
My favourites from an enjoyable week underwater on Koh Tao – relaxing shallow stuff, a pristine wreck, then deep and exciting out at the offshore pinnacles.

I’m a novice diver, so Komodo NP was a pretty steep learning curve. Dive sites were typically in the lee of exposed seamounts – where the water would be slack, in theory…

My temporary home, Bayview Gardens Hotel, sits on a jungle covered hill above the port – a handful of cottages built on terraces hacked out of the hillside, linked by steep jungle paths and each fronted with an amazing wooden terrace to admire the world-beating sunsets. Adrian, the owner, is your typical Dutch ex-hippy, now…

It was an incredibly intense four days with so many highlights for a new diver; take your pick, and forgive me for listing far too many – it really WAS that good!: Similans – awesome kick-off for certification day – Dolphin Queen was off to Elephant Head Rock (big currents and big boulders – not…

So, for those who don’t know about diving liveaboards (e.g. me, yesterday) the routine is very simple – up at 6am, then eat, dive, eat, dive, eat, dive, eat, dive, eat and finally sleep…

Passing through the Andaman Sea’s party island