Friday 31 May 2013

1st June 2013

A new student has finally arrived..

Yackov Munkevo from Denmark had been booked in to start his Underwater Documentary.

He arrived a couple of days ago with all his lovely camera gear... First thing was to test the housing. It did not go well!

He took it in the pool where it was discovered that the damm thing was leaking!  A major bodge job repair by me, and we tested again to find that my fix had done the job...

We went for a dive yesterday, with no camera inside and it was a success, so it was back to the pool for more tests with the camera inside this time... Still no leaks!




This morning, he heads out for his first dives with the housing and camera... Fingers crossed!!

On a side note... Best wishes to my brother on his trip to Mount Elgon, and good news that my mum is back home after her knee operation!

xx

SD

Saturday 25 May 2013

25th May 2013

Hey all,

Again its been a frantic week of stuff... hence the blog posting has been minnimal... sorry about that...

After 2 days of Permaculture... which was very tiring, digging trenches for water runoff in rock hard ground.. (I even managed to break the pickaxe!!)




Tired, and a bit crispy from all the sun... I was placed on another rescue course, and then immediately following that I was onto Open Waters again!

The Open Water course was not easy... Starting with 4 people, I did academics on the first day, and the next day it was into the pool... They were quite nervous, and halfway through the session, 1 of the students dropped a weight on to her big toe... Blood everywhere and a screaming student was not fun... She ended up going to the clinic, having her toenail taken off, and left yesterday without completing the course..

The 3 remaining students improved, but it was still hard... I had no time to eat during the course... managing to eat a banana on one day, and a sandwich 24 hours later... The next day, I didn't eat again, and returning from the boat in a foul mood, I had a big rant about some staff issues I was not happy with... I then left the bar to go and finally get some food... Ordering a veggie calzone pizza to takeaway... it ended up coming with ham... and I lost my rag..  Walking out of the bar swearing and shouting at the staff was probably not my proudest moment... and I shall not be going back there in a while..

Open Water course finished yesterday, and straight on to Advanced today.... 5 more dives and maybe I'll have a couple of days of to relax and shutdown for a bit.... but being Full Moon... I am not sure that'll be the case.

I am glad to hear that my Mum's knee operation went ok... I managed to call her yesterday at her hospital bed, and besides the obvious pain, she seemed in good spirits... Get well soon ma!!!

xx

SD

Saturday 18 May 2013

18th May 2013

A full on week again, has limited me from posting on the blog. While Jen has been conducting Eco dives, I was asked to do another Rescue Course.

With 3 divers, and an MDST candidate (a new instructor learning the ropes) it was a tough course as I like things doing my way, but you have to give some control to the new instructor and allow them to make their mistakes. After completion, I was looking forward to 2 days out of the water at a Permaculture workshop.

Getting up this morning was hard, after a week of waking up a 3 - 4 am... I was quite blurry eyed as we headed to the Save Koh Tao office.

After a lecture about Permaculture, we had some lunch and proceeded to make a small garden patch using a technique called Sheet Mulching.

Using layers of cardboard, brown leaves, greenery etc, to make up different layers of Carbon and Nitrogen we built it up over a couple of hours before placing compost on top and planting a range of veggies.




Back again tomorrow for some more learning....

x

SD

Sunday 12 May 2013

12th May 2013

Wow!! A day off for me...

So I laid in bed till 9:30am... bit of a record for me... lovely... I then laid on the couch all morning, watching TV and being a proper slob.

Then to make something productive from my day, I edited some footage (cos Tim came out filming to test a camera housing) of the "Hell Dive" from the Rescue Course... Its basically a part of the course where everyone goes for a fun dive but "problems" happen during the course of it... The ones I bring in would never truly happen in real life, but I believe if they can cope with the ridiculous stuff, then the rest comes easy..

Anyway, the video is called Hell Dive and is just a couple of minutes long...

Hell Dive

Enjoy

x

SD

Thursday 9 May 2013

9th May 2013

Ahhh...

Straight off a full on Rescue course... which if you are lucky I may post some clips online... as Tim was out with me testing a repaired housing..  it was onto Reef Check.... about time I got some Eco time..

More later... but at the moment... have a look at this post from Facebook that I was tagged in.. needless to say, I was a little annoyed...

