Dear Loved ones!

Yes...hello! It's me! Its certainly been a while, i dont know where i left off, but ill start with my movements from Leaving Thailand to Malaysia.

So, i did end up meeting with ex-Mermaid friends in Chalong. Met up with Irish Mark, Lianne, English Becky and Russ, Pia from Finland and another chap that i can not remember his name! ( i didnt know him very well at Mermaids!)

Mark and Russ i used to spend alot of time with, both hilarious and great fun. Lianne and Becky arnt divers, but work where ever their men want to go to work...so i got to know them both very well also. Pia is now an Instructor, and i know her because i tool her on her very first dive in Pattaya, not long after i past my instructor course. She's lovely, ex-army (slightly scary!!) And the other guy was several months ahead of me in Mermaids and left shorty after i arrived. It was a really good evening, we sat chatted about old times...Angus...(Mark was entertaining on that matter!) what im doing now, what they are doing, working freelance teaching on boats that go to the Similan islands. Had a lovely long chat with Lianne who i soon found out used to be the buyer and seller at Selfridges! a great little connection there! (she's a dedicated wife to leave such a high paying job so her hubby can dive for a living!!!)

All good giggles though, and i found out that several other Mermaid friends are also living down there. A particular friend i got on well with is Bob The b******. (yes thats his nickname!!) a hilarious older chap who is full of endless jokes and entertaining knowledge!! and he is meant to be arriving in Chalong end of December...exciting stuff and definately a good eve out if i can get it again.

So, a few days later (during those days nothing significant happened...i sanded....painted..lol) and we then sailed upto Yacht Haven Marina (again!) and me and Joey had to drive from Yacht Haven down to Chalong (again!!) After that we jumped back on board the boat that had sailed all the way back down to Chalong again after picking up our new booms and we finally set sail for Malaysia. The sailing rota was 3 hours on, 3 hours off. With a 6hour sleep in there somewhere for everyone. 3 of the 3 hours were sailing the boat (helmsman)and the other 3hours were being watch.

It was a pretty amazing experience. The first 9 hours though we achieved 4knots at the most with the wind lacking considerably! Finally the engines went on for several hour just so we could make progress and not arrive a week later in Lang Kawi!! By night we were picking up 9knots and its was pretty good. The most we got was Force5. This is the max wind speed, which means Fresh Breeze, moderate waves 4-8ft taking longer form, with some spray. Exciting stuff. Apparently a Force 10 is enough to scare the living shnit out of you and a Force12 is a hurricane. So im quite comfortable with Force5!!!!

When i woke for my 3am shift i certainly didnt manage to appriecate the view as much as i had 3 hours before! And as i said to Ban when he gave me my rota, i looked at it, finally looked up (as apparently i had the worst hours out of everyone for times etc) and said "Don't expect me to be happy!" And at 3am i really wasnt a ray of sunshine, i sat quitely being the watch person until 6am and then i finally had my 6hour sleep. I was the Helmsan when we finally arrived in Lang Kawi, and navigated the boat into port which was good fun. I did well according to the captain. (He was surprised so it seemed!) We stayed around in that marina for 1 day, and enjoyed a few beers that evening and a good dinner on shore. After me and the Captain Rick stayed up and chatted about diving.the process of it all and even got onto sociological matters. He has some interesting knowledge and i shared mine from my A-levels. We chatted alot about Malaysia and the Muslim religion...as throughout my whole time being here in Malaysia i cant help but be so annoyed and distrubed by the men here!

(Miss Megan Bailey!!....i hope your reading...as if you were here we definatly would had our heated debates like our old Sociology lessons days!) Yes so i wont even get started there!

The next day we sailed around to another Marina (where we have been all the time now) and its far less exciting the the other one...(the other one had a nice Yacht club with shops and a pool!! close to the mall!) but this one has boats and not alot else. hmmm...

We arrived and parked up to a SUPER yacht called Moecca. I then found out the reason we had sailed for 25hours down from Thailand to Lang Kawi. David. David Charters Raja Laut yearly. He pays for its constant running pretty much, including my wage. He doesnt own the boat, and isnt anything to do with the office. He just pays for it yearly to be at his disposal when ever he wants, however we still do charters in general, which he makes a tidy sum of money out of. David also does the same with the Super Yacht Moecca. Its a giant Catamerang and we form a part of his Elite membership society that he charges its 50 SELECTED members 1Million POUNDs a year. Hmmm....i know!

The company is called Dragon Blaze, and we are the boats, but there are also planes etc too. Fancy i know! So yes, the next day the English David and some friends were meant to be visiting. This is obviously very important as the office wanted David to charter the boat for another year. So we worked our butts off making the boat look amazing..and when he finally arrived with his chums they went on Moecca for several hours and spent 5 mins on our boat! a wasted effort it felt! We secured the new year successfully though. After they went we had the rest of the afternooon off, and me, Achmad, Aldam and Ban went to the mall for the eve.

