A few days spent in Pattaya now and the initial culture shock has gone. It really is something to see all round and the food is great even for a vegetarian!

The plan had been to go down to Koh Kood for a couple of days but the dive shop i was hoping to use is closed until October due to heavy rains. This probably means both Koh Kood and Koh Chang are fairly inaccessible and, even if I could get out, there would be no point going in the water. I was half expecting this. So a quick call to the Mermaid Dive Centre here in Pattaya and I was picked up at 8 this morning at the top of the road for a days diving at some nearby islands.

It was a really good dive trip, very different to the Great Barrier Reef but well worth it. There were quite a lot of fish around although I didn’t ID many. I did spot my first Moray Eel and there was a lovely Blue Spotted String Ray sheltering under some coral. Phil tells me they taste quite nice but I was happy to just stop a while and watch.

The most amazing thing was the current on the second dive as I have not dived in current before. It was rising 40 which to me felt quite strong. But hey, just go with the flow as seems to be the way here in Thailand.

Hopefully tomorrow I will be doing a couple of wreck dives. Can’t wait.