Today we were in the classroom doing part of our MSDT’s (Master Scuba Diver Trainer).   We didn’t start till 9am and finished at 4.30pm so not a bad day really.  I used to hate the academics, presentation side of things but it’s slowly growing on me.  As we only had a class of three, it was really relaxed and a real laugh at times.   Toby who’s doing it with us is from Sweden is a really nice chap, was so funny during his presentations, for every ‘contact story’ (basically a non diving story relating which you can relate back to diving  ..eg: Narcosis  …is like being drunk underwater) he used hiking everytime  ..which became very funny  ..you really had to be there.
I remember last year standing up to do my first presentation infront of several people and hating it  ..I suppose everything become pretty easy when you know what you’re talking about ;-D

As we had more presentations to prepare we went straight home.   After an hour or so, we headed out to ‘Hippo’s’ restaurant as they were doing ‘specials’ before 8pm.  A juicy steak and glass of wine for 190baht and 2 beers for the price of 1.  I had a juicy tenderloin cooked medium rare while Simon had a veggie burger and a couple of beers before heading down to ‘Choppers’ to watch England v Germany.

Choppers (Aussie sports bar) was packed.  We headed upstairs where most of the Crystal crew had gathered.  The atmosphere was great, the big screen was up and trying to get to the bar and a place to sit to watch the match was a nightmare but we finally got some drinks and wedged ourselves in at the front on the floor just in front of the big screen. There were a few Germans in the bar, Carsten (Crystal Instructor) was geared up with his German flag over his shoulders, whistle around his neck ..he looked like a young kid, full of excitement and just beaming from ear to ear.   Anyone walking in that we recognised, everyone gave a big ‘wwwwwhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy!!’  it was so funny ;-D  I did feel for the Germans being out numbered and everyone chanting England football songs.  A lot of emotions were flying around during the game and  I just wish we’d taken a video clip on our phone to show you guys.

After a 4-1 win to Germany, we shot home to bed

We helped out on the dive site clean up today.  Crystal’s smallest boat went out with around 20 of us on and we split into three groups, the first got dropped at ‘Green Rock’ and the second and third, which Si and I were in, got dropped off at ‘Twins’ armed with baskets to collect rubbish and scissors to cut any nets or lines that may have been dropped.
On the first half of the dive we didn’t find a thing then as we went shallower, we came across some fishing line, rope and a few nets.  I was taking photo’s so didn’t find a great deal but got some good shots of everyone else.

Coming to the end of our dive, which should have been 60 minutes, we found a really small pinnacle around 5 meters, wrapped in fishing net which we began to untangle but it proved very difficult as the scissors we had were useless. 

Doing stuff like this you become absorbed and before I knew it, I was down to 50 bar (low on air) and we’d done a 100 minute dive, so signalled to the others to leave what they were doing and ascend.
What I hadn’t noticed as I was so engrosed with detangling was that Si and Carsten had already gone. Carsten had run out of air and had to use Si’s alternate air source.

On the surface we had a pretty long surface swim back to the boat and then the boat headed off in the opposite direction to pick up some of the other group.  I think we had to wait 10 or so minutes before they came back to pick us up.

Back at the pier, we unloaded all the rubbish.  As we were late back, most of the rubbish collected by the other dive schools had already been sorted and the volunteers sorting through it (which isnt a pleasant job) said they had everything in hand, so we walked back to Crystal to wash and pack our dive kit away.

In the evening we met Matt, manager of Crystal to see if he could have a word with his contacts about Si’s missing bike but on the way, we rode past Morava, where Si’s bike had been stolen and there it was!   We couldn’t believe our eyes ..what a turn up for the books. 3 days have passed since the theft… That brightened our day no end.

Well, it’s been a pretty busy day. This morning Si popped to the police station to see if there was any news on the his bike.  They were really helpful and said ‘No’  ..so he’s going to pop back in a couple of days to see if there’s any progress. 

After breakfast and a cuppa we packed up all our belongings, ready to move to our new place.  I called Alan & Heidi to see if they, their jeep was free and luckily for us, they popped down half an hour later.  Bags loaded, I hoped in the jeep with Heidi and Si and Alan led the way on their bikes.  We’re so grateful to them, it would have been a nightmare transporting everything on the back of the bike.

Cases unpacked and everything in it’s place we sat out on the balcony to reflect 🙂   Argh, it’s so nice to have a sea view again.  We really missed that.

With nothing in the cupboards, we went to the supermarket and did a big shop.  It’s a good job they deliver otherwise we would have had made several journeys. Delivery here, is a bike with a side car.
I think as we got a decent kitchen, we’ll hopefully do a lot more cooking at home.   I bet Simons longing for beans on toast ;-D

After packing the shopping away we popped out yet again, to the butchers this time.  Si bought some tofu. spices and beans and I treated myself to some sausages.  Si then dropped me off and headed back to our old place as we’d left some stuff in the fridge.

I cant wait for this evening, just chilling on our comfy sofa and watching a movie…