26th November 2010

Off the plane at 5am, and back to Jen's sisters house.

Jesus, its cold here. -2c on arrival, and it has not increased. Snow is still forecast... We are still in a state of shock (or frozen?)..

First on the agenda was doctors appointments. Then collect our car (ka!). Thanks to Martyn for purchasing ahead of our arrival. The only thing that doesn't work is the damm heater!!! Typical!!


After visit to the docs, and booking an ENT appointment for 6th Jan, we sorted out insurance on the car.

A quick visit to the office, to say Hi, and back to the farm, where I decided to fall asleep on the sofa.. Could not keep my eyes open. Eventually, both of us were in bed by 8pm.

Up for a couple of hours at 3am (jet lag) I got back to sleep, and we both woke up bright and early...

21st November 2010

So after spending the morning packing a few things, we went on the afternoon boat, and for the first time in a while... the sun came out :-)

We had a couple of fun dives at Twins, with Divemaster Trainee Timo practicing his briefings and leading underwater, while we evaluated him. Timo is Finnish (which means he's a bit of a nutcase!) has a lot of energy and charisma. I think he will make an excellent Divemaster and Instructor eventually. Well done Timo.

In the evening, it was time for Sunday Roast & Settlers... very nice.!

20th November 2010

Sorry for the lack of posts. 

Both Simon and I have been busy teaching a Rescue course for the last few days.  It's was only a one person course but it's been a lot of fun.  Our student, Stephanie is going on to do the Eco courses,  Reef Check and Marine Resource Management which is just brilliant.

I think in the next couple of days we'll be taking it easy, packing and hopefully getting in as many dives as possible before we head home on the 25th.

We're both really looking forward to seeing the family but it's going to be strange not being able to dive everyday.

16th November 2010

Today, Jen and I went to visit the coral nursery we installed at Twins in early September.

It started off as a lovely sunny day, and turned into a very wet event....


Sadly I only managed the 1 dive, as on the 2nd one, my sinus issue appeared making me unable to descend.... a harsh reminder of the need to fix my body when we return to the UK...

Anyhow.... check the growth of the corals out!


x

SD

13th November 2010

Today, we had organised to go to Junkyard, as it was in need of repair after the terrible weather we have had recently..


So, double diving it with 16 people, we got a lot done! While Jen took a bunch of guys to fix 1 structure, me and Carsten (in his fantastic rooster hoodie) went to fix the Tin Man.


Although the visibility is still not good, there was a lot of good work done, and even a great barracuda on the site.... very nice!


Next dive, since Carsten was itching to saw something, I let him loose on the truck tyres... Carsten was unaware that the tyres are threaded with steel wire... and 15 minutes later, he gave up much to my amusement..!


Then we headed to the new coral nurseries, to give the a waft and remove sedimentation..



A great day, and all tasks that we needed to complete, were done... its good to be diving again... :-)

x

SD

10th November 2010

Hey guys,


I am sorry to report, that there is absolutely no news!

We have been battered by storms over the last few days, keeping us indoors and very bored!

Hopefully we are through the worst, and we can start having some fun again !!! :-)

x

SD

Day 272 - 3-5 November 2010

The last few days have been quiet.  Simon did however go for his first dive in 52 days as we were both teaching a Peak Performance Specialtiy course for a couple of American kids.  I briefed and led dive one just in case he had any equalisation issues, but all was good ;-D  It's brilliant to be diving together again.
We had a good first dive, even though it was 3 meters viz and both students were very keen.
The second dive was pretty much the same, a few different skills but enjoyable.  I dont think either of us have ever seen students get so excited about Christmas Tree worms and sea cucumbers.
Yesterday we popped down to collect our dive kit at Planet Scuba and then went to Crystal to see if anything was happening, which it wasnt, so went home.
Later that evening we went back down to the Crystal bar and put on a movie 'Scott Pilgrim vs the World' which we both thought was pants.  Tomorrow, as there's no Open Water Vids, we're going to put on a classic horror!

GOOD LUCK to my 'ugly' sisters Rosie & Fi  lol ...who should now be in South Africa doing a sponsored walk for Breast Cancer     ...'those feet were made for walkin'

Day 271 - 2nd November 2010

This morning we headed down to 'Zest' for breakfast feeling slightly hungover from the Halloween party.
The weather was still pretty pants so we headed down to Freedom Beach where we checked out conditions as  we were supposed to be taking the american students out snorkelling to do 'Coral Watch' but with the massive surges and not wanting to see students torn to pieces by coral, it was called off.  So we spent most of the day in 'Safety Stop' playing Settlers of Catan with Luana, Kat & Debbie.

In the evening we passed by the Crystal bar for a couple and then headed home for an early night.  I'm so glad we did as the wind picked up and rain lashed down.  Later on, came the thunder and lightening which we both got up to watch.

J
x

Day 270 - 1st November 2010

Today we spent the morning tweaking our presentation before the afternoon.

Taking over the whole bottom of the "Starfish Cafe", Jen started the proceeding, presenting to nearly 50 students about Eco stuff.

Halfway through, I took over and talked about CoralWatch and Project Aware.

2 hours passed, and we had finished. Although both of us were nervous, hopefully we pulled it off! They seemed to be interested anyway!

Over the next couple of days (weather permitting), we shall take them out in shifts to do some practical work....

Oh, and another Happy Birthday message... this time to the young Mandry..... TOMALINA!!!

x

SD