Last night was brilliant!   It was sheer chaos at Nathans, everybody  trying to get hair, make up and costumes on, beers being passed around and photo’s being taken.  The time just flew by and before we knew it, Nath has a call to say ‘where are you guys’, with that we all hopped on the bikes and headed to ‘Vibe’ bar to gather, pick up a couple of props and then marched down the beach full pelt to the festival.

When we arrived, our music intro had already started so we rushed on stage on stage and took our positions.  Such a wave of excitement as the lights came on and we did our routine.  Due to a tree in the middle of the stage, we changed the routine slightly but I think last night was the best performance of all 😀

The aftershow celebrations began, cheering, hugging, congratulating each other, we’d done it, all that preparation had paid off.  After a late and very drunken evening we went home. Video coming soon….!

Today is Simons Birthday.  We both woke up feeling a bit worse for wear  …I got up make tea and a egg sandwich and gave Si his cards & prezzies to open whilst giving him various renditions of Happy Birthday!

As we were not diving today the day was ours to do as we wanted, so we stayed in bed for another hour or so watching tv.

Afternoon approached so we decided to venture out to the festival to grab some food.  We had our minds set on Mexican as the taco’s on one of the stalls looked really good.  I got a chicken and Si a vegetable one.  Whilst pottering around, we bumped into Alan & Heidi so sat with them for a bit and tried to eat our taco’s without too much mess.
Half an hour or so in the sun was enough and feeling dehydrated and tired, we snuck off home to lay down and watch a movie.

Around 7pm we were feeling more alive and headed to Dirty Nelly’s to watch a friend’s Open Water Video, stopping at Nathans on the way to collect a birthday cake for Si, disguised in a black bin liner.   It was so hard trying to keep it secret, especially when your mode of transport is a bike with Si riding it :-D)  Anyway, even though I think he knew, I shot into Dirty Nelly’s kitchen with Tina, placed the candles on it and then felt really guilty that it was videographer Dans Birthday too, so got the chef to cut some carrot up and added his name. Then after the video, got both Si and Dan to cover their eyes and I brought in the cake whilst we all sang Happy Birthday   …Argh!  I think Si (they) liked it!

So Birthday cake cut and eaten, we headed to the festival to catch Big Blue Dive School perform ‘Thriller’ on stage.  As we parked, we could here the  Thriller music, so ran to the stage to catch the last of it.  They looked pretty good but were they as good as us the night before  …who knows?!

The rest of the Crystal crew were about watching Mr & Mrs Koh Tao (people up on stage with home made recycled costumes) so we gathered and started drinking.  Poor Si was being bought drink after drink, shot after shot.  Im not surprised we staggered home…

Jen

Woke pretty early and cooked breakfast whilst Simon put the finishing touches on the graphics for tonights performance of the Crystal Horror Show.

Around 2pm we ventured down to the Festival to see what was happening and to meet up with some friends.  The entrance itself was pretty impressive, a huge straw tunnel decorated inside with white strips of material hanging with fish made from recycled plastic bottles painted with neon. Around the festival, giant sea creatures hung from trees & ropes, food stalls lined one side while other areas were set aside for pictures & information boothes as to how people can help, what they’ve already done to preserve the island & it’s reefs.

The main stage was finally finished. A reggae band were rehearsing and  I felt pretty excited that we were going to be up there later performing  OMG!!

A couple of hours later we headed home to relax before the show as we were all meeting at Nathans to get ready and obviously have a few beers for dutch courage.

The morning was spent at home, I collected washing and tidied up whilst Si did some work.

Around midday we hopped on the bike and headed to Crystal as today there was a ‘Dive Clean Up’.

Today’s clean up was just off Maehead beach.  As there were 20 or so of us, Nathan was going  make 2 trip in the longtail.   The drop off point was ‘Junk yard’ the artificial reef that Simon & I  helped create.  Once there, divers would drop in and then head straight back to Crystal, collecting any rubbish on their way.

After setting up Nathan briefed us all and then we split into small groups making sure that the less experienced were paired with instructors.  All equipped with mesh bags, scissosr for cutting nets tangled in the coral and compasses, we were ready to go.  

Simon & I had been put with two newly qualified divers.  Once in the water we descended we were on the hunt for rubbish.  I was astonished, 30 or so minutes into the dive and all we had was a plastic back.  By this time we were probably only 50 meters from Crystal and it was getting very shallow, so Simon put up his safety sausage (SMB) just in case any longtails decided to drive straight over us.
I was pleased but dissappointed by the lack of rubbish we found  ..it wasnt until the last 15 meters or so that I found a bucket, fishing line, sack and some plastic  ..so that was pretty satisfying.

Once everyone had made it back, we sorted our finds into different baskets washed our kit and then packed it away.   We all then gathered for a couple of photo’s, holding the ‘ Dive Site Clean Up’ banner.

Back at home, we had a couple of hours to relax and then at 6.30, had to meet Rocky Horror Crystal team down at the stage where the festival is being held for a quick rehearsal.    What we hadn’t expected is a bloody great big tree in the middle of the stage ..why on earth they’ve set up the stage around a tree, God knows.  Anyway, we had limited time so we just about managed to go through our routine making a few adjustment due to the tree.  After only 10 or so minutes we were told to clear the stage so all decided to go back to the Koh Tao Regal and practice some more.
I just hope everything will be ready when we arrive tomorrow night to perform…..