100 Dives...

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Hello! It's been a while since my last post so thought I'd post a quick update on what's been happenning.

I've now done 105 dives! 60 of these have been on Koh Tao, the other 45 were in the freezing cold waters off the coast of North Wales and quite a few in Dorothia quarry in Talsarn! I'm really glad I did them dives as they've put in good stead for diving here, it's a totally different type of diving though. In Wales we used dry suits which keep you totally dry and you wear full clothing underneath (and it's still freezing cold!), but her the water is so warm that there is no need for even a wetsuit, it's honestly almost as warm as a bath in the shallow water and not even refreshing sometimes. It's lovely to dive in though. Yeh, so just as a comparison, diving to 20m in Wales seemed quite a deep dive as it was so cold and dark but here at 20m you can see the surface and it seems safe, I think this is where people sometimes have problems.

Anyway, we're well on our way now. We've almost finished our Divemaster, should be finished in the next 2 weeks then I might wait until June to do my IDC (Instructor Development Course), I could do it in May but I'd like to get some experience working as a Divemaster first if I can. Rach is going to UK in May so she might do her IDC in June or July, probably July. I've assisted on quite a few courses so far and have personally led groups of Open Water divers twice and really enjoyed it. The problem at the moment is the airport closures all over Europe, it's a problem for everyone really but I can see the difference here, people just can't get here so it's pretty quiet all of a sudden, I think there's around 11000 people stuck in Bangkok and can't get home!

Apart from the diving we have had the Thai new year which was brilliant! It's called Songkran and from when you wake in the morning until you sleep at night everyone is soaked! Every car that passes and every shop has water buckets and pistols and everyone buys water guns...it's constant all day, so much so that Rachael has an injury on her finger from shooting too much! The doc has put some dressing on it and told her not to dive for 2 days...there was no stopping her with a water pistol in her hand! If it wasn't so cold in the UK it would be a brilliant way to celebrate New Year...but it's too cold!

So what else is happenning....Man Utd beat Man City! Woohoo! 1 point behind Chelsea with 3 games to go, I think Man Utd will win it now, I can see Chelsea losing to Liverpool...I hope!

In the next few weeks quite a few people will be leaving which will be sad, that's the thing about places like this, you meet people but hardly anyone is around for that long so you're constantly meeting new people then saying goodbye, that's just the way it is. Yeh, I'll miss Rach when she goes in May, will be strange here without her for a month! Time goes fast here, the days are flying by, I can't believe I've been here for 6 weeks!

Oh yeh, almost every night we eat at a place called Tukta which is a restaurant accross the road, it's really nice an cheap. I usually have Fried chicken with garlic pepper and boiled rice, this is 50 baht (£1)! It's cheaper to eat out than in here!

My friends from home Grant and Claire were meant to be flying to Koh Samui today but flights have been cacelled which is a pity. Hopefully they will get here soon for their holiday, also so I can give Grant a golfing lesson! He often asks me for advice on how to play golf, I'm not that good but he is really rubbish! haha, hope you're reading this mate, I know you'll agree!

So the plan for today is afternoon dives for me and Rach is doing Boat Master as she can't dive. Then I think mini golf tonight!

That's it for now, hope you're all doing well. I'm really missing working in an office every day! Jayne/Teresa, I hope you're being nice to Adam! But I doubt it! Say hello to everone for me.

Next update will be........................................soon! JK

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Comments

[Rach K]

6 weeks!!!
Time is flying for sure Jon. Can't believe you've been gone 6 weeks already. All sounds amazing though. i like the sound of the local food too - not like Gambian local then!! he he.