We just got back yesterday afternoon and now I have 1400 messages to
catch up on.  Wow you guys can talk!

We had a great time on our trip.  The boat we went on was very well
organized and everyone was great.  We ended up doing our Advanced Open
Water course while on the trip, so now we can dive to 40 meters
instead of just 18.  We did 14 dives over 4 days, it was exhausting!
Especially since it's very hard to get a good sleep on a boat.  I
hadn't really considered that.
On the first day we got on the boat at 7:30 pm and they drove all
night to get to the Similan Islands.  It seemed very wavy and I was
just relieved that I didn't get seasick.

The days were very full, had to get up at 6:30 am and have 1st
breakfast and dive briefing and be in the water by 7:30 for the first
dive.  Each dive lasted about 50 min because Dennis and I are good on
air and our dive master would stay in longer with us after the other 2
people in the group got low and went back to the boat with the student
instructor.  After the first dive, we got 2nd breakfast, then about
1.5 hour break before the next dive.  After the 2nd dive we got lunch
and then they would take us to the beach for a couple of hours.  The
beaches on the islands were absolutely amazing.  The water was so
turquoise and clear and the sand was powder fine and so white.
Paradise!

We would have a 3rd dive in the afternoon and then a snack.  Then we'd
have another couple of hours and would go for a night dive after it
got dark.  The night dives were cool, you'd think you can't see much
down there with just a flashlight, but it's neat to see the fish
sleeping and also the flashlight illuminates the colours really well.
After the night dive we'd get dinner and then we were allowed to drink
beer.  Everyone usually zonked out after 1 beer at around 9:30 pm due
to being so tired from the day.

On the second night we all got a much better sleep because the boat
stayed put.  On the third night the boat drove for 4 hours, so didn't
sleep too well because of that.  On the last night it stayed put again
so slept ok.

It was amazing too how hungry we always were.  As soon as we came up
from a dive, there would be food and we'd all devour it hungrily.  The
food was excellent and plentiful, so that was great!

The diving itself was amazing.  We had great weather so the visibility
was really good.  We saw a ton of different fish, including leopard
sharks, moray eels, barracuda and huge schools of baby barracuda, sea
snakes, turtles, lobsters, cuttlefish, octopus (really cool to see it
flashing to different colours so fast!), lion fish, puffer fish, etc.
We even saw the very rare and elusive frog fish.  Unfortunately we
didn't see any manta rays or whale shark, but we did see a bunch of
sting rays.  Also there was the vast numbers of extremely colourful
tropical fish, like the ones you see in aquariums.  Except these ones
get much bigger, some even up to 2 feet long.  And it was like a
garden down there with all the colourful corals.  Like being in a huge
aquarium.  We really need to get scuba diving more often!

The boat was very well run and they had 3 guys who would help you on
with your equipment and out of the boat at the end.  That was really
great and unusual.  Most of the time you're left to fend for yourself
and it's so hard to put your fins on with this heavy tank on your
back.  But these guys were great and did it all with a smile.

I'm kind of mad at myself for not organizing an underwater housing for
our camera.  I looked around in Bangkok but they were all sold out of
the model we needed, only 1 place had it and it was way over priced.
I should have started looking sooner and ordered one.  I need to get
on it before we go again.  We ended up buying a disposable film camera
for underwater but we haven't got it developed yet so don't know if
any of the pictures turned out.  We're so used to digital now that
it's frustrating not being able to check the pictures right away!
But we did get some awesome pictures of the beaches we visited and of
the boat.  One time a turtle came up and a bunch of people jumped in
with snorkels and fed the turtle banana.  Got some really great shots
of that.  I'll make an yahoo album in the next few days.

So we got home yesterday to a huge stack of Christmas cards.  Yay!  It
was so much fun to sit down and open them all.  I told Dennis stories
about everyone's cats as we were opening them.  Now I'll hang them up
in the living room.
So like I said at the beginning, I have a ton of posts to catch up on
and it'll take me a few days, so I'll just send out hugs and purrs to
everyone who needs them.
--
Britta
Sandpaper kisses, a cuddle and a purr. I have an alarm clock that's
covered in fur!
Check out pictures of Vino at:
http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album