Someone did the rain dance

---

Well, it's Friday morning just before noon. It hasn't stopped raining since I got here. The good news is that for the first time in my 39 years, I actually won at Solitare....it was almost magical....but not. Yesterday I decided to take a refresher course in Scuba diving...in the rain. With a little chapter review and working the time tables, we went into the water on the west side of the island. Despite the rain the visibility was still really good. I had trouble equilizing the pressure in my ears before and unfortunately still have the same problem so I couldn't go deeper than about 15 feet. We still swam around for an hour looking at the fish. That was fun. The only productive thing I did yesterday was count the number of steps to my cabana...584 steps....it's a long way. I also met a couple of other guests who spoke English so we sat around the bar last night for a couple of beers and talked about the RAIN.
This morning I had breakfast and decided to see if I could hike to the opposite end of the Island where the harbor is....I found a foot path at the end of the beach and just started hiking. Up hills, down hills, ducking for low branches, near death fright meeting with a Rotwiler (thank budda for that chain), over a steep limestone hill, then a quarter mile of rock slippery rock along the beachline.....ALL IN THE RAIN....but I made it in just under 2 hours. Tonsai Bay is a very small little tourist village with a bunch of bars, restaurants, inn's, shops, internet cafes (like the one I'm sitting in now). This little town lost over 2,000 people to the tsunami and the damage can still be seen in certain areas....downed trees mainly. There's lot's of rebuilding going on. I'll catch the 3:30 boat back to the resort for 80 Baht and see about dinner and more solitare. If the weather permits, I'll be snorkling off a reef between Mosquito and Bamboo Islands. It's too wet to pull out the camera so I'll try to add pictures later. Tomorrow is my last day on this trip before heading back to that big spinning grindstone we all put our nose against.

---