DM gets easier...

Well, i'm almost at the the end of my Divemaster training and finally it's starting to settle in in spite of the unsettling trend of constantly learning from one's mistakes -argh! from going too fast to forgetting my compass, learning comes the hard way. turns out from having spoken to my instructors that they see it actually as a very good way to learn it and everyone has been there. some consolation in the face of my embarrassment!
so, i will soon be the proud owner of my very OWN compass and will try even harder to follow the golden rule: TRUST the compass. duh. right? and to top it off, i've also bought my own BCD (buoyancy jacket) so that i can keep doing this in the near future. it's been tiresome to remove all my extra effects off shop gear and try and remember to put it back on... so now i'm pretty much set! need a regulator... and i want a flashlight to point out all the pretty things... but that will come!
there are some great underwater pictures of me and friends and fishies on my facebook page that i will try and link to here but i think you have to become my friend first! no worries, there'll be more where thses come from...
big glub glubs to all~
xo

catching up on pics...

another day off... it's gotten slow here! booo!
but i needed this day so it's all good... no more beer for dinner already!

click here to see more pics... they're all bunched together <:(( i'll figure it out yet...

thailand continued

here all is well -can't complain since i'm on a day off and just finished a lovely thai massage and a pedicure. aaaahhh....it was goooood. shortly i'll be off to the beach. unfortunately my co-dmt's are all with ear problems at the moment (one of the trials and tribulations of diving!) but they are therefore lucky enough to have more time off to go to phuket overnight. hrmpf. feeling a bit trapped here in khao lak. plus i'm without compadres this eve! boo. hopefully they'll bring me back a treat like yummy blue cheese...
anyway this also means that i'm getting many opportunties to guide and learn more and more from my many mistakes. ok -they're not life and death but it would be nice to get it right more often. although i am unlikely to forget or hopefully repeat!! however, i am also more and more relaxed and not sucking back the air as much -don't want to be coming up because i'm short on air -that wouldn't be cool! dives aren't necessarily deep anyway but on the wreck we're down at 19m for most of the 40min. it's a great dive with loads of lion fish and scorpion fish to watch out for as well as eels swimming about and huge porcupine fish. last trip we spotted the ghost pipefish -shich is rather rare -i've seen 4 now but never spotted one myself... i'm determined yet!
otherwise i'm doing ok -trying to get a run in every second day -there's an uphill part and a beach part and i must start out by 6:30 or else it gets too hot. there's also been torrential downpours every day or eve -not supposed to be monsoon yet but feels like it sometimes! i do like the thunder -but out on the water coming back from a dive it feels a bit hairy(sp?)!!

hope you are well and think of me with a sip of wine... here the cheapest option for wine is the S.Af. 1/2 l from the 7/11. it's not bad actually but we have to by a few to go around!

cheers!