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Got up at 6:00 along with all the dogs etc. German Peter was not around so didn't get a chance to say Good buy to him. Mary and the Thai with curly hair were though, so said my goodbyes to them and asked Mary to pass on my regards to German Peter.

The Pickup turned up with Austrian Peter & friend already occupying the front seats. They had spent the rest of the first night with some of the Local Ladies and then ended up in a nice hotel with a/c that cost 450B a night. I didn't mine staying in the GH, I wouldn't have met German Peter or Mary and seen some of the real Thailand. Also as I was only starting my trip and didn't know how my budget was going to go, was glad it was cheap. 450B a night would have put me over budget. As long as the place I sleep is clean and safe, I don't mind too much and can put up with no A/C or dogs/traffic waking me up at 6:00. They on the other hand had just staid in the hotel and got drunk and had seen more of the Ladies…

On the way to the jetty we picked up a few other people, mostly Europeans. It was all very organised when we got to the Jetty. While I waited with Peter & friend to board the boat a very mangy dog came up to me and I petted it. It was so skinny that I wished I had some food to give it but I didn't. It was a very good-natured dog and loved just getting the attention. The mange on its coat was awful and I felt quite sad for it but it was happy in its self. Needed to wash my hand afterwards though, they were covered in dog grease. I don't think it had a bath, ever!


See how calm the river is, now!

I was glad to see that the Express Boat was a lot bigger then the night one. It was more like a proper day-tripper. It must have seated over 150 people and there was only about 100 of us aboard, so it was easy to find a seat and after I put my rucksack on one I then went outside to join Peter & friend to watch the boat cast off. The journey over to Koh Toa should take only three hours, a lot quicker then the night boat. I was starting to like the idea of this trip. The river water is still and the sun is strong even through the early morning mist. Peter starts chatting up an attractive fellow German speaking young woman with a sarong that shows off her long tanned legs. I wonder what he's up to! Most of the other passengers are Weston and judging by the amount of rucksacks, their fellow travellers.

The journey down the river to the open sea was great. The river was still and as we sailed past fishing boats we could see people doing their morning ablutions, washing clothes, mending nets and the 101 other things people do. Some people on the boat waved to the fishermen and they waved back but after about 15 minutes that got a bit boring and the people on the boat stopped.


A boat like the Night Crossing one

Diesel powered "long tail" boats zoomed by carrying various cargos, mostly to do with fishing. It was a glorious day, and as the sun got ever higher the cooling breeze from the sea counter balanced the heat perfectly. The sun reflected off the still river, so it was almost like having two suns shining. I started to notice just how red my arms were getting and tried to stay out of the direct sun. The mist that just covered the tops of the steep hills became lower as we got closer to the sea until at the river mouth it had reached the ground and limited visibility. The sun was still strong even through this haze.

As we headed in to the sea, we passed the village with the statue of the Sea Goddess that me and Peter has been to the day before. I made a little Wai to her; it couldn't hurt, could it? I had a great sense of adventure build up in me and I felt like I was really living!

As we entered the gulf of Thailand for proper, the waves started to become noticeable and one girl close to me pushed her way to the side of the boat before losing her breakfast. I thought to my self "some people have no sea legs", I am almost never seasick myself. As we continued out to sea it did get rougher and rougher. A couple of times the boat Crashed down and you could hear a cracking sound, which I found quite disconcerting. I decided to go inside to look for life jackets and found that there weren't any. Outside there were no lifeboats only a few Life Rings. If the boat did sink we would be in big trouble. Glad I didn't go on the Night Boat as 6 hours on that boat in this kind of sea, at night, would have been very BAD. I might have even felt sick! It was worth paying the extra 200B for this trip.

We loose sight of the coast and its steep hills, only seeing the occasional fishing boat. Down inside the boat they are showing a Video but its in Thai so I don't stay to watch it.

I go on deck and head up front and meet a couple that have just been hit by a wave. They are soaked but joke about it to me. I try looking for the Island but can`t see much as the sea haze is quite thick here. I manage to miss any big waves while up at the bow but do get a little wet from all the spray, so go back to the aft where Peter is now talking to three German girls who are young enough to be his granddaughters. His friend doesn't say much and just letches at them. I don't blame him, they are quite pretty.

Another girl makes a dash for the rail and throws up, closely followed by about four other people. It's almost like the first one triggered off the others. I try to stay up wind away from any fall out or smell. I haven't felt bad at all, but might, if I smell it. Funny how different people react to a rough sea?

Suddenly a cry goes up from the front on the boat and we start to slow down. Out of the haze I can make out the silhouette of Koh Toa. It's a tropical island paradise! Think what you expect a tropic island to be and times it by ten. Palm trees, little huts, and golden/white sandy beaches. Only thing that spoils it is the tall mobile telephone mast, sticking up at the foot of the hill behind the town.


