Today is Thai New year and everyone gets wet!! I think it’s just an excuse for a massive water fight myself.  Fortunately here on Koh Tao it only lasts for one day where as other places it could last several days

This morning Chris, Fiona and the girls arrived down at Crystal around 10.30.  It was pretty quiet to start with.  Entree’s from the Wild Challenge (obstacle course in the jungle which is run every month) were coming in to complete the last obstacles on the beach which consisted of an electric fence crawl through, a cargo net that they had to clamber underneath and then a wall they had to run and climb over and then into the sea.  The Wild Challenge only started this year, so it’s slowly picking up momentum and this month I think there were around 30 entree’s

Watching people as they came in red faced and panting was great.  They all got a good spray with water pistols, Iona took delight  in this and was a very good shot which increased the entertainment as people scrambled through the electric fence obstacle.

Pictures to come

That evening as most restaurants were closing early we decided to dine at Haad Tien with the family.  I can’t believe where the time has gone. Two weeks has shot by.

Saying goodbye the next morning at the Seatran pier was emotional but it’s brilliant that Chris, Fiona and the girls would come back to see us again ;-D

Snorkeling trip today!!!   We hired the Crystal fishing boat to go out diving/snorkeling around the island.  This time our route took us to ‘Tanote Bay’ which was Chloes choice as she’d not snorkeled around it the other day.  While we all went off snorkeling, Simon set up all our dive equipment and then when got back was practicing his free diving.  He managed to get down to over 11mtrs ..I was impressed.  Free diving is something I don’t really find appealing to be honest as I’m not that good at holding my breath.  On our way to our 2nd location, Aow Leuk, we had lunch. I’d bought some tuna & egg rolls and Fi had bought some tasty water melon and banana’s.

Iona and I went for a little dive.  She used my alternate air source. She did brilliantly.  We went down to around meter and we saw multiple fish, starfish and sea cucumbers .  The only time we came up was when Iona signaled to say she had a sore mouth from my mouthpiece as it was too large.  Once back at the boat, both Chloe and Iona went for a little surface bubble with me in the middle using my snorkel and we ventured all the way into shore and back again.

While this was all happening, Simon and Chris went for a dive and Fiona followed myself and the girls around.

Our last stop was Three Rocks. Simon, Chirs and I all went for a dive while the girls and snorkeled and jumped in from the boat.  We planned it so we’d be out of the water by sunset  ..but due to heavy cloud cover, there wasnt much of a sunset.

Going out on the boat for the day was just lovely.  It’s really relaxing and picking when & where you want to go is just bliss.

Back at Crystal, salty and damp, we sat and had a few beers and then headed to ‘Pranee’s’ for food.  Being out on the boat for most of the day is pretty exhausting, I don’t know how the girls kept awake.

A slow start to the day for me.  I got up around 9.30am,  made a cup of tea for Simon and I and then sat and watched 3 episodes of EastEnders (sad I know)  Simon, as usual  had been up for a few hours working away on various projects.

Today, we were all going to just chill and relax.  I ventured over to Haad Tien around 1pm and joined the girls in the pool, playing various games and seeing how many widths we could swim underwater.  The pool was pretty full compared to last week, a lot more families and children.  A little annoying seeing that we didn’t have the whole pool to ourselves 😀

Later in the afternoon Chris hired a canoe which he, Chloe and Iona took out while Fiona and I snorkeled behind.  We did managed to see a few black tip shark which was brilliant but I really wanted to find Terry the Turtle.