Continuing north from Airlie beach I arrived at Townsville and caught the ferry over to Magnetic island. Brendan, Elaine and Ties were travelling down from Cairns and were also heading to Magnetic, and I arranged to meet them at the Bungalow Bay hostel.
From the ferry port I boarded the bus to Horseshoe bay and was dropped off at my hostel.
Next [...]

 
The Greyhound bus carried me from Hervey Bay to Airlie Beach overnight. The trip took 13 hours, I arrived in time for breakfast.
The following day I boarded the Emperors Wings catamaran for a three day trip sailing the Whitsunday islands and diving the outer Great Barrier Reef.
Day one. 24 of us are introduced to the staff and are [...]

So from Khao Lak I took a minibus South to Krabi, then a Longtail boat to Railay. I rented a bungalow on Ton Saibeach between the towering limestone karsts.
Krabi is all about rock climbing. The scenery there is rugged and beautiful at the same time.
As I was wandering around Railay East beach I bumped into [...]

I arrived in the diving town of Khao Lak after a two hour ride in a local bus from Phuket.
The first thing I did was trek round the dive shops looking for a livaboard trip departing for the Similans the following day.
A livaboard is a dive boat that you sleep and eat on. The trips [...]

Bangkok to Ko Tao, a small island in the Gulf Of Thailand, great for diving, a good place to learn. I stayed for 4 days and did my Advanced Open Water and gained my Nitrox Certificate, allowing me to use Nitrox enriched air for longer dives. Sweet.
Alex was my instructor, he is my age and [...]

If I hadn’t had Visa problems keeping me in Saigon, Vietnam, I would’ve left for Cambodia and arrived in Sihanoukville in time for new years eve.
I made it there eventually on the bus from Koh Kong and checked into the old backpacker region of Victory Hill. I say ‘old’ because the backpacker scene has since [...]

Despite the rumors of biker gangs and ladyboy muggers, I decided to stay in Nha Trang for 4 more days while I learned to dive.
The course could be completed in 3 days but the people at Rainbow Divers recommended taking 4 at no extra cost.
The first day was spent learning the theory, watching DVDs, reading, [...]