Day 222 - Diving And Yet Another Goodbye

Last night all we did was sit in the hostel bar and watch a surf DVD, as we were all far too knackered from the night before and the adrenalin of the Bungy. Also, we had to be up at half 6 to go diving - it was a rather rubbish and cloudy day as we headed off to the marina, and got on board the M.V. Sunkist. We were greeted by a Danish-Israeli chap called David, who said I had an awesome name and should definitely play guitar. Throughout our trip he paid the three of us more attention than anyone else - he informed me that "there aren't enough handshakes in the world today, Mr. Rose", and called me Rose all day. He also asked me "which one of these fine ladies is your girlfriend?", and told me I looked really familiar - eventually he figured out that I look like the heroin dealer from Pulp Fiction.

TJ and Haddy had their orientation for their intro dive - Haddy was freaking out about it for some reason - and after a very long journey out, during which I felt awful, we suited up and hopped in. We swam through some coral-lined tunnels, saw a poisonous Lionfish, played with a huge sea cucumber, and had a pretty pleasant dive. Warren the Divemaster was touching the corals a bit more than was necessary, playing with the soft corals and generally doing stuff that Andrew (the boss of Adventure Club Diving on Koh Phi Phi) would have been outraged about. We had lunch and went back in for the second dive almost immediately, which can't be too safe. I went on a guided dive this time, as the girls couldn't come with because they were flying within 24 hours. The dive was OK, saw some cool fish and corals, but the best bit was in the 15 minute snorkel I had after the dive - I swam out to some snorkellers who I thought were TJ and Haddy, but were in fact some Canadians. I was swimming inches above the coral, and spotted a sea turtle sculling along the bottom. I alerted said Canadians who splashed over and were very grateful indeed. It was now time to return to shore - apart from some pen-related tomfoolery, we slept most of the way. Someone had recently smashed one of the panels in front of the seats on the sundeck, so we had to sit with our feet on a bodyboard placed over the hole, to avoid getting soaked.

As it was the girls' last night in Australia we went out for a fancy Aussie meal at Dundee's on the waterfront. We had decent red wine, Kangaroo steaks, Crocodile skewers, Emu sausage and prime Aussie beef, all of which was really delicious. It was a really nice meal, the most sophisticated (& expensive) one I've had since leaving England. Unfortunately, we then moved on to what could be considered to be the antithesis of out dinner - a night at the Woolshed. This involved the usual boozing and shots (the girls love shots), some truly awful pool playing, and a wierd insight into the life of attractive girls. Having passed somehow into the position of amusing eunuch, they are now relaxed enough to not worry about keeping up any sort of appearances. Consequently, I saw the way that guys were with them (once they established I wasn't with either of them), the constant come-ons they received, the lascivious replies, etc. etc. This seemed to work mostly to their advantage, although they did also constantly have to deflect unwanted advances - fairly skillfully, I might add. The music was altogether pretty awful, which bothered Haddy more than the rest of us, and resulted in a minor kerfuffle concerning going to another club or not, which was a bit awkward - having never travelled with anyone for more than three weeks or so, I have never really got annoyed with or annoyed anyone the way that close friends can.

Anyway, we got a cab home and this morning I got up to wish them farewell, as they fly on to Singapore. It's been an awesome week or so I've spent with them, they're some of the liveliest, most hyperactive and generally fun people I have met so far on this trip, and I'll miss them loads - until I meet them in London, of course. Now I'm on my own again, and will inevitably have that despondent in-betweeny day before I meet anyone else - I probably shouldn't have rushed up here so much, or opted to stay for so long. Oh well, I'm off to explore town for a bit, and see what this place has to offer.