We're now safely back on dry land, and what can I say?I could say 'what a four days', but that would be an understatement. For the uninitiated the Similan's are to divers what Augusta is to golfers, and Wembley is to footballers (well, was...), except that with these crown jewels commoners like us get to 'play' on them!! After our 2 hour minibus trip north to the port of Khao Lak we departed heading out to the Similan's. The plan, explained by our superb host, Milton (who incidentally runs and owns the company too, he's been diving in Thailand for 15 years so kinda knew just a little about the sites...), was to have two days at the Similan's for exceptional reefs, lots of fish, and unusual but well maintained coral. From there we would travel north to Richelieu Rock - the best place in the world to see whale sharks (the biggest fish in the world - only eats plankton not divers though...), although this year only 2 of Milton's 36 previous trips had been paid a visit by the gentle giant. Finally we were to travel back towards mainland Thailand stopping at Koh Bon where we 'should see a Manta or two'. Again, for those not in the know Manta Rays and Whale Sharks are like the holy grail for divers. So if you want a picture in your head to see them at these sites would be like lifting the FA Cup at Wembley. Well, kind of, for divers.

The weather was a little nasty so we didn't leave port until around 9pm, arriving at the Similan's sometime around 2 in the morning. Our cabin was a little cramped (hey this was a dive boat...) but live-in-able, especially after we discovered the switch for the air-conditioning. On day 2.

So, to the diving - I figure if I went through every dive I would bore you all senseless so I'll whizz through the first couple of days at least...the last couple were a little more interesting to say the least...

We started off with a check dive to check (duh) that all our equipment, weighting etc was OK - it wasn't we couldn't get our buoyancy right so adjusted and then were fine, the rest of the first day consisted of two more (we didn't do the optional night dive) dives in 25m visibility where we swam around with a friendly triggerfish(!), and even saw a Hawksbill turtle - got a great piccie and some movies too.
The last dive we swam into the strongest current ever, and just as we were approaching the buoy line I cramped up, and started drifting into the deep blue - one of the divemasters on the line saw this and came to my rescue...I could still be down there if it wasn't for this guy - thanks Goran!!

After a slightly cooler night's sleep (it was still too hot on the top bunk though and we had to sleep top to tail on the bottom bunk...) we were woken at 8am for our second day's diving in the Similan's. Our final day dive was a significant one for us - we saw our first sharks, at least two, if not three, leopard sharks, asleep on the bottom and swimming within about 10m - excellent!! Another great day, which we topped off with the night dive. This was done in really poor visibility and neither of us particularly enjoyed it. Seemingly all the fish had gone home to bed and all we were left with was a couple of lobsters and a huge crab.

So, off to Richelieu Rock - would we see the elusive whale sharks. In most years you almost fall over them, but this year they have been driven away by currents and the effects of a couple of tropical storms, thus sightings have been few and far between (as described above)...could we buck the trend and make it 3 out of 37 on the final 4 day liveaboard of the year?? The first two dives were fairly mundane, all the usual suspects turned up, and we had good fun navigating around the rock (it is just above water in low tide). On the third and final dive at Richelieu we went off on our own for the first time (all the others were with a diveguide who knew the sites) and made a decision we thought would haunt us for ever...we turned right at the rock to resurface for boat pickup - most others turned left...guess what they saw just after they turned left...guess what we didn't see. Only arriving back at the boat did we realise what we'd missed. All the other liveaboard boats (about 6/7) were crowded round this area about 100m away and those not diving were snorkelling. It was a whale shark alright, an adult (about 6m - 20 feet - long). We commiserated with Brice, Jeff and Leah - three American's who'd surfaced moments earlier. The exhalted throng of other divers then returned to the boat, all smiles and back slapping, leaving us to lick our wounds. There was to be no time for snorkelling as we were off to Koh Bon for the night dive. Or so we thought... After we'd showered and got out of our wetsuits the chinese whispers from other boats suggested another sighting so we threw our fins on, donned mask and snorkel and charged head first into the water. We swam about 100m before suddenly, about 5 m below us we spotted it. It was the most unbelieveable sight, incredibly humbling but magical, almost like being in a David Attenbrough documentary. This huge creature moved with such grace and a real prescence that defies description. Thus, between our 25th and 26th dive we saw our first Whale Shark. It was our turn to whoop with joy (along with the American's!! - woo yeah! - U S A, U S A ) before heading back to the boat. The decision was already made in most people's minds but Milton confirmed it...did we want to get straight back in, hope we'd get a better view of the shark and scrap the night dive? Stupid question to ask and everyone kitted back up and jumped straight back in. No night dive at Koh Ban...shame...!

