The one that got away.

After a day of rest and snorkeling at Patong beach I was planning on going to scuba diving today. However, due to some confusion regarding whether our group had PADI qualifications it was postponed till tomorrow. Not to worry, I thought and booked up a day of deep sea fishing.

I awoke at 7am to make it to the boat - a particularly difficult task due to the fact Id drank several beers the night before and despite leaving the pub early, I was re awoken by Paul and Beck as they returned after a night out on Thai whiskey. They woke me up to tell me how drunk they were. "That's nice, now go to sleep" I said. "No Garry. you don't understand how drunk we are!" they replied. "I do, now go to bed". We went around in this cycle for around 2 hours until they eventually collapsed of exhaustion. As I left the room this morning I turned the climate control to 35 degrees in vengeance.

Dave, Ollie and myself got into our tuk tuk and drove around to collect people from other hotels who were going to be our fishing partners. Patrick and Fiona - a Scandinavian couple and also avid Villa fans (Ollie had found a new friend). Our other fishing companion was Natasha a Russian doctor.

The boat made its way out of the harbour and Phuket started to get smaller. We passed at least 20 mountainous islands as we made our way to Ko Raya. Most where uninhabited with a few sparsely populated ones. First we started trolling. This involves going as fast as you can and dragging your bait along the water on the surface of the water. We instantly snagged 4 fish. They were kind of small but at least our mission had been infinitely better than our last fishing adventure in Cuba. Then as we got further out - the fishing seemed to die down. Our fisherman boat driver was smoking what he described as a 'bob Marley' cigarette as we watched Ko Phi Phi go by on the left. I was a little concerned by this but was sure he knew what he was doing.

We arrived at Ko Raya. The sea was a brilliant turquoise and teeming with coral fish. We abandoned fishing for an hour and took the time to snorkel around constantly being harassed by curious fish. I noticed that most of the species were identical to those of the Caribbean. Strange that considering they are on different sides of the planet.

After that was done we decided to go bottom fishing. This involves stopping the fish in deep waters and dropping a weighted line covered in hooks and squid entrails into the water. There was much talk of prizes for most fish, largest fish etc .... I partnered up with Natasha and we started fishing.

Two hours later, having caught no fish, we returned back to Phuket a little disappointed - but excited by the prospect of a cold beer after 6 hours on a boat with only coke and water to drink and the sun beating down on us. We trolled back and alas the fish were once again conspicuous by their absence.

Natasha took lots of pictures of me and talked to me the whole time we were on the trip ( I think she likes me). I have agreed to meet her tonight at 11 at the Banana bar. I can't have a late one though as its a 7am start tomorrow once again for the scuba.

My plans tonight also include meeting an old school friend Neal. Who is here training as a Muay Thai boxer. I wonder what it will be like seeing him after all these years.

Time to get ready now as I smell of squid entrails.