Simon’s students had a late start, 10am and I decided to go down to Crystal with him, hang around and go on the boat in the afternoon.  As Si was doing a quick course with Liran, they were doing 3 short dives.

On the boat it was blistering hot and while Si was on dive 4, I decided to go for a snorkel to cool down.  I borrowed a spare mask & fins and jumped in the water. Today, we’d been at ‘Twins’ and now we were at ‘Japanese Gardens’.  Probably around 5 minutes into my snorkel I spotted an Eagle ray and then another.  I must have snorkelling along side them for at least 10 minutes and then they disappeared.  Five minutes later I spotted another, just on it’s own this time.  I was looking for divers underneath me so I could point it out, but sods law, noone was around.  It glided around me for ages until finally something must have scared it and zoomed off into the distance.  Eagle rays are such graceful creatures and I hope they stay around for when I can get in the water with my camera.

After everyone was back on board, we headed back to land, dive kits washed & put away, we gathered at the bar and chatted.   Si’s Open Video wasnt on until 9pm, so we went to ‘Safety Stop’ for a Sunday roast.  Si grabbed a spicy tofu burger.

After wolfing down the food and dashing back to Crystal, Si wanted to go home to bed as he was very tired.. The moment his head hit the pillow, he was out… Meanwhile, I watched an episode of 24.

Si left just before 9am and I fell fast asleep till about 10am.  It’s not much fun not diving and having very little to do, so I read through the Open Water knowledge reveiws/answers and then compiled all the confined/open water skills onto a spreadsheet from both courses that I have assisted on. Just to compare how they differ and how I can maximize the order to save time in the future when teaching.

Around midday I received a call from Jace at ‘Deep Down’ who needed the port for Si’s handicam.  I was sure it was already down there but he insisted it wasn’t and said he’d pop down in 10mins or so.  In the meantime, I searched everywhere, the port was nowhere to be seen, Si must have it still in his bag.  I did try calling and texting him but as he was assisting with confined water it was unlikely he’d even hear his phone.

As Jace had difficulty in finding our house, I stood out on the road waiting for him with a cuppa tea in one hand and my phone in the other.   Finally he arrived and parked up.  I told him I couldnt find the port but he asked if he could borrow Si’s Z1 as they had no HD camera’s to work from.  I carefully packed Si’s pride & joy in a towel and carefully put it into Jace’s rucksack and told him to look after it as if it were a baby else he’d have to answer to Si 😉   After a quick cuppa, he headed off.

Later, after washing up, I headed into Sairee for a late breakfast of Museli, fruit and yoghurt and then headed to the clinic to get my ears checked as one is still blocked and Im sick of hearing myself talk and eat.   The nurse took a look in both ears and said that they’re both super inflamed and gave me some ear drops to use 3-4 times a day.  I’ll just have to wait and see as to whether this helps.

After the clinic I treated myself (Si suggestion) to a foot massage (reflexology)   Boy was it good, I could have spent the whole day in there. Then to my surprise,  once she’d finished, she massaged my neck and shoulders for 10 mins or so which was sheer bliss 😀   I’ll certainly be going back there again.   It amazes me that in the UK you’d pay at least £45+ for an hours massage and here it averages around £6 and is far superior.

After my treat I walked home, stopping on the way for water.  Si should be back in the next hour, so I think I might watch some TV to pass the time.

I have been watching the news regarding Bangkok, and thought I might give you a general round up of the situation.

There are 2 main groups… The Red Shirts and Yellow Shirts.

Red shirts consist of mainly poor people, Yellow being the middle and upper class.

The red shirts are not happy with the current government and are protesting against it. This is now being met with increased force to contain, and reading BBC reports this morning of at least 18 dead and 800 hurt, it seems to be getting to a explosive peak.

The yellow shirts are the opposite, their protests in 2006, and 2008 brought a new coalition goverment to power, and to date they are happy.

There seems to be no real solution to this problem in Thailand because you have 2 completely opposite point of views…. I hope that they managed to come to some agreement peacefully…

I have no opinion of the situation, as I am a guest in the country and cannot understand fully the position of both sides..

SD