31st October 2016

A very 

Happy Birthday To You

Happy Birthday To You

Happy Birthday Dear Fiona!!!!

Happy Birthday To You

We hope you have a lovely day!

Take care on that broom of yours tonight ;-D

Sending lots of love and hugs

XOXOXOXOX

I've revamped my bike especially for the occasion!

Fit for a witch!!

25th October 2016

Life is good.  I actually took a German couple out on a 'Discover Scuba Dive' and got them to sign up for another which was good fun as they were so good that it was more like a fun dive for me. 

On Monday, I organised an afternoon trip for DMT's & Instructors to a neighboring dive school, 'New Heaven' who have 10 baby Hawksbill Sea turtles that they're looking after until they're big enough to release.  We were given a very interesting lecture and then got to feed them fish & fish pellets and then handled them very gently as they were measured and weighed.  They're soo cute!

4.8cm

28gms

Tuesday morning I met the Dive Master Trainees for a 'Beach Clean Up' which was very productive  ..its amazing the amount of rubbish we can collect from such a small amount of beach.  Shocking really!

That's the week so far!

19th October 2016

The last few days have been fun as Si's been on the boat as well, teaching Self Reliant courses to two Chinese instructors.  It's lovely even knowing that he's teaching, I love to see him teach :-)  What was funny is that both girls were really nervous  ...scared I think :-D  LOL

 Self Reliant students the the Master :-D

I on the other hand have been doing coral transplants and have had a couple of 'Adopt A Coral's to do with funnily enough a Chinese Dive Master Trainee, Mao.   He's a lovely chap and was so helpful throughout his training.  He reminded me of a little puppy, so eager to please.

Mao with his two adopted corals

Today, Nicole my eco intern and I were busy transplanting and moving giant clams onto our artificial reef Junkyard.  Hope my Trigger fish will leave them alone and not eat them. The clams are pretty large so they should stand a good chance.

Nicole transplanting onto her Turtle structure

14th October 2016

It's been pretty hectic.  I've still got my eco intern and have been diving most afternoons.   Last weekend as my student decided to go to Bali for a weeks break with her friend, Simon and I went to Samui for a break with Carsten and Tina.   We went over Friday morning and returned Monday morning which was lovely.  We did a little shopping, cheese, wine and a few veggie things for Si which we are still enjoying.   We also went Go Karting, caught a movie and had a thoroughly relaxed time.  It's so nice to get off the island from time to time, especially for Si's as he's not been diving at all.

I organised a big Beach Clean Up as I was disgusted at the state of the beach when we left for Samui which went really well.  We collected 158kg of rubbish, just along the short stretch of beach which is the first thing you see at you arrive on Koh Tao  ..so that was very satisfying to do on our return.  It's just a shame that you have to organize things like this to get people of there arses.

Eco Student with her finished turtle

5th October 2016

Wednesday and it already seems as though it's been a long week.

I've been pretty busy with the DMT's and Nicole, my eco intern.  Today, I thought it would be good to get her to make some sort of structure that we can deploy at our artificial reef, Junkyard and then transplant corals onto it.

She's been thinking about this for a few days and came up with the idea of a turtle, as Koh Tao is 'Turle island'.  So having worked out the rough measurements etc we met up at 9am this morning and bought the necessary rods, reebar etc which were delivered an hour or so later down at Crystal.  In the meantime I had organised the DMT's to come and help  ..so it was up to her to delegate and get things done  ...I did from time to time go down and interfere, I just couldn't help myself,  ..as she/they didn't seem to get getting anything done and she's only had the DMT's help for a couple of hours.

Anyway, as the DMT's were only there till 12.30 and our so called professional welder, Belha didn't show up at all this morning (sick)  ..I grabbed Will, a DM who had as much experience with a welder as I had for moral support and attempted welding the legs on but it just wasn't working and then a miracle happened, my 2nd attempt  ..I cracked it!.  2 legs on and then came the rain LOL

What to do :-D

The turtle finally coming together

2nd October 2016

So... its been a few days since the last post.

Jenny has been super Eco busy with her intern Nicole. out doing various Drupella snail collections, clam measurements, beach clean ups and also been conducting CoralWatch with Divemaster Trainees.

I have been busy with website stuff as usual, doing bar management work.

On Friday, Jen and I went home early (7pm) for once, and they have been digging up the road. I was going slowly but didn't see a pothole in the dug up road. We hit the dirt, and moments later had bystanders helping us up... We both were wearing our helmets and have only a few grazes fortunately.

The bikes steering was out of alignment and the handlebars were loose, but I was able to ride it home, where we both showered and I cooked dinner and we had a few Gin & Tonics to relax.

Since then, its been a Chinese National holiday, so the island has been inundated with tourists learning to dive. I was asked to film an Open Water but after the dives my knee became quite sore, so I decided to stay out of the water for a few days to let it heal better. Jenny had the weekend off, washing her bike and chilling out. Today she is back in the water so hopefully her knee has had time to heal.

The next week or so will be full of students learning, so the sooner I can get back in the water and film, the better.