Diver Diver! Are you OK?!

HAHA! So now I am officially a Rescue Diver. This has been the hardest two days of the trip so far! No doubt.
Today is Sunday... So on Thursday it was the IDC party (Instructor Training), so everyone was getting drunk and swimming and there was a free BBQ. Then we went and bought beer and liquour and came back to my bungalow to watch south park and play ring of fire. Went back to DJL, and got picked up by Mr Noomski and he drove us up his 100m very steep hill to Sunset View. The most amazing view again but rubbish sunset because it was really cloudy. Vince got horrifically drunk and threw up all over the decking so I looked after him. After dropping everyone off at DJL @ about 8 Dave & I took him home then went back. I felt sober, so was bought a beer, 2 jaegermeister shots and a bloody mary. Went swimming for a bit, then apparently had a half hour unresponsive nap on the table before throwing upon Alex's shoes then walking home at about 11pm.
Came in at 10 (which was the worst thing ever) to start my rescue diver theory but basically ended up dying a bit inside so lay down eating crisps until we went out for our skills dive. Rescuing is really hard work and the current was quite strong at Japanese Gardens so it was nightmare getting victims to the boat. I was so dehydrated I kept getting cramp! In the evening we went to Choppers for dinner (half price Thai Food) then Virginia and I went upstairs and fell asleep watching a movie.
In again at 10 to do more theory then went out in the afternoon for a fun dive at Red Rock then did our rescue scenarios. When bascially the DMT's just went missing or were panicked at the surface, or had drowned or had a jelly fish sting.It was such hard work, and really put you under pressure to remember all the skills we'd learnt the day before. So rewarding though! And exhausting.
Went to simple life for dinner, right on the beach, gorgeous sunset. Then went to choppers again and fell asleep for a few hours before heading home.
Did my test today so am fully qualified as a rescue diver, and am going home to sleep now so I feel better to go out tonight.

Awesome :) xxxxx

And the days continue...

Today I'm in a really good mood, and have been for ages.
Obviously.
Since I certified AOW I've been on about 5 fun dives which have been varying degrees of hysterical fun.
Virginia and I have been buddy-ing up loads, and we went snorkelling and I free dove down to about 5m to try and get Luke's attention and he completely ignored me when I was an arm's reach away.
Did a couple of swim-throughs (like underwater tunnels I guess... natural), and on one the air got trapped on the surface of the rock above and looked like mercury. And we saw a sea snake which was really cool. Oh, and Virginia and I perfected our parrot fish impressions. They are brilliant.
Then I did another dive where the visibility was just awful and we got lost and had to swim for AGES on the surface but saw some yellow-tail barracuda which was awesome.
Then there was a dive at Japanese Gardens which is pretty much the easiest dive site ever and me Virginia and Kim just got lost and started swimming East when we should have been going South and surfaced ages away from the boat. But Kim was pretty sure she was narced (nitrogen narcossis = when your blood has too much nitrogen in it and you generally act like your drunk or stoned) at 10m (practically impossible) and was admiring her amazing tan. Virginia and I were pretty much laughing the whole time, doing gammy hand waves at each other and more parrot fish impressions.
Went out last night with 2 new guys and Nell and got drunk in this amazing little rastafarian bar, then I got me and the boys lost and we ended up walking through knee-high grass and climbing under barbed wire fences then made noodles and passed out when I got home.
Tonight we're all going up to sunset view to watch the sunset and tomorrow I'm starting my rescue diver which is supposed to be lots of fun so I can't wait.
Am chilling out the rest of the day before heading to the DJL bar for a free BBQ because loads of people finished their PADI instructor training today so it's a massive last today.

Basically I'm loving it loads. My current friends are becoming better friends and everything is chilled.
And I'm still earning beers with massages and have found new ways to have my back sorted - there's a couple of medical students here and they just fix your vertebrae for you!

Anyway, I'm having to call my bank and then orange because my bag got stolen with my phone in it (gay), then I have a date with the twins to sit, do nothing, and eat.
Before you ask - yes, Koh Tao is a little bit like what heaven is.

