Today we headed out on the dive boat to what is supposedly the best diving in Vietnam. The voyage to the dive site wasn't very long and I was practically salivating at the prospect of warm water, good visibility and lots of marine life. However, once we descended and swam across sand for 11 minutes, seeing nothing but the fellow divers beside us, all my hopes and dreams disappeared in the silty sea floor. We did eventually hit a reef and managed to see lots of small reef fish. After finishing the dive, I refused to be pessimistic, but my normal optimistic outlook on life was waning.

We moved to a diifferent dive site for the second dive, under the pretense of it offering us better conditions. It most certainly did not. We got caught in a strong current, got bashed about between rocks and didn't really see much. Emma got stung by an anemone after being swept into a rock and I, ever the gentleman, kept holding her hand to make sure we weren't swept away from each other. My last thread of optimism had gone, but I kept my feelings to myself. Emma was more vocal in her disappointment and after telling Larry her feelings, one person jumped overboard to avoid the silent tension.

We had some food and the likeable character that Larry is had us convinced that the night dive would be unforgettable. It could have been his persuasive tones or maybe we'd become delirious from spending too long in the sun, but like fools we believed him. And thank Neptune we did. We saw sharks, flying gurnards, pufferfish, rays and a fantastically coloured moray eel. But the best thing about the dive was that Emma finally did a night dive that she enjoyed. Perhaps now I'll get her in the water at Brixham Breakwater at midnight.