Hot days, thundery nights, sudden squalls, sad news...

The hot humid days continue, with dark clouds growing over the hills of Phuket, sometimes disappearing, burned away by the sun; sometimes growing and becoming small isolated thunderstorms. Tonight as I drove home, the sky to the north was black as a ravens wing. Must have been some really heavy rain for a while somewhere nearby. I was rained on for about 10 minutes. Wish I had a camera with me for a photo of that sky... (Will be getting a Canon EOS 20D soon! A friend who is a keen photographer is visiting soon and has upgraded so I am buying his old one. Looking forward to it!)

The sky has many faces, the sea too...

Last night around 11pm the rain and wind battered our house for about half an hour, a nasty little squall. Thunder rolled around the hills, it was batten down the hatches (close the windows) time. And as suddenly as it started, it was over.

Out at sea last night, a liveaboard dive boat was returning to Phuket. Calm seas, no rain, no hint of a storm. So here's the sad news. We heard around lunchtime today the news that the boat had sunk, 6 people missing. Still missing as far as I know.

Quite a shock to all of us in the dive business. The boat that sank had only been operating for about 4 months. The operator one of the most experienced and well respected in Phuket, the captain had been running dive boats for 20 years. I don't want to speculate on any causes, this has to be investigated properly. My thoughts are with the missing and their families and friends.