As I mentioned before the weather on Koh Tao has been horrendous.  It’s been near enough non stop rain, thunder and lightening and for me, I’ve not had to go out as I took the weekend off but feeling a little penned in, I took a chance on Sunday afternoon where there was a break in the weather and wend for a cycle up to the resevoir.  The new road that they’ve just completed was looking a bit worse for wear, already cracks, drainage full and mud/and slides from where they’ve been clearing the land.  

With the weather being so terrible, the majority of the ferries had been cancelled which meant that rather than catching the 6am ferry we could only leave the island on the 9.30am which meant that we’d miss our flights from Surrathani to Kuala Lumpa ;-(  In the end,  Simon scrambled around and booked alternate flights from Samui.

The journey across to Samui was rough but not too bad.  I think the 2 seasickness tablets that we took helped.  I was sat next to a little boy who puked all the way.  Not the nicest of things.  Off the ferry it was a quick minibus ride to the airport.  Samui was just as wet and flooded as Koh Tao.  Arriving at the airport we were eager to get checked in and chill but it was chaos.  Some domestic flights had been cancelled due to the weather, by the looks of things most international flights were still going out but trying to get information was a nightmare.  We took refuge and went to the Irish bar for a drink 😀   Flights slightly delayed we made it safe and sound to KL just in time for the last leg of our journey to Penang where we were met and taken to our lovely colonial accommodation.

I don’t really know where the time has gone, it just flies by.

What’s been happening?  Well, no real big changes, I’ve been doing ECO with the DMT’s (some pics below) and Si’s been flat out, as per usual, managing the bar, making beer pong tables, sorting out people computers, working on websites, organizing visa runs ..and that’s just the icing on the cake 😀

Above is a picture of a giant centipede These centipedes have a fearsome reputation in Thailand.  It is said that a bite from this monster centipede is excruciatingly painful, even more so than a snake bite and the pain can last for up to 4-5 days.  Unfortunately Simon was bitten by a medium sized one that was hiding in his towel the other morning and I would say from Simon’s reaction, it’s true.

A fishing net had been dropped at ‘Shark Island and I went out with New Heaven Dive School to remove as much as we could.  The net is at 10m, 5mtrs wide and seems to go on forever  …our first task was to check the for fish, stingray, crabs etc  and set them free and thento  take up as much of the net as possible without damaging the coral.

This net is so fine and fiddly that it’s going to take a few more dives to get all of it off the reef.

Yet again another successful afternoon with the DiveMaster Trainee’s A turtle lecture, followed by measuring and feeding of the baby Hawksbill turtles.

Life is good and we’ve just got back from Samui after extending our visa’s for another 30 days.

We left Sunday morning on the Seatran and came back yesterday afternoon.  It was a lovely chilled out break from the Island. We stayed at our friends hotel for a couple of nights, did a bit of shopping, bought some decent cheese & wine and had a night out at the cinema to see Dr Strange which was lovely 😀

STORYLINE:    Dr. Strange’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) life changes after a car accident robs him of the use of his hands. When traditional medicine fails him, he looks for healing, and hope, in a mysterious enclave. He quickly learns that the enclave is at the front line of a battle against unseen dark forces bent on destroying reality. Before long, Strange is forced to choose between his life of fortune and status or leave it all behind to defend the world as the most powerful sorcerer in existence

Today I’m in the office and just catching up with emails etc.  I was supposed to be going diving but as the boat is yet again going to the same dive site over and over again, I’ve decided not to go, in protest of course 😀
Simon started his Advance Free diving Course yesterday and as soon as we were back off the boat, he headed straight to the classroom, We were supposed to catch the 8am boat but for some reason that was cancelled, a few hours late, Simon was in catch up mode  ..not the best thing when you’re trying to relax and hold your breathe.
8am start this morning for Simon and is on the afternoon boat free diving.  So I’ll not see him all afternoon and then he’ll be at the bar, managing  ..by which time I will have cycled home.
Tomorrow I’ve got a Beach and Dive site clean up  …yay!!