How time moves on...

Oh my goodness, it is going to take me sooooo long to bring you all up to date. Really i owe you all an apology. I mean, I did promise to write some more soon and then completely dropped off the radar. Well, i'm more practised at this blog thing now so hopefully (fingers crossed) i will be better at keeping you all informed of my antics. Here is a current picture of me to get you started. It is not the best but it was literally taken a week ago and i owe you a current one after my past form!

First off you'll need an update since it has been 2 years since my last post. In many ways nothing has changed. I am still in Phuket, Thailand... I'm still happily living with Mik Jennings... I am still me! But in many other ways, everything has changed.

My previous post explained i was working at Oceanic Divecenter. I was. But since then, all of the people in the attached pictures have left the island to go back to Sweden. That is 'all of the people' except the lovely Mona! Mona has seen change herself in that she sold Oceanic and established a successful 'Tapas & Wine' bar/restaurant in Kata. You can check her official 'Tapas & Wine' website out for more info.

My reasons for leaving Oceanic had NOTHING to do with Mona. My reasoning was simply down to the fact that Mik got a job on a diving liveaboard, MV Colona VI. And here he is bobbing around in the ocean with his boat in the background! With him only home for one day a week, i needed a job with the flexibility to have every Friday off (to spend that day with Mik). The way dive centre's work i could not expect this out of Oceanic, so i moved.

Lo and behold, I became a tour leader on one of South Siam Diver's many day trip boats. It was awesome to be out on the boat everyday but hard work too with Mik being away all the time etc etc. Not ideal. Here's a picture of me with the boat that i was mostly working on at this time (2006-7). You may notice that Mik may have been in the Similan Islands but i had the better weather ;)

Phuket is a strange place though and every now and then an opportunity arises that changes everything. For us, that happened in August 2007. After overhearing a conversation in a bar we heard that MV Philkade were looking for new staff for the coming season. So without further ado, we dropped a mail to the boss along with our CVs. One month later we were both fully employed as Cruise Director and Dive Guide. And jeez, this is not any boat. MV Philkade is currently the best liveaboard boat operating in Thai waters in terms of luxury, space and comfort. She's a beaut. And here she is... You can also find out more about her on the official website of MV Philkade or on MV Philkade's Blog (that is regularly updated by Mik and I).

All this meant that from October to May 2007-8, Mik and i were living in eachother's pockets. And guess what? We're still together! (Ha, ha, ha...) It was brilliant. We dived the Similan Islands, Richelieu Rock, Surin Islands, Burma and much more. We had moments with mantas, with whale sharks, with eachother, with the crew and with customers that we will never forget. Spending my 26th birthday in the ass-end of Burma was certainly a novelty!! The cook did his best to throw a cake together but you're kind of limited when you're at sea that long!

In May 2008 then, we finished on the season on the boat and returned in exciting seas back to Phuket. The low season for us here in Phuket is usually a time of being skint, being bored and being generally quite miserable. But with our new job, we have year-round work and year-round salary so this low season has been really rather different.

First thing we did was move house. We are no longer in Kata but have moved closer to work with a house in Chalong. Those of you who want pictures will have to check out my facebook! Then Mik's parents came over for a visit. Then we settled down into life back on land. We are in the office 6 days a week with the odd day's diving here and there. The company are currently looking to move premises and have launched a day trip boat for local Phuket diving. To the left you can see the new boat... If you fancy day tripping in Phuket you should take a look at MV Atitara's Official Website. There are some amusing pictures of me in the Photo Gallery!!

So here we are... Today is Saturday August 23rd. I have arrived at the office (Aquamarine Divers), i have finished this blog post and now i will continue with my 'real' job. It is bank holiday weekend in England so today also marks 5 years of Mik and me being together. Awwwww... And only 16 more days until we go on holiday to Indonesia. Expect to hear more from me soon. Love to you all xxxxxxxxxxx