'Big Flappy Things'

Hey hey- I've had a fabulous few days once again! Feel so, so lucky..

The boat was great. beyond great- brilliant. Birgit and I (German girl that I met on the bus) shared a teeny bunk and got rocked to sleep every night. The boat was filled with some cool people- Laars and Irish Dave especially ; ) and the crew were pretty fun too. The owner- and resident- of the boat was a complete character whom we came to be kinda fond of. And we got really lucky with our dive guide, who was so chilled out but totally made you feel at ease.

I've seen so much I can't begin to list it- the Similian's have amazing visibility and are proper tropical waters like you see on nature shows. My top three have to be seahorses- about 3 inches tall and bright yellow just rocking in the water- the octopus- who was being attached by a trigger fish and kept morphing into the coral to camouflage itself- and, the best best best thing; a manta Ray. Now, I didn't even know these existed so when Milton said we were going to find big flappy things on our last few dives, I was a touch confused. I think what we actually saw may be the most stunning thing I've ever witnessed. Manta rays are black and white and up to 6m across. They glide through the shallower depths with total elegance. We saw 5 in our first dive- one stopped about 2m away from us and just hovered. It was incredible. I think I may have cried underwater.

Anyways, a bruised eardrum (according to the guy from Wicked Diver's who just about helped us out with everything- food, transport, accomadation, ear investigations... Thank you Paul : ) Don't bother with anyone else! ) a brief coffee with Jimmy (seriously- are you stalking me??) and overnight bus journey later, I'm getting ready to pack my bags for Hong Kong. I can't wait to see some people, and even more excitingly Duncan's going to be there and Ollie too (ha- time to reap my revenge for getting me so drunk in Bangkok I feel...) so should be fun.

I have a dinner date with a Irish girl I met at the pool today and an early flight tomorrow so still don't have time to upload photos!

PS Marian - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! I hope it's a special one.. xxx