We arrived in Koh Tao after taking the night train from Bangkok (which arrived in at 3:00am) and catching the high speed catamaran over from Chumphon. When we eventually arrived at our hostel, a few of us were pretty tired and hungry. The last thing any of us wanted was an incredibly enthusiastic diving instructor pushing courses on us. Everyone ended up agreeing to something. Sarah did her discovery dive, Tom did a refresher of his Open Water certification while the other three agreed to take the plunge and do the Open Water course from scratch.

The rest of the time on Koh Tao was spent primarily underwater for the majority. Everyone completed everything they set out to do at the start. It was really a week of diving.

While on his first dive, Tom managed to get ill-fitting fins which created some sores on his feet. Unperturbed, he carried on diving and eventually opened these sores up to a stage where he was having trouble walking. Needless to say, he thought the best solution would be to bathe them in salt water so prescribed himself lots of swimming in the sea.

It turned out the sea was actually quite polluted.

As a result, he managed to get his foot infected and after a trip to the clinic on the island, he had to have his foot hacked apart by a Thai nurse (while Sarah watched and laughed) who put the worlds biggest bandage on it and then gave him a course of antibiotics. He was advised to keep his foot dry and clean. This meant not being able to go on the beaches that the Thai islands are famous for. Brilliant.

The highlight of the week was Sarah's birthday which we celebrated in fine style. A cake was ordered and various friends (the boys, Ramon and Daniella as well as Eleanor and John from home) hit the beach bars for a night of good food, good wine and cocktails. Sarah was showered with gifts from everyone and spoilt rotten. A good time was had by all.

After all this was done, the diving finished, the courses completed and the feet bandaged, we packed up our things and got ready to head to the party island of Koh Phangan.