Koh Toa

The boat pulls up to the pier and we disembark Peter & Co. are picked up by a representative of the dive school that they are going with but its not my one and I ask where "Easydive" is. I get directed to walk along the beach.

The big blue and yellow sign easy to spot and once I go inside I get signed in by a good-looking Japanese girl. They didn't have any problem with my late arrival and said they get it all the time. It's a standing problem what with being on an island. I will start the course today at 11.15 and be in the water by 14.30! It's only just before 11:00 now! After registering I`m given a PADI book and my accommodation coupon and told to walk along a sandy road until the end and I`ll find my hotel. I also need to get four passport photos of myself for the paperwork to join PADI.

I put my rucksack behind a desk so its safe, the Japanese girl says she will keep an eye on it and shows me the classroom. There are only two people in there, Mike the instructor and Bjorn the other student. They are about to break for a coffee when I join them. Bjorn is from Denmark and speaks good English. After coffee we watch a video about some basics of diving and are given a test straight after by Mike. I do quite well except for some of the first questions that were covered in a video shown earlier that morning, then its lunchtime. I ask Mike if it's OK to eat before diving and he says yes, so Bjorn and I find a roadside food stall and have a bit of lunch together. We talk about stuff and I find I quite like him and am quite glad he will be my "buddy". When your life depends on it, you need to trust him.

After lunch Mike collects us and gets us to book out our diving gear; wetsuit, BCD, weight belt, mask, snorkel, flippers & tank. They lend you all the stuff you needed. We load the stuff onto a Pickup and head out of town up towards the centre of the island. At the "cross roads" we head left and make our way down to the beach. Its idyllic white sand, sun & sea, grand! We put on all the gear except the fins, as Mike said it would be hard enough to walk down to the sea with all the other stuff on, with out them on, as well. We both checked each other's equipment at the same time. The tank is very heavy considering it only contains air. We then walk down to the sea carrying our flippers. Mike was right! Once we are in the water, Mike told us to put the flippers on. That was good fun trying to manoeuvre with all that weight! Still we both did it in the end, and without falling over or any help from Mike.

We did some basic stuff like breathing underwater, control of flotation using the BCD and clearing our masks under water. My mask kept leaking and I had to swap it with Mikes one, in the end. At the end of the lesson we had a bit of a free dive in the shallow water. I saw a sea cucumber and lots of fish. They weren't scared of us at all. It was fantastic fun and we hadn't even been in water deeper then we could stand up in! This is why I had come to Thailand! Getting out of the water was fun. Boy, do you feel heavy once your out. The walk up the beach to the hut was hard work. We clambered out of the diving stuff and loaded it back on the pickup. Back at the Easydive office, we washed the gear and Mike said class was over for today and to meet back here for Nine tomorrow.

I collected my rucksack and went along the sandy track of a road to my hotel. The road had lots of diving schools and general stores where you can get everything from an ice cream to a combined boat/train ticket to Bangkok. I stop off at "Jackie's" to get my passport photo taken. Expecting to find a booth like in the UK but no, this is Thailand and they have a special instamatic camera that takes four pictures at once.

The "hotel" looked very posh but I wasn't going to stay in the main house but was shown to a wooden hut. The manager said that I was only to have this hut for tonight; tomorrow I was going to have to move to another one and share. I didn't mind. It has two single beds, mozzy netting, 24hour electric from a diesel generator I can hear in the distance and a shower room with a sit down Weston toilet and out side it has a hammock on the porch. I was very impressed. I had a shower and read the PADI book until dark and started to think about dinner.


The Hut where I slept

I ate in the hotel. The restaurant was an open deck down on the beach with a grass roof. As there ware only three people in and four tables overlooking the sea, I sat at one of them. All had a candle on it, very romantic. I wished, not for the first time, that I had someone to share this experience with and my mind did slip back to my time with Barbara… The waiter lit a mozzy coil and placed it under my table when he came to take my order. There did seem to be a lot of them about, mozzies that is. I had Fish curry that consisted of a Fish on a bed of rice with curry source pored on top and then a pancake to finish off. The two Malibu and cokes made the meal better then it really was and for 430B was a bit expensive. Decided not to eat there again.

After diner I walked along the beach. It is very dark in the shadows and my sisters Christmas present, a torch, comes in very handy. I climb over some boulders and lay down on the soft sand under the stars. They were as bright as I can ever remember. I see Taurus directly above me; this is my lucky sign and a planet, I think its Jupiter. Its warm and if I needed to spend the night on the beach, it wouldn't be too much of a hardship. Watch the fishing boats out on, the now calm, water. Figures doesn't it, just 12 hours after I make my bumpy crossing the sea is now as flat as a millpond. They have booms with lights on to attract the fish. Just as I was starting to get really comfortable, the mozzies find me. After widely waving my arms about, that had no effect on their determined attack, I decided to go back to the hut and take cover in its mozzy netting.

Read the chapters I was told to in the PADI diving book and get to sleep before 22:00. It has been a long day.
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