So to our fourth and final dive of the day. We swam to the edge of the ridge where the shark had been sighted earlier and waited all of two minutes before she reappeared. We must have been all of 5m away and this time watched as she passed, not once, but three times, accompanied by what looked like miniature sharks but what were, in fact, remoras. An amazing sight, and boy were we lucky, you hear of divers who wait 20 years and 5,000 dives to see one of these, and then only for a second or two. We had a twenty minute show on dive 26! Back on the boat everyone was elated, beers were drunk and Jen could only utter one word all night - 'amazing'.

Onwards and downwards to Koh Bon, arriving somewhat later than planned at around 10pm. At least that's what we were told...everyone was asleep by about 7.30! Sweet dreams though no doubt. Our early morning dive was a disappointment, no Mantas in sight, a stupidly strong current; we were starting to sense a bit of an anti-climax. We could only hope they'd had a lay in and would reappear about 11am - the time of our second dive. On that second dive, deciding to stay quite shallow, we hovered at around 12m in the channel they usually inhabit, and yet again, we were not to be disappointed. Our first encounter with a Manta was at Hin Daeng 10 days or so ago. Back then we saw it for precisely 10 seconds before it swam off into the Gulf of Thailand (not wearing my rugby top though). This time we saw it four times, and at one point Jen was less than 2 metres from it as it swam right at her...'utterly amazing'. We have got some great pictures and some video clips which we're going to try to upload in Bangkok at the weekend, but it's safe to say that these, whilst pretty good, do not do either the creatures or the experience justice. Again, we returned to the boat overjoyed and headed back to the mainland.

So there you go - 28 dives under our belt and we've seen more than most divers do in a lifetime. We are lucky - there's no doubt about that. Maybe we should quit while we're ahead...can't do that though - got the Barrier Reef to come. The good news as well is that Jen's ears are OK (a little wooly to start with but fine now) and now I have found a way to equalise my left ear mine are to. No pain, no blood, no deafness. YAY! It's hard to describe just how good the trip was, from the food to the diveguides, the sites to the animals - one of the best trips we have ever made, and one we'll never forget. I would recommend West Coast Divers to anyone, Milton's a top bloke, they were really professional and even gave us a free t-shirt at the end. OK so the air-con wasn't great and we had to pay for our soft drinks and beer but these were (very) minor grumbles. Definitely the (dive) trip of a lifetime.

Back to earth with a bump though as we're back in Patong (Phuket) although staying on the other side of town from the taxi-driving wife beater. We have switched our 17 hour train tickets for flights and should arrive back in BKK sometime tomorrow evening. Back to same old, same old - Suk 11. On Sunday (we're told today is Thursday) my brother arrives in Asia - hope you've packed some shorts and some sunscreen - you also might need an cagoule too as the monsoon has just started to hit in the late afternoon/early evening. He's bringing more crisps and stuff - yay! After showing Pat the sights of Bangkok (he's in for a real culture shock having never been outside a 'Western' country) we're off to Koh Tao again for some more diving to train Pat up, before heading down to Singapore and then onto Aus on 17th May.

In other news I have managed to get a couple of tickets for the 3rd (and hopefully deciding) State of Origin game on 16th July. This is basically the biggest rugby league game of the year and tickets are like 'rocking horse shit' (apparently). Good-o! We are slowly getting through a mountain of email - we will reply to you all by Monday I promise!