Much love, hope everyone is happy and healthy. Keep in touch!
xxx

Advanced Diver: Certified

Well Hi there everyone that bothers to read this.
Today is Saturday and it's an absolute scorcher here on Sairee beach.
Thursday evening I hung out at the dive shop with Nell then head with Brad, Chris, Brendan and Lee to this amazing thai restaurant about 10min moped ride away. After we'd been there we went to this little rasta bar with amazing music and just a great and chilled out atmosphere. Being the day after full moon the island still hadn't filled up yet and the whole island fels so different. Much nicer - well different. Both are good.
Yesterday I woke up at 9 and watched the departed with Nicole. Both of us weren't feeling our best and I made her honey and lemon & she did some inhalation because she had a chesty cough. So nice just to chill out with a really good film.
Had lunch at home then down to the shopand sat with Luke and went through the boredom of filling out 5 knowledge reviews for our dives. It was absolutely boiling outside and Amelie finished her DMT reviews before me and jumped in the pool then continued to bed me to come in. Then she got out just as I finished my reviews. The pool felt amazing after a whole afternoon of book work. After a good swim, chat and chill out I power walked home, got changed, then loads of us went over to Brad's to watch some South Park and have a beer or two. Then we walked down to Choppers (basically exactly the same as Walkabout - even sells snakebite - but has 2 massive screens upstairs showing films too) and had dinner. Half price Thai food and 2 for 1 on daquiries - you can't really go wrong can you lol.
Loads of the boys decided it would be a great idea to get tattoos so they got those done (don't worry I didn't get one). Got to Lotus bar about 11 when it was still dead so went to the DJL bar, and ended up jumping in the pool fully clothes drinking vodka red bulls (oh yead the red bull isn't fizzy out here - weird). Went to Lotus at about half 1 when it was buzzing but I was getting bitten so walked home after getting some pad thai (fried noodles) and as a result was followed by dogs.
OH yeah basically on the night of the full moon animals definately go crazy because me and Nicole were walking home and we walked past this house (the was on Wednesday night) and about 6 poodle puppies come hurtling out of this house and start chasing us up the road barking and I absoultely shat myself and jumped out of my skin. got goosebumps and everything I was that scared and actually started barking back at the dogs to try to scare them off which didn't work particularly well. But yeah, looked like a bit of a tit which is always good.
SO yeah today was up nice and early and head down to the show - bought the mandatory hangover croissant from Cafe Corner. There was only me asa student diving, with Vince, Virginia, Jocelyn and Wahiet (sp?) DMT-ing and Paulo instructor. We head out to the boat and dived on this funny sounding pinnacle but it was really really nice. Finally did my deep dive - my equalising was spot on and we opened a few eggs at 26m down and the pressure is so great that it keeps the yolk together so much that you can bat it about between you and it stays intact. To an extent lol.
Went to do another dive with a swim over to White Rock but I just couldn't equalise my right ear., Paulo says I have a phsycho block about free descents which I think is true because as soon as me and him went over to the line I equalised fine and me and him ended up on a half house 19m dive on our own just pootling around the pinnacle again. Saw a blue spooted ray and got really close to the coral which pushed my buoyancy control which'll be really usefull for when I get down there with a camera.
This afternoon I've been marking my knowledge reviews but we've breaks so the boys can watch the rugby match so I'm just chilling out in this nice little bar at the end of my road where I got chatting to my waiter. He's studying MA Engineering at University in Bangkok and taught me how to write my name in Thai. I'm definately goign to write postcards today. I'm just not doing the whole touristy thing really and shopping for things like that. Today I bought a box of yellow tea - you see what I mean? Toilet paper is more important than postcards lol.
Tonight I'm plannign on chilling out and maybe having Virginia over for egg and soldiers, some South Park and chill out because she's diving tomorrow mornign assisting an open water, and hopefully I can find someone to fun dive with too just to get my numbers up.
WIll be starting my rescue diver in about 2 weeks give or take which will be awesome also.
It's such a lush day... goign to shut down and read a bit before heading back to finish my knowledge reviews and get signed off as an advanced diver! wahoo :)
Much love xxxx

