So I've arrived safely in Thailand! Katie and I struggled awake at 3.30am, thanks to three alarms, as Katie hasn't exactly got the best track record for getting up in time for flights!! (We left for KL airport without her on the first day!) Got to Kota Bharu airport for 5am to find it totally deserted! We were starting to get worried when the staff rolled in around 45 minutes later! No hurry or anything- it's not as if we had a plane to catch or anything! I thought Dad and Mark would have had a fit having only 45 minutes [View Full Entry]

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My last week on paradise island came around far too quickly. Managed to catch up with sunbathing, we managed to follow Molly the Hawksbill Turtle during her feed, where she came up for air 4 times - and I had my camera! Many games of scrabble and misc card games, and I think we've exhausted every possible film for pictionary! (How many films have got 'world' or 'family' in?!) We also did a Fish I.D. dive yesterday, where we tried to identify different types of fish around the coral - went well until I lost our pencil - it was a [View Full Entry]

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A little joke for you all: What lies on the bottom of the sea and shakes? A nervous wreck. ANYWAY... After almost a whole day of umming and ahhing, Fran, Kate and I decided to do the Advanced Open Water course along with Sarah, Liz and Gemma. The wreck dive sounded really interesting, as did the underwater photography - and as for the night dive? We'll see about that... There is also no final exam, so less studying than the Open Water - and we convinced ourselves that we'd probably spend the money on fun dives anyway! We get on instructors [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday spent recovering after our trip to Long Beach! Set off on Sunday afternoon and found rooms to stay at Panorama hostel - complete with a big owl sat outside which we all thought was stuffed at first! Shared with Kate, Laura and Fran in a room with AIR CON! Which we were all excited about. However it only lasted as long as a nap as by the time I woke up the Air Con had conked out, ah well. We joined the others at Bobo bar for a cheeky cocktail. Ordered a Cosmopolitan (of course) which took aaaaaaages (barman trying [View Full Entry]

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On Wed night Julie and I did the late night turtle watch from 1am-5am which was a test of endurance! It was OK as we were playing Uno, but around 3am we were both falling asleep at the table - every now and again one of us would say to the other 'It's your turn'! We were a bit spooked patrolling the beach in the darkness, the beach lit up every so often by flashes of lightening from the distance. We were speed walking by the end of it! No sign of the turtles either hatching (which are due any day [View Full Entry]

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Started my PADI Open Water Course on Sunday! Our group was Gemma, Katie H, Natalie and me and we were going to be instructed by Jon. He taught us how to set up our equipment - the jacket (Buoyancy Control Device or BCD), weights, regulators or air sources, tank, mask and so on. My new nickname is Wide Face because I got the bigger mask to fit my chubby cheeks in!!! We then went into fairly shallow water to do a few basic skills. We learnt how to clear our mask (filling up our masks with water then lifting your head [View Full Entry]

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On Sat we had an introduction to our volunteer duties which was interesting. The dive resort manager, Peisee, a friendly Malaysian turtle enthusiast, told us all about how the turtles lay their eggs. It takes the mum 3 hours to get to shore and lay her eggs after digging her hole and covering it over again, plus digging a pretend hole to fool any predators (such as the big monitor lizards that we've seen sauntering around the island!). If the hole is in the open air then all the hatchlings will be female; if the hole is under cover of a [View Full Entry]

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Up no-so-bright and early on Thursday after a jetlagged, sleepless night at the Number 8 Guesthouse for our journey to Turtle Island. Good job my roomie Julie got up at the right time because my alarm didn't work for some reason! (Don't worry it works now!) Got the taxi to KL airport, where we had Burger King for breakfast (chicken royale, yum) and got on the plane for the hour-long journey to the north of Malaysia- only to get off the plane again as there had been a technical malfunction! Good job really because one of the girls, Katie, had overslept [View Full Entry]

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Hi everyone! Writing from a computer at the Number 8 Guesthouse in Kuala Lumpur and I still can't quite believe I'm here... although it's so humid and sticky I definitely can't be in England! 32 degrees! After a great 'last supper' with my school friends (thanks guys) I caught the bus from Chesterfield early on Tues, eventually managed to doze off - just as we reached Heathrow! I struggled with the big old backpack to get down the escalators - THEN realised I could have taken the lift! Lots of waiting around there, although I'm glad I took the earlier bus [View Full Entry]

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