Diving and more diving

After a few days of living without my backpack and buying emergency stuff and wearing whatever I had on me in every way possible, my backpack finally arrived 5 days later with everything in it. So as promised in my last blog entry, I won't write so much and add some pictures instead.

Two and a half week into my trip to Thailand I have spent most of my time on the M/V ScubaCat moored in Racha Yai island approximately 1,5 hours away from Phuket by boat. I have since my arrival logged 40 dives, completed my advanced Open Water course, Emergency First Response & Care for Children courses and the rescue course. As part of my advanced course we went down to a speedboat wreck where cleaner shrimps give you a manicure and we did several night dives. Overall the diving is brilliant and the outfit I'm diving with (Scuba Cat) is great with cool people and a very professional but relaxed approach.

Of all the courses, the rescue course was probably the most exciting. First day was class room session to cover the theory, and a pool session to practice certain rescue techniques. The next two days were aboard the M/V ScubaCat where there were a total of eight rescue scenarios which could happen at any time during a 24 hour period aboard the boat. These happened whilst I had lunch, or during dives, or at 6.30am whilst still in bed - basically anytime. The beauty of the course was the close resemblance to real life scenarios-great acting and I had no idea when something was about to happen. They didn't try and make it easy for me which sometimes sucked during the rescue, but is obviously good now for experience.

I'll continue diving heaps over the next weeks during my divemaster course which I most likely will start within the next two weeks.

Some of the things we see in Racha Yai include Giant Morey Eels, clouded morey eels, Lion fish, Scorpion fishes, Turtles, stingrays, barracuda, Stone Fish, Seahorse, Indian Ocean Walkman, Parrot fish, Bat fish and many more I don't know the name of yet :) I'll see if I can get some pictures of some of the more uncommon species we see.

I haven't done much other than diving yet, but will go to a few places when I won't be able to dive. Hired a scooter for a day to have a look at all the surrounding beaches on Phuket Island to see if Patong Beach was the best place to stay. Went to Thailand's biggest Buddha on top of a mountain which on the outside is completely made of granite. Quite impressive.
Met a Norwegian bloke who was touring around the island also. We drove around together and ended up both getting a fine in Chalong for driving around without a helmet and no driving licence - we weren't the only people without helmets, but we were the only farang without helmets. Anyway, 500 Bath lighter and we were on our way again. We were lucky the police station where the fines need to be paid was just across the road (coincidence??) cos I've heard stories of people having to spend heaps of money on a taxi to the police station and back to the bike again before they could move on.

More to follow later...............

Cheers
H

ps. tried to insert pictures in the text but no idea how to do that so have added photos in another way. No idea where that is but I'm sure you'll find it

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