Finding Nemo

After getting 4 hours sleep the previous night I was intent on getting a decent nights sleep in. However, I became waylaid after finding a bar with a second rate Elvis impersonator in. I finally got in at 1am knowing that I had to be up at 6.30 to depart for my scuba diving. Paul and Beck got in at 3am and proceeded to have a long drunken discussion about Thai girls. Anyone that knows me knows its not a good idea to disturb me from my slumber - I have a tendency to become irritable. There are 3 beds in our room and I have the middle one. I had them in stereo till 4am and eventually managed to sleep in spite of their particularly boring repetitive rantings.

This morning I was intent on leaving Phuket for Ko Lanta and actually enjoying a decent nights sleep. However, as the day went on I my anger mellowed and I've decided to give the boys another chance. In fact we all have to get up at 7.30 am tomorrow. I have formulated a devious scheme to get an early night and spoil theirs. I plan to get up at 3am - and have a very loud bath and shower - then put the TV on. I'm not sure yet whether I will enact my evil plan. I consider it Karmic redress for Paul and Becks inconsideration. However, after speaking to several locals about the nature of the universe they tell me that Karma should sort it out for me and that vengeance is an evil act in itself (that and I don't want to piss off Jan). Its all very zen.

We departed from the hotel this morning to catch the boat to the dive site. A combination of cost and lack of experience had reduced our party of 16 to only 3 divers, myself, Garry and Dave. The skies were clear and diving conditions looked good. However, the ride out there did seem particularly choppy and sea sickness tablets were distributed to the would be divers. The journey took 3 hours and I managed to read a significant chunk of Russel Brands 'My Booky Wook' - a compelling read and a man who I can relate to - odd that I always thought he was a bit of a knob. Anyway, I digress. We arrived at a small island off of the coast of Phi Phi Leh (The smaller uninhabited island of the two Phi Phi's). Two towers of what looked like limestone rose vertically from the sea to 30 metres above us. I'm not sure why but a lot of these islands look like this and actually seem to be a little smaller at the bottom than at the top - giving them that distinctive mushroom shape I'm sure you've seen in the James Bond movie - The man with the golden gun.

We put on our equipment and ran through basic safety before departing to the boat. On our first dive I was plagued by problems that didn't become apparent until i had descended to around 12 metres and the current had took me some distance from the boat. Every 5th breath I was having to clear my goggles of salt water and my flippers were so tight they gave me cramp.

Despite these problems I had a great time. I got close enough to touch a leopard shark, Saw several large clams and some spectacular coral. I was hesitant on taking my camera (An Olympus 790sw) down this far as it says on the tin it is only suitable to depths of 3 metres. I suspected that it could in fact go much further than that and they were choosing a very conservative depth as the maximum. I further reasoned that it would not implode but the buttons would just end up constantly depressed rendering the camera unusable. As it turns out the camera was fine. The screen discoloured whilst at the deepest parts giving the viewfinder a kind of maroon tint to all the photos. However, when I returned to the surface the camera returned to normal. One problem I found was that the directional pad did become completely depressed and that made changing the cameras mode impossible - it was now simply a point and click device which suited me. Dave also brought his underwater camera as did our instructor - Gareth from Liverpool.

After 40 minutes diving we surfaced and returned to the boat for a traditional Thai lunch. It was much appreciated. As we ate the boat maneuvered itself to the second dive location and I replaced my size 11 flippers for size 12 ones - I must be growing. I was also lent a new pair of goggles.

Having resolved these niggling problems I enjoyed a much better dive. We saw another leopard shark and a large turtle larger than my torso!

I slept the whole way back - making up some lost ground. and on departing the boat went straight to a bar. Does life get better than this?