Scuba Diving and Fun in the Sun

For this Post, I have good news and bad news. And just so I don't keep you in suspense, I'll tell you the bad news first. It really isn't that bad, just more of a bummer than anything. . .

So, I have a Pentax camera that my parents gave me for my highschool graduation. It has kept on ticking for five years now, after being dropped underwater, dropped running full speed in a parking lot, and dropped while rock climbing. It is incredible how well it worked. The problem with it is that is was large and bulky. So, for this trip I bought a new Pentax Optio S5i Camera. You know, the one that'll fit into an Altoid can! Perfect for my travels. Well, wouldn't you know it. The LCD screen broke on me already! Four days in and I'm already trying to find a camera repair shop. They say there is one in bangkok, so hopefully this setback won't be too bad, but kind of a pain, you know! However, my camera still takes, pictures, I just don't know of what anymore. I can't change the options on it either. So until it's fixed, it's anyones guess to what the quality of photos are going to be.

So that's the bad news. See really not that bad. As far as what I have been doing this past few days, here goes!

First we went Scuba Diving on Sunday. My first time diving in the ocean ever! It was just as fabulous as I had expected. Definately made all the classes and certifications worth it! We dove at an island called Manwichai, which is about an hour and a half boat ride out into the Gulf of Thailand. If you've ever dove, you know that between divers there is always a competition to see who uses their air faster. Well, long story short. . .I lost. My first dive I was out of air by the time Linnea was just past half. And the second dive, even though I stayed under for an addition 16 minutes, I was out and Linnea still had over 1000psi left. Jeez. I was way too excited under there I guess! Well, regardless, this is a picture of the island we dove at.


I did some some wonderful wildlife under the waves too! Here is a picture of one of two Blue-spotted stingrays we saw. I also got to see a pufferfish puff up. He did this because our dive guide (who we didn't really need, but more he wanted to dive with us considering it was so long since we had been under water) was trying to get the fish out from some coral and more or less got it mad. Apparently it's really tough for them to puff up though, so we let it alone after that. We also saw some beaked coral fish, which always travel in pairs. And we saw a Dorrie (from finding nemo) and sure enough they are skiddish creatures!

I've got to climb a cocunut tree the other day, and pick my first fresh cocunut. I dropped one and it broke over the ground, so I had to pick a second and make Linnea catch it. We still need to eat it, but man fresh cocunut is good! I also ate a dragonfruit today which is the strangest fruit I've ever seen. It looks like it belongs on a planet that some fiction author would write about. Pink skin with little flaps all over it.

I also got to jump off of a 170 meter building yesterday! They have a building much like the space needle just down the street from our condo. But to get down, they have these harnesses that you put on and more or less take a zip line down. The picture is of Linnea about to jump off the side of the building. Once you get to the bottom you realize what is actually slowing you from free falling this 170 meters. They've hired these guys that sit in a chair with a wheel in front of them. They have gloves on so their hands don't get too hot, and they hold on to the wheel which is connected to the cable that your connected to. It seems that if they let go of the wheel, you'd just go flying down at free fall. Scary! In fact, the whole "safety" issue that we have in the states is completly non-existent here. They have a roller coaster that travels no more than eight feet above a walkway. You could literally reach up while a roller coaster was going by and get your hand ripped off. No fences or anything! I guess they aren't worried about lawsuits like us Americans!

And Finally, I made a few sand structures the other night. We made a sea turtle (by the way, we didn't see any sea turtles on the dive :( ) and we made Santa Clause. It was fun!

Hope Thanksgiving treated you all well! I didn't get any turkey this year so I hope you all ate an extra serving for me!