Advanced Diver

Ok... So today is Thursday.
Wednesday... fuck my memory is so bad! Um, lemme think today.. OK got it. Yesterday I had a horrific hangover/still drunk moment in the morning because we had a spontaneous massive piss up went swimming in the sea drank dirty alcohol... Standard procedure.
In the afternoon I had 2 dives working on peak buoyancy and navigation which went fine. Saw 2 moray eels, little box fish, some massive trigger fish. Good times.
Then came back to the dive shop with enough time to get some dinner then head out again for a night dive which was absolutely amazing. The sunset was stunning, and the moon was gorgeous and big and orange when it rose fringed with red clouds. Breath-taking.
We waited until it was dark enough, kitted up, did out buddy checks then jumped in. The descent was quick - we were only goign to about 12m. Down at the bottom it's like a completely different world. I dived White Rock again today and I couldn't say that it was the same site. The world only seems to exist where your torch light shines. Anything past that is nothing - complete darkness. We saw loads of barracuda which was amazing. Also, we could cover our torches, wave our arms about like a crazy person and see all the phospherous shining around us like 'angel dust' as Paul calls it.
After coming back I was absolutely shattered, had a couple of beers at the dive bar, watched a bit of a film with Arj and Chris then couldn't keep my eyes open any more and ended up going home @ about half 10!
Slept the whole night through and went for mornign dives. Annoyingly, despite my cold clearing up loads I just couldn't equalise for my deel dive and Chumphon which pissed me off magnificantly. I couldn't even get past the 5m mark and had to come back up again and reside on the boat with some pineapple. Managed to clead my ear enough to do my multi-level dive @ White Rock which was wicked. Saw massive grouper, tiny tiny clown fish, and big trigger fish again. After the second dive my ear was caning so bad, the pain just tired me out. Once we got back to the dive shop we had our de-briefing then I went and had some lunch with Amelie. Luckily she understood that I could do nothing but just lie with my head on the table lol.
Have just spent the afternoon lounging around in bed listening to some Bob Sinclar and the Imagination Land episode of South Park, and am just chilling in a bar in the village with my laptop (they have wi-fi) before heading to the dive shop to do my dive log (fin times).
Tonight I'm doing bugger all. Am supposed to be diving tomorrow mornign so I can actually do my deep dive but I don't think my ear will be ok by then so might have to leave it til the next day which is annoying because I'll be a day behind on getting signed off as an advanced open water diver, but what can you do. I'm not going to risk going out and turning a day's worth of damage into a week's because I force an equalise and bruise my ear drum.

Talking about amazing stories though (not that my ear is amazing), my instructor Paul learnt to dive, well, comes from Zimbabwe, and is a trained tech diver which means he can dive to depths of up to 150m, which he has done in this cave which is about 25m in diameter, and is freshwater and limestone purified. This means that at 150m down, you can see all the way to the top of the cave and up the the trees above. How amazign is that? He planned that dive over two months and had a team of 20 people helping him and his buddy by organising and working out oxygen and nitrogen mixes for the different tanks they had dropped off at different depths for them to change onto. Absolutely amazing.

Well, I'll see if I can get another tall tale out of the guys at the bar tonight. That's all from me for a coupld of days.
Ciao Ciao xxx

Fun Diving

Today was ace as it gets at the moment. First two fun dives as a fully qualified Open Water PADI Diver :)
Up and at the dive shop again this morning by 7:15 with my housemate Amelie, got some beakfast, put our kit together then head out to the boat. Went out to Chumporn pinnacle this morning first which was an 18m dive, then after went to Twins, which was 16m at it's deepest. Saw loads of bat fish, a massive trigger fish, a little box fish, and a family of clown fish. Generally thousands of little fish about that I had constant urges to go surging into (Dad you know what I'm like when I snorkel!) but obviously had to stick close to my buddy. Who was Paulo today, which was good because my equalising is still off and he's always checking on me.
Still have that on the boat feeling. Nice.
So yesterday we did two morning dives with a few skills to complete our open water, then chilled out loads in the afternoon after a really nice shower, then came back to the dive shop to fill out forms for our open water cards. Then we watched the DVD or our dive that Aidy had made with Oceans (the company). I've bought it so you can see what I was like before I was a Rescue Diver Dad! I'll be at that level by the time you arrive... Am starting my advanced open water tomorrow afternoon with two afternoon dives, working on peak buoyancy then navigation. Then a night dive. Then two morning dives and Chumporn and Twins again to do deep and multi-level. That's five dives done in two days = sorted! Might even start my rescue on Friday although it's recommended that I have at least 20 fun dives under my belt, and at the moment I only have 2. So...
Tonight is free paella at the dive shop, which will be amazing hopefully. Last night I went up to sunset view which had an amazing view of the bay, absolutley pituresque.
Much love to all xxx

