david's trials & tribulations of life

It was a 3 day/3 night live-aboard dive trip. The night before going out on the boat, I was inquiring as to when the last whale shark or manta ray was seen. They had been spotted occasionally over the last few weeks, but I met three dive masters that had something like 900 to 1100 logged dives who had NEVER seen whale sharks. So it would be a long shot for little ole' me with my 11 - yes, a piddly eleven - logged dives to see the great almighty whale shark... the pinnacle of diving. Well....FIRST DIVE OF THE TRIP!!! My 12th dive ever! Oh, yes. I almost shat my pants. Well, wasn't wearing any...OK, in my wetsuit! It was an outer worldly experience. I saw them four times, on two separate dives, and even got to within 3 or so meters of it (snorkelling too!)! SO HUGE!! And it was only a baby, measuring in at around 5 or 6 meters! I feel blessed. The next three days were spent cruising around Koh Surin Nua and Nai near the Burma Banks, seeing s ome beautiful and pristine coral slope...

If someone were to be unemployed for four months, give or take a couple of weeks, and did not see a job materializing in the distant future, what would you expect him to do? Set off to faraway Thailand of course! That someone in this pertinent case is me. Yes, a bit of a whimsical decision. But trust me, I had VERY good reasons to shed half a grand (pound sterlings unfortunately, not rubels...) on flights, and the added extras. All will be revealed. I had interviewed with Wildscreen in BRistol two days before flying, and had a return ticket for a month later, on the off chance that I was actually accepted for the position. Now, it doesn't take a degree in metaphysical psychological neuropathy (?!) to work out that I did NOT get the job, and I DID extend my stay in Thailand, hence why I am writing from some tropical island in the Gulf of Thailand two months since I left the saturated sinking island that is Britain. You are asking yourself WHY Thailand, and what are those VERY good r...