and wasn't too keen to do it again, but I thought this may be my last opportunity in a long while to try it out - even if the cloud would make visibility poorer. In the end I booked a days dive taster for Monday. Scott said he didn't mind spending the day by himself. I would be learning initially in a pool and then do 2 dives going to 12 m depth. As soon as I'd booked it I started to feel apprehensive!

That evening we made it out for dinner and back, again just in time to escape a deluge. We huddled in bed watching some more hilarious episodes of the Inbetweeners on the computer.