I woke up around 5.30 so there wasn't much point in going back to sleep so I got up. It hadn't been a great nights sleep as the air conditioner had blown right on me and at 3am I'd moved to the bed next to me which was empty. I got ready and other people starting getting up close to 6 probably to dive as well. I left but it was raining a bit so I went back for my umbrella but couldn't find it and left again but I had charged my action camera and still left it behind so I went back and brought it along in my bag which had nothing of value. I got to the dive shop at 6.25, a little early but it was shut with nobody around, was I supposed to go around the front? I waited and a bit after 6.30 Jonathan turned up to open up and I filled up my water. We had to wait for the other 2 divers and once they came we grabbed the equipment and headed off. It was raining still so I took my T-shirt off so getting wet was OK. The boat was another dive companies but it was big not like the ones in the Perhentians or in Indonesia. We were downstairs near the back and the boat headed out and we had to prepare our equipment while it moved which was even harder as the weather was bad and there were waves. The 2 guys I was diving with were Tim and Flo, both from Germany and they had met a few months back in Cairns. Flo was not feeling too good with the boat rocking and concentrating on equipment was not helping but he did OK and we got to the dive site around 7.30, but it wasn't Chumpion on due to the weather we couldn't go there so we were at the wreck instead. We got our equipment on did buddy checks and I had maybe 180 bar and we stepped into the water. There was a rope to follow down and I was supposed to follow Jonathan with the 2 Germans next to each other behind but they were a bit close to me so I had to find other space. The ship was in good condition as it only sank in 2011 and it had a big gun at the front. It was a US boat which served in WW2 and I took a few pictures as we went round a couple of times before going back up and out. It was still choppy up top and after moving my BCG onto the next tank there was breakfast of eggs and toast, banana and pineapple. I ate a fair bit but not to stuff myself, Tim and Flo the Germans did not eat so much and Jonathan doesn't eat while diving. The boat moved during breakfast and we arrived at red rock our next dive site. It was a pinnacle reef and we went in and down near to it and I took a few more photos as we went around but didn't see any good fish or things. My air was not that low when we came out which surprised me and the guys and it turned out it was because of me and this place leaves on 70 bar to finish on 50 while my previous places leave in 50. I wasn't happy with that and Tim wasn't too happy either as he still had 100 bar and wondered how I used so much. The other divers all came out and we had to clean and put away the kit on the ride back. We went back to the dive shop and got our logs done and Tim and Flo were both going to Koh Phangan next where the full moon party was in just 3 days. I headed back to the hostel, got my laundry, managed to pay for the dorm on Agoda and got some food. I headed out to see the south of the island and took a while getting to the south with a 7-11 on the way. I wasn't quite where I'd planned as I'd missed my turning from not having a GPS, it was annoying not having my phone charge. I walked along skipping the beach and came to freedom beach where there was a viewpoint nearby. The beach had a 50 baht entry fee and it was still early so I carried on walking. A bit further along was another possible viewpoint area and a walk down to a beach. There were 2 restaurants, the first of which was quite expensive but the second one called OK restaurant was OK, but still I'd snacked a bit so decided not to have a meal and missed out on photos of their view and the weird futon seats they had. I went back to the road and carried on and got to a beach area. I had a look and took photos and then tried to carry on but the beach came to an end so I had to divert a bit and where I thought might be a hill there wasn't one. I carried on and a little while later I saw an advert for OK restaurant which I thought was a bit strange there being 2 restaurants with the same name. Then I got to the area with the OK restaurant and somehow I'd come back on the same road. Maybe it was a sign, so I went down and had a look at the beach and view and looked at my booklet of Koh Tao and it wasn't a snorkelling spot so I went back up and tried to carry on but there was no through path so I ended up pretty close to where I'd started. I asked someone in a shop where I could get a USB cable and he showed me a place in town but I didn't want to go back yet and I took a road east to see more. The map without GPS wasn't working well but I'd missed the best viewpoint as it was past the 50 baht toll near to freedom beach. The road took me to a recycling place and I saw a hill nearby and tried to get to the too as the view could be good. I headed in that direction through a disgusting rubbish tip where people and flies were both hanging around, it reminded me a bit of Myanmar. I tried to climb the hill but the path ended and I didn't want to go off road so I went back down and along the road but there was no turning up the hill. Instead I took the roads all the way to Tanote beach which was quite nice and was supposed to be good for snorkelling. I put my things down on the beach where I thought less people would go and got changed and went into the water with my goggles. There was quite a lot of coral but the goggles were old and leaked and I had my bag to worry about as well but it was a good swim around and I realised that I didn't like the lack of freedom you get diving where you have to surface when your air runs out and follow a guide as well, snorkelling was just more free in both senses and quite fun.
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