You will have to click to have a better read... but the conversation is continuing....


x

SD


Monday 6 May 2013

Bangkok for a few days

After a cycling accident about 15 years ago, where I smashed my front teeth out (and broke my wrist) I have had a permanent bridge replacing the damaged teeth.. In the last few weeks the old bridge started to come loose and not want to be without front teeth for a few weeks, as the dentist on the island is only here at weekends, Simon and I decided to fly up to Bangkok to get my teeth sorted.  Expensive but well worth the trip.

I'd investigated several dentist on line but due to the vast numbers, changed my mind quite a few times on which one to select.  In the end, I chose the one recommended by the dentist here on Koh Tao.  Even though it was pricey  ..it had stunning reports.  So appointment made, Si made travel plans to get there.  Firstly we caught the after Lomprayah ferry to Chumphon, then immediately jumped onto a mini bus for a 45min journey to the airport, where we boarded NOK Air's small jet propelled plane.  



55mins later we landed at Bangkok Int Airport and grabbed a taxi straight to our hotel.  Unpacked and showered, and headed out for food.
 
My appointment was at 9.30am and as Simon had booked the hotel close by, we had a 5 minute walk to the Dentist.    Its certainly not like the UK where you're appointment is always running late.   I walked in 20 min early and was seen straight away.  

First the dentist took pictures of my teeth, then I was sent off to have several xrays taken.   Then I  sat in the waiting room for another 5 mins before being called in.     WOW  ..the technology they have is amazing.  You've got your own monitor infront of the dentist chair.  Where they then brought up all the pictures/xrays they'd taken and went through everything.  they then zoomed into my crown where they showed me that I had an infection at the root of one of my teeth, where I'd had root canal treatment and where my teeth were pinned. 


 All very exciting but I was getting slightly nervous when they told me their plan to drill through the bridge, leaving one tooth secured and then assess whether or not they could use the supporting tooth and if so, id need to see the root canal specialist to treat the infection ..or maybe have the tooth pulled and then talk about implants  ...ARGHHH   ..anyway, before any of the proceedings, they took moulds of my teeth so they could build a temporary plate for me, so I wouldnt be toothless :-D  

Having everything on site, meant that the work could be done very quickly and no messing around sending things off etc.

So, after a 30 minute wait and mulling over a price plan.  I went back into see the dentist..  by this time my hands were pretty sticky  ....we talked about the options again and then he set to work  ..drilled through my bridge, took 2/3 of it out and then checked the tooth underneath  ..urgh, it looked rank  ..even the picture makes me squirm.  As the tooth wasnt that stable, he decided it should be pulled.  So off to another section I went.  Injected 3 times and mulling about in the chair for what seemed a life time, the pull commenced  ..took ages and I was more concerned about her putting pressure on my remaining tooth, crowny thing.   Finally, it was out and she gave me a couple of dissolvable stiches  ...then a massive piece of gauze to bite on, to stop the bleeding  ...by this time I couldn't speak and muttered a thank you and left and headed straight back into see the other dentist where he pulled out this temporary plate and then proceeded to show me how to insert/take it out  ...wow, that was quick.

While all of this was going on, I sent Si off shopping, as he needs to replace his laptop, so arranged to meet him back at the hotel.   So as I toodled off, mouth packed with gauze and looking as though I'd got a massive fat lip, i headed to the supermarket opposite the hotel on the search for goodness knows what  ...In the end, I picked up some grapes, juice and then Si called to say that he was on his way back, so he ended up meeting me in the supermarket, picking up some more groceries and then heading back to the hotel.  By then my mouth was throbbing.   I did manage to make egg sandwiches which i struggled to eat even with the crusts cut off.   How embarrassing!!



That evening we ordered food (soft) to eat and stayed in watching some movies...

The next day, we returned to the Pantip Plaza for more searching for Simons new laptop... unfortunately the one he needs is not in stock in the whole of Thailand... he will have to wait a few weeks before being able to order it... While we were out, we nipped to the Imax and booked our tickets for Iron Man 3.

We returned back to the hotel for a couple of hours, and then went back out to watch the film.... we both really enjoyed the action, and there were some laugh out loud moments.. There were some annoying people who decided to come in over an hour late, and then need to push past to get to their seats... Whats the point if you are an hour late?!!

The next day it was shopping for clothes at the MBK mall... After a couple of hours of buying nothing, we gave up... went home for a nap, and then back out for dinner in the evening... a lovely Indian meal...

The following day we returned to Koh Tao, using the same air service and ferry... and Simon immediately started a Rescue Course... while I have a rest!