PADI course at Phayam divers and being picked up by the liveaboard ship

The guys at the bungalows weren't flexible when we told then that we were checking out this morning. First of all they would not give us a refund and they also refused the option to come back for the remaining two nights after our liveaboard. It's usually not a problem in Thailand but they just laughed at us. Needless to say we're going to stay another place when we come back from the live aboard.

Mikkel went to his PADI course and spent most of the morning inside watching videos, doing quizzes and talking to the dive instructor. We met up for lunch around noon and then tried to book a new place to stay for the last couple of days in Thailand when we return from the live aboard. It turned out to be difficult - as usual. The concept of "future" doesn't always exist on these small islands and the place we asked at apparently ran their booking schedule out of the head of the women running the place - all 30 or so bungalows. It took us some time but in the end we left with a note saying that they would have a bungalow for us once back from diving later this week.

Malene spent the afternoon on the beach while Mikkel was doing his exercises underwater going through the standard stuff of the PADI course, basic buoyancy, air, clean mask and so on. Matt from the dive centre was an excellent instructor and we were done after 1½ hours, swimming back to the beach and then dropping our gear at the dive centre.

And then it was time off the rest of the afternoon and evening before heading out on the liveaboard ship - once again repacking our day packs and big back packs. After dinner we met at the dive shop, dropped our big bags there and waited with the group of some 12 other divers and instructors. Small crew and group this time and no day trippers to join us once we leave the island. It is going to be great.

Continuing with the laid back attitude our 8:30 PM departure turned out to be a 10 PM departure, where we were picked up from the beach in the dingy and taken to the boat in the bay. A short welcome and information about the boat, we got a nice cabin in the front of the boat - away from the engine room - and gathered at the main deck in the rear. Then there was to usual Thai fireworks to celebrate our voyage and good luck. And we started to move. First dive scheduled for 7 AM tomorrow morning. Must get some sleep.

Early morning on the beach

Healthy breakfast and splendid view

PADI course - the boring part

Our little bungalow

Heading for new accomodation

That's us

Ready to go

PADI exam day - and more relaxing

Frederik and Malene left early this morning for their big "PADI exam"-day. More exercises before and during their dives this time down 18 meters depth. Matilde went out on her own for a dive a the Blowing rock dive site a bit off the coast. Berit went for morning yoga before joining Mikkel for good breakfast at the Tranquilo cafe. And then it was just a matter of relaxing on our last whole day on the island.

Matilde came back for lunch and told about another great dive. Malene and Frederik came back from their first dive of the day where they were so lucky to see hammerhead sharks. Well with bad visibility it was a bit difficult to see it was hammerheads but the instructor was not in doubt. The dive spot is quite famous for the hammerheads but they haven't been seen for two years so he didn't expect to see them but we said "of course we'll see them" and when they did show up our instructor was quite ecstatic and danced under the water. A few minutes after they returned to the island no one on the island was unaware of us seeing the hammerheads.

After lunch Malene and Frederik did their fourth and last dive of their course. They hoped to see dolphins but no luck with this. Instead the instructor was about to swim into a huge stingray who was hiding in the sand. He quickly swam upwards and Malene who was following right after thought he had seen something interesting in the distance but discovered the stingray and swam to the side and up. Frederik was sure of what was happening and since it all happened within seconds and swam above the stingray but stopped and was about to step on it. The instructor saw this, grabbed Frederik and swam a bit upwards. During this Frederik lost his regulator but not for long. Well a bit of a surprise and unexpected extra exercises and adrenalin rush before going up the the surface. Probably a good lesson, also be aware and alert even though everything is calm under water.
After the dive they did their final written quiz and they were certified divers.

Later the rest met up with Frederik and Malene now celebrating their PADI Open Water Diver certification. For dinner we headed back to the Turned Turtle for great dinner.

Those early morning sunrises - 5:47 AM

Fresh delivery of bananas

Somebody's ready for the PADI exam

Healthy breakfast before the dive

Lunch and dive theory

Afternoon drinks

Two newly certified PADI divers drinking a glass of bubbles

Everybody dive - and more relaxing on the beach

Today was the big dive day. Malene and Frederik were both out for the PADI course doing exercises and diving, Matilde and Berit were going on their dives with another boat and Mikkel - well, he stayed on shore doing some reading on the beach, letting the others play with the fishes in the water.

We met for late lunch, Matilde and Berit returning from their dive with lots of stories about beautiful rays, sharks and dolphins. It was kind of an echo when Frederik and Malene joined a bit later since their dives had also been great. The morning was spent close to shore doing lots of practical exercises before heading out for the real dives. They learned about emptying the mask if water comes in, how to share air with the spare regulator if a buddy runs out of air, how to use the extra regulator themselves and how to keep buoyancy in water. For their first dive they had been close to our snorkelling spot from yesterday and the nurse sharks and eagle rays showed up again. During the dives there were more exercises now on 8 meters depth instead of 1 meter and close to shore.

And there was an update from Michael that he had made it out of the country and was on his way home.

Later in the afternoon we all met up and hung out for a while. Matilde and Berit left for their evening dive once the sun had set and the rest of us just hung out with Malene and Frederik entertaining with their diving experiences.

The evening dive turned out to be great and once Berit and Matilde returned they had plenty of stories about seeing sharks, octopus, squid and other night action on the reef. We had local dinner which in our case was more USD 10 dishes with lobster.

Early morning for the dog

Ready for dive

A couple of highly concentrated divers

Lazy morning breakfast

Ready for the seven seas

Diving exercises in the water

Returning from the first dive

Eating locally - lobster and seafood