The Thrill of my very own Groomer Fish!

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Diving in Ko Tao is quite fun and worth it if you have the time on the island.

Ko Tao actually has some of the cheapest diving in the world with an open water and accommodation setting you back between 8,500 to 9,000 baht or AUD 283 to 300 for 3 nights accommodation and all hire and equipment.

After a delicious dinner in a super nice swanky restaurant by the beach with Jimmy and his friend Leonardo, all their talk of diving and how great it was here decided to make me go for it.

I decided to take the plunge with Big Blue and bargained down the 2 fun dives (for those with advanced or open water licenses already) to 1,600 baht or AUD 53.

We divided the Chumphon Pinnacles and Twin Rocks. Both sites were pretty sweet with a mix of giant groppers (really cool the biggest I've seen thus far with over a meter in length), triggerfish, moray eels, durban dancing shrimp, beaked coral fish, harlequin sweet lips.

And I finally experienced the thrill of having my very own groomer fish.

I always watched in envy when I snorkeled in tropical waters and witnessed smaller fish floating around and grooming the bigger fish.

Well it finally happened after 26 long years a fish spotted me, there was no innuendo, no flirting, it simply happened and I was no longer a groomer fish virgin.

Its actually not as pain free at it sounds and there teeth are small but strong, like an ox.

Following the diving and a yummy lunch, Steffi and Gierrmo, whom I'd met whilst diving were joined by Bjorn and Sebastiaan for drinks by the beach. Me and Steffi met some Thai guys who soon enough had us chewing this weird nut wrapped in leaf. It made me feel like I was chewing tobacco as every time we had some of the liquid build up in our mouths we had to spit it out on the ground.

Day turned to dusk and a beautiful sunset once again in Chalok Bay, with a faint hint of lightening in the distance.

The final night in Ko Tao was spent partying till 6 in the morning with Sebastiaan and Bjorn. Although the Lotus bar was not the happening place to be and further I did not have the good fortune of meeting and locking lips with a lady boy,the night turned out to be a success.

The grand finally was hitching a ride home on the back of a scooter whilst Bjorn and Sebastiaan sat in the cage attached to the bike, to have the guy loose control park way through and ride the bike into a ditch. And to top it off I finally managed to see my share of butterflies on the island as the sun came up. The following day was spent trying to recover and sleeping in the beach and planning the final logistics with Bjorn about potentially riding the tandem bike with him for a day to Bangkok.

I had a practice on the bicycle, met Moliko the monkey and the captain of a local taxi long tail boat. We had Moliko practice sitting on the back of the bicycle, and then I brought him some rambutans and a banana for his efforts.

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