Day 4

The only reason I know it's day 4 is because I knew I wrote the last post 2 days ago. Serious lack of time and day awareness here.
SO, what's been cracking?
Well, today is Sunday, and I last spoke Friday afternoon.
Friday evening we had another heavy one down at lotus bar which was ace. It was a lot warmer, and even though I've only been here a little bit I'm starting to feel like i fit in more and more each day... become part of the crew i guess. It pissed it down with rain in the evening which was NOT COOL and had to just accept the fact I was going to bed drenched.
Saturday morning I woke up at 9, which was about exactly the same time I was supposed to be at the dive shop to do some theory, so I pegged it down and was one of the first there... People working on Thai-time I guess. Did more theory and quizzes which were hard but slowly got to grips with it. Had to learn the whole maths of planning dives and the levels of nitrogen in your blood and other boring but really important things.
After that we got in the water again and did skills. My instructor Paul said I was really confident in the water - so I have you DAD to thank for that. I told him so as well. He's such a good instructor, GIRLS (Lisa & Carrie) you should learn your open water when you come out, it's such an amazing feeling, a million times better than snorkelling! My other instructor Paulo... well basically I got pretty drunk with him on the first night, and I think for the reason I can't look at him without giggling in the water which isn't ideal because water floods into my mask. I've managed to pin it down to the fact that he looks like the abominable snowman from Monster's Inc. Once there are pictures up you'll know what I'm talking about. And will agree.
So yeah, did my skills really well apparently. In the evening We had a free BBQ at the dive bar which was delish and a few beers, then down lotus for a can of coke because I was at the dive shop at 8:30 this morning.
Finished my skills which was all fine then had our test, which I got 90% in (wahoo), so was well chuffed. Dashed off to get some pad thai then left the dive shop at about 1 and drove accross to the other side of the island (the roads here are a joke). The view was absolutely magnificent. Those of you who have been here and have gone to the East coast will know what I'm talking about, but it's so pituresque it's unreal. The thing dreams (and postcards) are made of.
So did two open water dives today!! My equalising is a bit off at the moment because I've got a bit of a cold but still managed to go down to 12m and do all my skills fine. Paulo told me that I'm one of the students I don't have to worry about which is good because there are a couple of guys that really struggle. Also, I've got really good breath control I think, because on a 30min 12m dive I went from 200bar to 120, and Scott went from 220 to 70bar! (Dad you'll probably know what I'm talking about).
Didn's see anything amazing, the visibility wasn't great because of a sandy bottom but still...
bacjk to the dive shop for a BBQ, free shots and gave a couple of massages (I'm too tactile when I've been drinking). They've proved really popular, so that's be sorted for beers from now on!!
Am going to dash off now and head to bed (it's 10pm here and I've gotta be back at the dive shop @ 7am!)
Much love to all xx

Day 2 in Koh Tao

Soo... met everyone i'm going to be spending most of my time with yesterday
the DMT (dive master trainers) and instructors are all really cool, and the guy I'm doing the videographer work with is sound as a pound
went out with everyone last night for dinner and a piss up was awesome way of breaking the ice and just losened everyone up to chat to them about where they've been, what they're doing afterwards... etc etc. get some pretty amazing stories
one guy was supervising on an underwater film of great white sharks, and on exiting the cage, the boat got hit by a rogue wave and he fell off & got trapped between the cage and the boat. a barnacle cut through his wetsuit and cut his arm pretty deep and he broke a rib... with a great white encircling the boat... mental!
started the theory of the open water course today, which was about 3 hours of watching a really cheesy DVD, reading the dive manual and filling in all the quizzes
we've got another 3 hours of that tomorrow morning finishing the last 3 chapters of the dive manual and learning a little about planning our dives, followed by our first confined dive in the pool tomorrow afternoon
tonight is a big social with all the instructors and DMT's going bowling all night for 150 Thai Bhat (just over 2 pounds = bargain!) and tomorrow is AD (videographer) and Kim (DMT)'s birthday's so a pretty heavy one on Saturday, followed by free BBQ Sunday (helps the pocket. a lot)
my room is well nice and i have a kitchen so i can whip up some noodles of my own (thanks for the chopsticks Lisa - I've used them already), and a double bed so anyone can come stay :)
I'm going to hunt down some pad Thai (Thai noodles with chicken usually) now before heading out again... probs write another night in a few days when I've actually done some open dives (12-15m)
until then, hope everyone is happy and healthy at home
much love xxx

Leaving the UK

Ok kids, so unless you're an idiot like me and are still awake, by the time you browse this note I'll have left the country.
Please keep in contact, I'll have the internet.
I'll miss you all loads and loads.
Few mentions I guess...
Sica our night out
Matt chillin watching endless south park
Ruth your hangovers
Fred our late night chats
Tex our chats
Nick for doing everything for nothing
Hannah for being you
Rach for the squidges
Sam for the past three weeks
Charley for being the person I can call about anything and everything
Emma for getting pissed with
Jack for parties
Louise for dropping her phone in the sink, and for the 12 year friendship

So yeh..

BYE!
xxx