The next day was dull, Captain hired a car and we went running around trying to find somewhere to order some parts for the new booms and the boat. I also went to get my laptop looked at again...and it was not good news!! Its basically screwed, the motherboard has a problem and i dont even know if its worth having fixed...they cant quote some prices as it will have to be sent away to be sorted and that could also take several months. Somethin i cant do due to constant moving! so not great news! But i spent the whole day driving...that was an experience! and i thought Thailand was bad!

That eve was spent having FUN...it was Aldam's birthday and we celebrated and had cake, crisps and a few drinks. Me and Ban made cocktails which went well. I have now mastered 18cocktails and am very pleased. Fav so far is Pina Colada! Mainly because of the cherry!

Next day was once again filled with tasks involving the new booms, sanding them, varishing them, sanding them, varnishing them....and so on and so on. They have now had 10coats, (and they had to be sanded after everyone!!) I was bored!

The same happened for several days, and in the evening we tried to get out and about, going to the mall, out to a bar and grill restaurant that was really good. To a bar where there were live bands, so we found entertainment in the eve. Which was good fun. I decided on one of the days to push my bossiness a bit further! and completely emptied my dive store of all the items that wernt diving related. You should see hown empty it is now!!!!!

I washed the walls, hoovered and painted the entire thing! I even cut up some old banboo flooring and it now has a carpet!! If only you could have seen what i looked like before. Im exptremely proud! and also enjoyed the fact that Achmad and Aldam constantly tried to convince me why objects for the boat and their tools needed to be put int there. ( removed their tool box which was screwed onto the wall!!) I refused them all, even though their excuse where extremely funny.

It took me two days to do that, and now i refuse anything undiving related not to be in there. Achmad likes it so much i found out he slept in there one night! I told him that hes not diving related so cant! :)

We also got a new member of staff, his name is Mahamid, commonly known as Boy. (strange name i know!)n He's the new steward and used to work in a 5star hotel, so hes excellent at cleaning and making all the beds. So now i dont have to do it. Which is nice. I hate making the beds. But the cleaning was fune...

So we finally had good news, after boredom was beginning to get the better of me ( i was jogging often to ease it!) we FINALLY have a charter! Its booked from the 27th til the 3rd Jan. Which is good, something to focus on and do.So we've spent the past few days preparing for that, ive did all the wine and alcohol inventory and made a list of everything we needed for cocktails and stock. I even wrote the drinks menu and sent it to the office. I assisted Joey in provisioning and we got all the things we needed cleaning and food wise. A few last minuete bits we need will be brought in Thailand.

So we leave today for Thailand...YAY!! Lang Kawi is a rather dull and boring place. and we will prepare for the charter there. Picking up our quests at Yacht Haven Marina on the 27th and then making sure they have the fab time that they've paid alot of money to have and of course earn tips!

I havnt seen the schedual yet, but we have 1 America, 2 German and 5 french. All around 30ish. One is a certified diver and wants to do some diving, and the other apparently may want to do try dives. Which is extremely exciting for me!

Its going to be hard week, but im looking forward to somthing other than sanding, varnishing and painting! lol. They also for some reason want to go to visit Phi Phi. So, not so long after leaving i will be there once again, they want to see Maya Bay, dive there (i certainly know the dive sites!) and go onto the island, apparently im now a tour guide! But at the most it will be one night there. At the mometn i dont know where else they want to go, New years is being spent in Patong. As the guests are all going to a hotel for the nights events apprently. So at the moment i dont know what we do.

So in general im good, had a few days where its not been so fun, quite tired and had downer days due to boredom in the lack of activities in diving. But im looking forward to the charter and hoping i enjoy it!

Im hoping to catch back up with all the Mermaids lot again when back seing as their local is so close to the pier i should get one eve seeing them all again!

Today was mostly spent organising the Alcohol.. I packed it all away...JUST! it was a tight squeeze and washed down the deck...Achmad started a water fight with me, drenched me completely and im still to get him back on the right occation! I will win! And spent the afternoon watching the new gaft booms go up, they look pretty with thier 10 layers of varnish!!!

It nealry 5.30pm and we are setting sail in the next few hours apparently. Ive got a long and sleepless 25hours of sailing ahead of me, im hopin i get better shifts this time! But im looking forward to moving.

Wishing you all a very merry Xmas, i must say it certainly doesnt feel like christmas this end, and i only get a touch of the festive season through phone calls! So have a drink on me wont you! and relax...thats what its mainly about!

Will hopefully write very soon and let you know how the sail went!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Al my love and hugs xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Love me xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx