'The Women Of Cho' A Review.

The Women of the Cho is a very

engaging and interesting novel.   While the reader is left

hanging in Cale Dixon and the Moguk Murders, The Women of

the Cho rapidly engages the reader back into the pace

established with eagerness  to participate in solving the

mysterious murder.  Travel to multiple countries from

Burma, South Korea, England, and the United States with

exposure to different cultures, history and fiction woven

together.  Experience love, power, family, loyalty, murder,

trust, passion and honor.   It is easy to be absorbed by

the traditions, ceremonies, spiritual beliefs, superstition,

and customs that are introduced, balancing the familiar with

the unknown.  

The

characters develop and we understand them at a deeper level,

as relationships evolve to a deeper level.  New characters

are introduced mingling and displaying their unique

motivations and drivers.  Their stories intertwine with

suspense and thrill stimulating a range of emotions from

excitement, apprehension, sadness, fear, relief and more.

 The suspense and intrigue lead the reader to desiring more

chapter by chapter.  This is a novel for readers who like

to read every word and enjoy the thrill of adventure, and

the game of guessing, right to the last word.  The mystery

and suspense increases as does the readers pulse.

Cheers to your new book and

the next chapter which I hope isn't too far away!

Jane :)

www.davidcdagley.com

Wicked Diving At It's Best

Wicked Diving At It’s Best

Back at Wicked Diving we said our goodbyes to less than half of the guests because eleven of us were on board for another three daze. J My dive group didn’t change much; we lost Andrew and gained www.chasingPhil.com. We still had the lovely Jesna from Slovenia, Theo from Australia, and myself hailing from a confused past and now a very competent photographer, Phil with us. Phil took his monster camera and lights on most dives for some excellent close-ups of whatever struck his fancy. Chris Dyer was head of the next three-day trip to the Similans and we had dived together before, I wanted no other although Inge, Jess, or Line are A LOT prettier and as knowledgeable and possibly more in their area of expertise. I liked Chris’s style on our last round of dives three months prior, he was steady, slow, and if a person was low on air he was more than happy to pass over the octopus to his tank and keep everyone in the water for an hour if possible. Every single guide and instructor would do the same. The lesson is that we are all learning and some learn quicker than others but no one should suffer an education. Enjoy it.

I’m going to say this only once and I mean it whole heartedly; there is chemistry that makes a trip better than another, not to down play one over another but chemistry, you know what I’m talking about. I don’t understand the details myself but when I heard that Tom, Inge, Line, Jesse, Chris, and Hampus were on board I knew we as guests were in for a treat no matter what happens under water. Let me introduce you to a Wicked staff.

Tom is nothing short of a great diver with a passion for his trade no matter where he needs to go to get it. When off-season comes he is most likely looking for another place to dive. I recommend Lembongan, Bali with www.bigfish.com.

The beautiful and talented diver, Inge with a strong will, a vegetarian for life and true to her beliefs. Inge is a curious photographer herself and I’ve seen stacks of her material about the Wicked Dive shop. She is a music person like me and I was more than happy to give her music I had to make her smile one day. That is Hampus to her right giving an awareness talk about the depleted shark population in the Andaman Sea and virtually around the world partially due to eating Shark Fin soup that is actually very unhealthy due to concentrated amounts of mercury in the bigger fish, such as sharks.

Line, wow, where do I start? The Unicorn/Pegasus, if they were around today she’d be riding them or talking to them. 7 languages, ukulele, focused, she’s a full package of knowledge with a witty sense of dry humor. Be careful and think about what you say before it spills out of your face. Respect is due.

Jesse, US born with a nomadic past. Plays a mean guitar in the later hours under the moon light, sings, smiles and altogether focused on the ocean as they all are. She doesn’t like mornings but she can pull a smile out of a beanie hat at hello.

Chris Dyer, Ohio, basically born in the water diving in his early teens and relentlessly diving. Apparently his last camera gave up before he did and so he had to get a new one out of KL, Malaysia. Many of the shots in this blog and the last blog are his. He’s under water and I’m shooting from above. I find Chris to be one of those that can chameleon across the board and make things happen. Willing to give insight without being condescending, none of them have this characteristic, they are all willing and happy to help or explain.

Hampus. Hampus is Hampus. There are really no words for this young lad that would explain his high energy and belief in himself that I could lay down. I watched him and listened to him with great pride knowing there is another generation transforming into talent. Forest is also in this category but from the previous trip; he’s a Banana Slug, team mascot, from Santa Cruz, California. Good guy.

The Captain took us out of the harbor, paid homage to the boat spirit and lit fireworks to fend off any evil spirits we may have hanging around. With that settled we went out in a breeze to the Similan Islands and anchored up a little before midnight. As we left the harbor Chris and crew offered motion sickness tablets to those in need or in question and gave a run down of the boat, safety features, minor rules of respect of others and dinner was served.

Not changing my ways I slept upstairs on the top deck under the stars, with salt air and a breeze for a blanket; Tom, US and Glenn, A BRITISH MAN; I screwed up in the last blog and called him a Aussie and got called for it. This is a mistake I should never have made listening to his stories and knowing him as a partner in a half rack of Singha. Anyway me, the BRIT that historically sent all the ‘crims’ to Australia and another Yank, Tom, slept above deck as well, buried in beanbags and afloat. After the first night Jess drew a crowd of listeners to her guitar and song. Line had my attention with a German song I think; it actually might have been Spanish, where ever. She played her ukulele and sung a song about two grapes that fell in love and spent their formative years trying to figure out how to become one in love and in the end the farmer picked the grapes and smashed them all together with his feet and the two grapes made love and became fine wine. That’s what I got out of it. A’sante.

My alarm was sunrise and a cup of tea or two before anybody else began to stir. It’s the most beautiful time of the day and Captain got up at the same time and motored over to Anita’s Reef for our gear check dive. We had thorough safety briefing followed by then a dive briefing and into the water we went.

Most people wear wetsuits but the water isn’t ‘That’ cold to me. The standard temps range from 25 in the cold and an average of 27 C. But on almost every dive there was what is called a ‘Green Monster’ that looked like a lime green colored fog bank on the move carrying 25 C water and made most dive guides alter their course out of pleasure and not pain. The green Monster would pass for the most part or stay put as we swam ahead or out of them back to the warms.

Our second dive site is called West of Eden and the water temp was 27 C for the most part and our third dive was Turtle Rock where Chris Dyer took a great shot of a solo Harlequin Shrimp. Apparently what they do is drag a starfish into their crib and eat a leg and then move on to another leg while the last one grows back and so on. Nice image, eh? We did a few granite swim threws and I recognized others I had done in the past. All in all it was a dive like no other. Whilst on this dive our dearly beloved snorkel guide, Line, descended on us to say hello. We’re at 17 meters and she’s free diving. What an angel.

The following day, a day of four dives including a night dive was an early wake up for the lot. We were told more than once to pay special attention to our decompression time and stay within a safe range, above 10. If your DC got round 10 it was time to shallow up or just stay above your group by 5 meters, there’s lots of ways to sort it out and keep you safe. If you go to zero or below you don’t dive for 24 hours and that my friends just won’t do.

During the day and in between dives the upper deck became a place to dry your suit and find a beanbag in the shade and take a nap. I’m not much of a nap guy or sleeper so it was a photo op I couldn’t pass up. Again I didn’t do the night dive, I enjoy the quiet on the boat more.

We dived Elephant Rock and Christmas point for the second dive and then came this third dive of the day, my favorite by far, we dove 3 Trees. Someone every dive has to go find out which way the current is going so the Captain can drop us off on the right side of it and expect us on the other. The verdict was in and we all plopped into the water in two groups. But looking at the fish facing in the opposite direction Chris realized there was a problem. We were drifting out to sea into the big blue. We went straight to the bottom, hit the deck and swam into the current for about 5-7 minutes using a little more oxygen than expected but we climbed the slope until we got picked up by the island’s coastal tide current and we began to drift the way we were intending. I’d breath in and rise over a coral outcrop swarming with fish and exhale and drop down and skim over the sand in between. Chris spotted an eel not well hidden. The eel moved out and we agreed, he was quick in the open. Our dive still ended up about 54 minutes from plunge to surface and we had covered more than a kilometer, more like a mile ( (1 kilometer = .6 mile, 10 kilometers = 6 miles, give or take.) I have drift dived in Borneo, Sulawesi, the Philippines, and now Thailand. This rates among some of the best dives I’ve had. Thanks Chris.

Since 11 people had been on the 1^st 3-day trip Chris changed the night dive site and I still wasn’t keen. I took a shower, shaved, and enjoyed the night watching the lights in the water move about. There were actually a couple other boats doing the same thing but hey, what did I care. I was in the right place at the right time and I am in the Similan Islands for bloody sake. Ha. Heaven is not far from these shores.

The sunset gracefully dove into evening with the stars and wind coming down and smiles brimming from all of us. Jess took center stage on the top deck with an assortment of tunes from Johnny Cash to the Black Crows. The boys were drooling with live music. She had a lot of fun throwing out the random song of another time. A few stragglers kept the fire burning, clinking cans, playing cards, and assorted games.

We motored back to Koh Bon for our last two dives the next day and many of us were excited because it has everything from high biodiversity to the weird little critters many divers over look at first or don’t know what to look for. The more I dive the more exciting the little creatures become and yeah I want to see the big ones too like a whale shark or a tiger in Nepal but everything in time. I’m going back to both so stay tuned and enjoy the ride. Some things are coming that you should all pay attention to if you’re interested in the world today.

I think 8 people got their Advanced Diving Certificate on these 6 daze. JThe two French boys, a woman from America with Thailand heritage, and a bunch of others but I want to say congratulations to the two French boys and their parents for allowing the boys to grow.

www.davidcdagley.com

Wicked Water World

Wicked Water World

In between storms I arrived in Khao Lak. The fast boat day trip services had been canceled to the Similans for a few days due to high winds and big wave chop. In downtown Khao Lak road light systems failed and anything not securely fastened took flight or broke. Even the Mariner, the Wicked dive boat had to find a safe harbor while on a dive trip. The wind came out of the north and lucky for the guests the Captain chose Koh Bon and the diving was spectacular with Manta Ray sightings up to six in a dive at one time.

I knew most of the dive guides and instructors from meeting them 3 months prior while doing my first six-day live aboard with www.wickeddiving.com. Many guides remembered me for one reason or another, one I gave music to, another accepted my blog on their Wicked Diving page, a few were my dive guides, all kinds of reasons. I sat down and talked to some of them while waiting for the other guests to show up. Slowly they straggled in and filled out their paper work and got fitted with gear. After a quick introduction to Wicked we loaded a couple taxis for the 1½-hour drive north to the pier where we boarded the M/V Mariner captained by Pe Wit, a seasoned and experienced captain. His wife, Pe Da runs the galley with a helper, Pe Lek. Pe Wit and Pe Da have a son Dew who is the engineer and skiff captain. There are two boatmen, Deng and Kai Tong, who refill tanks, grab fins, get the boat on a buoy and help the divers get sorted whenever they can. After boat introductions, stateroom assignments etc. off we went to the Surin Islands north of the Similan Island National Park for three days of diving near the Burmese boarder.

Again I found myself in the company of an eclectic group of travelers from all over the world with at least one thing in common, diving or more generally, the ocean. It is Manta Ray and Whale Shark season now and I had high hopes of seeing one or both of these magnificent creatures. I bunked with an Aussie named Glenn but I was never going to sleep in my bunk because the top deck is where it’s at when sleeping. I get the stars, fresh air, and the sounds of the sea. After fourteen years as a boatman in Alaska I don’t like sleeping without it. A few of us slept up top each night. I don’t do well with air conditioning, sinuses and all, so the bunk staterooms are not for me mainly because it messes with my sinuses but it is a nice break from the sun and heat of the day. My bunk became my computer spot down loading film footage, photos etc.

By midnight we arrived in a quiet place near Stork Island and the night moved on into dawn when we did a nice dive, checking gear and making sure we were weighted properly. My guide for the next 9 dives was a Thai man named Kui who had climbed the ranks to Dive Master and knew the dive sites well. The dive guides are as eclectic as the guests coming from as far away as Santa Cruz, Ohio, Germany, Sweden, England, Finland, etc. all over and with qualities unto themselves. I talked two lovely ladies into doing their Advanced Diving Certification while on this trip and they decided to check it out after the first dive. All in all, there were approximately 8 people that moved up to advanced diver during the next six days including two young boys from France traveling with their parents. We had a couple of snorkelers on board and they had their own guide named Line, pronounced Lina. She is also affectionately nicknamed the ‘Unicorn’ or ‘Pegasus’ because she speaks 7 languages, free dives with the Mokan, the local sea gypsies, plays a fine ukulele, sings in at least three languages, and is truly a rare one of a kind. Impressed is a small term, in awe is closer to the truth.

As I said, the captain pulled in to a protected bay for the rest of the night. I slept outside on the upper deck. There was the tail end of a breeze but the temperature was perfect and at sunrise we moved a short distance to Stork Island for our first dive of three for the day. I think Stork Island is one of those mellow dives where everyone sorts out their weights and is a safe spot without much current meaning a great dive to get your feet wet so to speak. Our second dive was at Turtle Rock where we saw a Guitar Shark cruising along the bottom and a few eels lurking in holes in the coral. Turtle Rock was a bit more of a slow drift dive. Our third dive of the day was Torinla Reef. Our average depth for the day was around 20 meters and that’s fine because that is where most of the marine life is hanging out.

After each dive Pe Da had prepared a meal and there is nothing to complain about, there is plenty of food. Tea, Coffee, electrolytes, orange juice, pineapple juice are all on the house along with yogurt, milk, cereals, toast, peanut butter and more. Wicked buys eggs and honey from a local orphanage that takes care of a large handful of kids and they make a little money to support the orphanage themselves.

The Surin Islands are north of the Similan Islands and made up of limestone versus Granite intrusions. Soft corals have a better chance of adhering to the rock walls and this in turn leads to high levels of biodiversity. On day two, before breakfast, we approached Richelieu Rock. This was given it’s name by non other than Jacque Cousteau. I think he discovered it in the early 80’s but for us the amount of aquatic life was worth diving it twice. It’s kind of remote being away from the other islands and larger pelagic animals frequent it’s sloping rock support. The top of this site is maybe a meter out of the water at an average low tide. I’m sure the Moken people knew of this point being sea gypsies in the Andaman Sea back into history. As I’ve mentioned before they live on Surin Island, Koh Chang, Koh Lipe and a few other islands now because the Thai government doesn’t want them wandering around. The Moken culture is considerably different than that of Thailand or Burma and DNA relatives stretch down to the Mentawai Islands off the coast of Sumatra.

Our third dive took us to Tachai Pinnicle where we found a few Manta Rays swimming around. In addition to the Mantas we saw some cool octopus, small schools of Barracuda and a Cuttlefish among a plethora of other species cruising the current.

Kui and the four of us dropped down the buoy line because there was a bit of current and it was easier for us to start together to begin the dive. The visibility was about 20 meters, 60 feet. On the bottom the current lessened and we moved off the line and began looking around. Within minutes someone in another group tapped on their tank with a metal stick and we knew that meant something was in the area. The two most sought after animals at this time are the Manta Ray, black on top and white/off white on the bottom and as big as a sheet of plywood, 4 feet by 8 feet and then there’s the elusive Whale Shark with size and mysteries still unknown to man and something I just learned recently is that they are rarely sighted twice anywhere except on the same day.

A shadow blurred into view above us maybe 5-7 meters from the surface and 15 meters above us. The Manta Ray cruised toward us and right over our heads and the sun in the way background. It was a great feeling to see this animal in it element. I did manage to take some good footage but I’m going to turn this photo over to Phil McKinney who definitely wasn’t on the bottom. If you want to see more from Phil and this trip go to https://flic.kr/s/aHskuJPRrR or better yet, chase him down at www.chasingphil.comfor a stack of underwater excitement and priceless moments caught on camera. This is Phil and a sting ray in the fore ground.

I’m going to take this time to mention that many of the underwater photos are from my guide Chris Dyer who went to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to get a new underwater camera and many of these are the result of his passion. Most of mine are out of the water because I’m a new-be and lack confidence and time to sort it all out. I have some form of divers A.D.D. ‘Ocean! There’s an ocean!’ kur-plunk, I’m gone.

I did manage to use my gopro and get some nice silhouette action. After a couple exploratory rounds about the pinnacle we returned to the buoy line and ascended to our safety stop at 5 meters for 3 minutes. The current still wasn’t strong but it is easier to hang on to the line at depth than stare at your computer and watch your breathing to stay between 4-6 meters. I turned off my gopro thinking the dive over and save battery for the next dive. We were watching Theo get to the line and we all started pointing in his direction. He thought we were pointing at him but behind him a Manta had crept up behind him and by the time he grabbed the line and turned the Manta was withing a few meters and arching away from us. Of course I had already turned my go pro back on and I watched through the screen as the Manta arched a turn and returned to us absolutely curious about what we were. The underside, the gills, some cleaning fish, the elegance and it was gone just as swiftly as it had appeared. I blew through more air in the last minute than in 10 minutes diving and avoiding Lionfish. I was so excited, I thought I had good material and I did but when I went to download it, it said the file wasn’t readable. Scandisk has sent me the proper connections to try and retrieve it. I’ll let you know.

After everyone checked off the dive list we motored to Koh Bon and the Western Ridge where there was a night dive scheduled in the cresent cove formed by the island and the western ridge. I didn’t do the night dive because I have before and I don’t get as much out of it but many came back on board with big smiles seeing hunting eels, luminescence, turn out your lights and move your hands, feel darkness. Meanwhile I had the boat almost to myself for an hour and watched the night sky with a warm breeze.

Koh Bon is one of those places, one of those dive sites that can be hit or hit hard and our morning dive on the west ridge, due to previous sightings of Manta Rays, was hit hard but not the way I expected. Every live aboard boat was there that morning. The water boiled with bubbles and Kui raised his arms in surrender and clasped his hands together bowing his head. He was apologizing for the traffic jam. It reminded me of a black and white picture of gold miners in line trudging up the mountain with their gear heading for the Klondike. I put my arm out at a 45 degree direction to get out of line and head more toward the ridge and circle back. It was almost time to shallow up so we turned and explored alone for about ten minutes before someone banged on their tank and the mob ascended on us thinking we were the bangers and there we were back in line.

We saw lots of hunting Barracuda in groups at the edge of the blue, a few octopus dropping an ink blot and immediately heading for a hole. I don’t think it happens a lot when all the boats are in the same place. We all want to see the big stuff and boats are trying to keep a schedule so you can dive 3 dives, it happens.

Most boats left after the morning dive and we watched our decompression times closely hoping to get in a nice final dive before we headed back to Khao Lak to change some guests and some crew. The second dive was seriously less congested and we did manage to see two Manta Rays from a far. Apparently they are not early risers and we had a better chance to see them on the second dive as I was told. We boarded, checked everyone off and began our tour back to Khao Lak to resupply.

Just a note about the guests and crew on the boat, I never once heard a discouraging word, not one complaint in the now nine days aboard the Mariner with various staff and surely guests. That is saying something about the way Wicked Diving works. I’ve always said, ‘Don’t underestimate a good time had by all.’

www.davidcdagley.com

Indonesia And Backtracking

Indonesia and Backtracking

I flew from Bali back to Thailand with a 2 months visa, one of the last because the tourist visa rules for Thailand have changed yet again; it seems annual. I spent a week in Bangkok running a few errands like getting a two month visa for Indonesia because I signed up with http://www.wickeddiving.com to go on a 18-day scuba diving live aboard from Raja Ampat, Western Papua New Guinea, to Komodo Island/Lubuan Bajo where I get to see a beautiful lady I met diving off the coast of Lembongan, Indonesia. A different lovely woman at www.diving-indo.com mentioned the trip while we were having a beer after a couple dives at the Victory, a US vessel that took a hit from a Japanese sub during WWII. She told me about the Wicked dive trip and she saw my eyes light up like a Christmas tree and she sat back with a grin and called Pit who works for Wicked Diving and sorted out connections. (Thank you dear girl).

In Bangkok the Indonesian embassy recommends you to drop off your paperwork with two photos of your mug and your passport in the morning hours between 9-12 and you can pick up your new tourist visa in your passport the next day between 3pm and 5pm. They are closed on the weekends. The other thing I wanted to check out was my left hip. It has been sore for a while now, like since trekking in Nepal and maybe a bit before that. I think it’s from being hit by a tuk-tuk in Bangkok in the past. Anyway, I just wanted to know what was going on. The lovely physiotherapist/doctor took a couple ex-rays and didn’t come up with anything significant but my muscles were considerably tighter on my left than my right and she did a bit of acupuncture to get the muscles to loosen up. That was like having electric shocks run down my leg. It helped. I’m walking without a funny limp again. Yeah!

I thought I’d head down to Ko Tao for a bit of diving and let the hip and leg chill for a bit. I took an www.airasia.com flight for around $50 USD to an airport south of Surat Thani, a van from the airport to the pier, a Lomprayah high-speed catamaran ferry boat via Koh Samui, Koh Pangang, to Koh Tao where I checked into www.asiadivers.com for the fifth or sixth time and hung out with friends. There had been a storm recently so the underwater visibility wasn’t so good, at first, maybe five meters, two days later ten meters and so on. It returned to normal and people were back at it with smiles. Whilst there on Koh Tao I ventured into the Banyan Bar where the banter never ceases between the jolly locals. I heard of a hotdog eating contest coming up and thought that would be worth a picture or two.

