Certified Open Water Diver!!

Yes, I have fulfilled yet another item on my list of things to do -- Diving!! Obtained my license after 4 days of diving course (full load). It was really GREAT!! and fun!

Flew off to Phuket with 2 frens of mine to start our diving course! Marco was our instructor..really nice and furnie guy, made our whole diving trip reali interesting.

That's us with our instructor Marco from Holland

That's me with the diving equipments, very heavy

First 2 days was theory and pool sessions (boring theory classes, Ok pool sessions) to firm up our skills and technicals..skills like de-masking (remove water from ur mask), equalising ear pressure, maintaining bouyancy etc...sounds like alot but actually they are quite easy to master and learn. The main highlight of the whole course is the open water dive which started on day 3 and day 4.

Look at the visibility, can u believe that this is actually 6m deep!!

We went to Rachai bay for our 4 dives. Great water and visibility. Corals, fishes, sea urchins, eels...we saw ALOT!! Yes, and we got a real dark tan (and the stupid wet suit tanline which cuts our legs into 2 shades) but i got rid of that after 2 days of sun...

The dive was great! but the descend was tough for me..equalising the pressure took a long time but eventually i did it..though my nose bled a little cos of the pressure...but it was worth it! we saw lionfish, angelfish, triggerfish, eels, small prawns and all sorts of fishes..

so our day activities were diving, diving and more diving..night activities?? SHOPPING!!

I have said before that bangkok is evil..now i repeat myself - Thailand is evil!! We just shopped all the nights away! Biggest haul - Bikinis! They are nice and cheap in thailand so we just grab and paid for them..clothes as well..we should have gone there without bringing any clothes and still would have enough to last the whole of 5 days.

We went Patong beach one of the nights, and the place was CRAZY!!! So damn crowded with people (tourists and thais) and lady-boys...the bars were crazy and noisy, with those people dancing on the table tops like nobody's business.

Another big spender is on FOOD. Yes seafood! We have big tiger prawns, crabs and tom yum soup! yum yum..i ate so much during the trip (more than i do in Singapore). got to start my dieting regime now..

After 4 days of diving, we got our license! Yeah, which means we can go diving anywhere now!! And our dear Daixing had to leave us after 4 days, while tingmei and I go on a day trip to Phi Phi Island for the sun, sand and snorkelling.

decided to take a pic of this lady cos she's a super poser! all those furnie poses she did

Maya island, Phi Phi island and Khai island. The best and most beautiful was Maya Island where 'The Beach' was filmed. Uninhabited island and great view and rock formations. Great place!! Tingmei and I did some furnie pictures..where we tried to jump while capturing the shot.

it took 4 tries to get this right

The highlight is SHARKS! Yes, we saw sharks at Khai Island. Big and small sharks, but of cos not the size of the Great White but big enough. So now i can finally say "I saw Sharks!!"

And yes, it was our last day and night at Phuket so we had a better feast - crabs! And it was Home Sweet Home after.