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We flew from Chiang Mai to Bangkok last tuesday, spent a day shopping, and then took an over night bus and catameran to the island of Koh Tao. We chose this one as it's got the bext scuba diving and is really chilled.
First and formost we met up with Matt's mate Dave and his girlfriend Jade. They had been on the island for about 5 days. This made Matt especially happy, as he had been pining his long lost buddy!!
We dived with Buddha View, the islands biggest dive company. In all we spent 7 days there. We did our refresher dive on the afternoon that we got there (even though we were knackered!) and I did 5 more dives in total, Matt did 7. We also did a bit of snorkelling. It is gorgeous! The water is warm and clear and there is an abundance of life. Ready for the list.... we saw:
Clown fish, Banner fish, big Trigger fish (that attack you if you get too close), Parrot fish, a white-eyed Moray Eel, some GREY REEF SHARKS (2 meters long)!! a massive hermit crab, Giant Barracuda (!), Butterfly fish, sting ray (Matt did, I missed it!)..... and much more.
Our final diev was a night dive. We went out of the boat for sunset, while a thunderstorm flashed on the horizon (was amazing), the water was the choppiest it had been - didn't make things easy, jumped in, and decended. I was immediately confused, trying to spot things and stay with them group. There were 3 other groups down there and I did accidently join another group at one point, until I was pointed in the correct direction! Visability was poor, but on the plus side we saw stuff we wouldn't normally have seen.
Every night the dive centre put on a wicked BBQ. All the fresh catches of the day, as well as kababs, pasta dishesm currys and salad. You grab a plate, load up and pay for what you take. They cook the meat to order.
It was laid back and relaxed as promised, and a great way to finish our trip. We've now just come back to Bangkok airport on the overnight sleeper train - comfier that the bus - and are waiting to board at the airport.
Back in Frome in 18 hours if all goes to plan!!
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