The day before the hotdog eating contest which was basically a completion between dive companies and a few hungry locals eager to drink the 25 shot first place prize or settle for the 10 shot second or even the 4 shot third, I met an Aussie musician who had a show up at Serendipity Bar on the top of one of the two peaks of Koh Tao. It was odd; I met up with a woman at the Banyan that I had met in a beer garden in London one sunny gorgeous afternoon while I was with a couple I met in Ton Sai, Thailand a year and one half prior. I had had tea and lunch with her on another occasion and I gave her a fair-well from London. In the meantime, she had traveled Sri Lanka, India and now in Thailand. She had lost her ATM card and it was mailed to the Banyan, the owners are friends from youth in England. Oh such a small world. I asked her to join up but she was a bit under the weather so I went alone not to be put off. Unfortunately I don’t know his name but I was really impressed. I know back in 2013 he won Australia’s Independent Live Artist of the Year Award for his creative musical style and now he’s entertaining people on Koh Tao at Serendipity Bar and at Choppers Bar where there is a pub-crawl most nights of the week and live music at the beginning and end.

Across from Choppers is Maya Massage. I had many a massage, one a day for a week for $10/hr. due to my leg still taking a few electrical shocks now and again. There’s a new restaurant on the corner called ‘Indie’ that has great sandwiches and food in general. I had proper sourdough bread there the likes I haven’t had since San Francisco, my hometown. My mouth rejoiced on a Bacon/Avocado Sandwich and a Blue Berry Smoothie.

The rumor of another storm wafted through whispers as I left Koh Tao heading back up to Khao Sok for a short writing retreat and, of course, a quick run up to the lake just for good measure. I stayed at Smiley’s Guest House for 300 Baht/night. Most of the others on Khao Sok Road are around 700-1000 Baht/night. On the 13-14^th of February there is a ‘festival’ at the Khao Sok National Park for everyone who can get there. My understanding is that it will be annual. You buy a ticket and included is a plethora of jungle and local foods prepared for your sampling, a bit of entertainment and stuff for the kids to do and see.

I spoke with Boh who owns the Chill Out Bar across from Smiley’s and works for the National Park as a guide during the day and he said to spread the word. I told him I would be heading to Khao Lak for more diving in the Similans and Surin Islands and he told me to meet a friend of his that owns the Memory Bar, five kilometers north of Khao Lak. The Memory Bar/Bungalow is the original beach community with numerous surfboards of all sizes for lease, chill music, great food, and bungalows on the beach like in the old days of Thailand. Their logo is, ‘Surf, Eat, Sleep, Repeat.’ I highly recommend going there but be careful what you pay the truck taxi to get there. They don’t like to go there because the road is dirt from the turn off and they use it as an excuse to up the price. If you pay 300 Baht from Khao Lak, fill the truck with people, not 100 Baht per person. Put it this way, it cost me 150 Baht to go 60 kilometers from Khao Sok to Khao Lak with 5 other people in a van with all our gear.

While in khao Lak I heard that the pier on koh Tao sank into the sea and a new one is being erected as I write because this is the pier where many of the dive boats and the ferry boats come into let off guests. I also heard that ferry services had been suspended for a few days for a second time in a month. I made the right choice in getting out of the way. The wind was horrific here in Khao Lak so I’ve been told.

I had some tie on my hands and took a walk north of Khao Lak in search of a music venue called 'Red Snapper' but every Thai pointed in a different direction. I walked past a place called 'Mars Bar' owned and operated by an ex-pat named Mars. I found my place in space. i'm staying at Walker Inn this time with the Traveler just down the road. I'm paying 600 Baht /night. the food is excellent and the rooms spacious. Up here by the Mars Bar there are backpackers for 300 Baht/night. I met a wonderful girl there with a stack of dirty jokes and a smile. I hope I cross her path again.

Today I join www.wickeddiving.com for another six day live aboard because now is the season for the mantas and the Whale sharks to be here. I spoke with Chris, my PADI/SSI guru and his friend Jess also working with Wicked and they said the Mantas are thick. As I said three months ago, ‘I’ll be back’.

www.davidcdagley.com