Woke early this morning and went for a swim.  Lengths done, we showered and changed and hopped on the bike and headed down to Crystal to hand some washing in and to knock for Ronald.  We had planned to go for a dive at Junk Yard but due to the poor condition and the fact that Ronald still had a blocked ear,  we cancelled.  Instead, after a long breakfast at Zest, I decided to go with Ronald for a massage and then go to Yoga.  Simon had volunteered to go with Nathan and help out with another Reef Check.
Our massage was fabulous and after a slow walk to Sairee we stopped for a juice and then went to Yoga which was unfortunately so full that we couldnt squeeze in, so Ronald and I took a leisurely stroll around Sairee, did a bit of shopping and stopped off at a couple of beach bars to rehydrate ;-D     It was about 5.30pm by the time we got back to Crystal, just a Simon was washing his kit …apparently I  hadnt missed anything as the viz was pants

After 7pm dance rehearsals, we met up at the bar and headed to Farango’s for a tasty pizza and then headed home.  Oh, on paying Si couldnt find his wallet, which was very worrying.

Chris,

MANY HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY!!!!    ..have a magical day!

& Happy St Paddys day to everyone else 😀

Last night we had our Open Water Movie.  It was brilliant.  Jace (videographer) had done a superb job.

Our students were all in an celebratory mood and before long had started challenging the other newly qualified students to participate in drinking games which I managed to avoid but Simon participated in one ;-D   ….not a good idea with an empty stomach.  After an early escape and a quick stop at 7Eleven to pick up some water, we headed home and crashed out.
From what we’ve heard, our students got extremely drunk, and just about got home in the early hours. I dont envy them on their rocky boat journey today  ..3metre waves in places with a hangover!!!

Well, the plan for today was to go for a fun dive at Junk Yard but as the wind and rain had not stopped all night, we abandoned that idea and spent most of the day in a coffee shop, drinking coffee funnily enough, mailing and watching movies  …Si’s been doing something most unpleasant, superimposing peoples heads on bodybuilders, ready for our Village People medley at the Koh Tao Festival   .

Our Open Water Course went really well.  It was great to be back teaching again.  I did feel a bit rusty after a few months out of the water, only to be expected I suppose.We started out with a very large group of 17 but then the next day, the group was split into 3.  I ended up taking 5 students, two Canadian & English and a friend from Motorola who was German.  Simon decided to assist me as he had a slight ear ache and didn’t want to chance starting the course and then not being able to finish,  otherwise he would have taken a group of 6.  Better to be safe than sorry ;-DYesterday, with academics, the final exam, confined water skills and swim test complete we took the plunge into the sea.  The visibility wasn’t great, 6 or so metres and there seemed to be divers everywhere but the students did brilliantly. We even had a couple of close encounters with a couple of Titan Trigger fish but everyone kept their cool.   They all got to grip with their buoyancy pretty quickly and we had a great couple of 40minute dives at ‘Twins’Today we were up at 6am and down at Crystal by 6.30 in order to get the good BCD’s and dive bags as the ones we used the previously were all pretty tatty.Todays dive sites were ‘White Rock’ and ‘Japanese Gardens’  …..thankfully the visibility was better, thought still not brilliant, maybe 10-12metres.  With only a couple of underwater skills to do, which the students sailed through.  We had a great dive, spotting, barracuda, a moray eel, butterfly, banner fish, a nudi branch to name but a few.  Everyone came up with smiles, so Simon and I were happy.Having completed log books, paperwork and completed their temporary certification cards, Simon and I picked up a sandwich, went back to our room to eat and then spent the next couple of hours playing around in the pool.Tonight, we’re going down to Crystal to watch our Open Water movie and celebrating with our students.It will be uploaded as soon as Simon gets the video… so look out for it soon… it should have some nice comedy moments.!
x
J