29th May 2011

After the hectic activities yesterday, we though we would have a couple of early fun dives... Just the two of us.

Unfortunately, the dive wasn't without stress... too many very bad divers got me pretty annoyed. Even when I told someone to think about where his fins were (at the time, he was kicking the crap out of anenomes) he just shrugged his shoulders... steam must have been visible from my ears.!

Returning, I emailed the dive school in question, as they have a good conservation arm and we know the team leader.

Here is their reply, and I admire them for taking a responsible approach

"Hey Simon, Many thanks for the email I received regarding 'terrible dive practises' First off I couldn't agree with you more. This type of behavior from a diving professional is not acceptable. & secondly I am extremely disappointed to read that this was done by one of our staff. I have asked the Manager of our Japanese side of Big Blue to investigate who did this & to listen to their reasoning behind their actions. Annoyingly the manager is on his way to Japan right now to help out some of the communities affected by the tsunami but he did write to let me know he is looking into this matter & will get back to me shortly. I will keep you posted as to how this pans out but in the meantime want to thank you for bringing this matter to my attention, & will meet with all my staff, Japanese included, to ensure that this sort of behavior doesn't happen again."

To be honest, sometimes speaking up isn't wise here. But I cannot keep letting things slide. Someone has to point out things that shouldn't and needn't happen. It may make me unpopular... we shall see... but my intention is purely to educate and stop certain behaviour...

Anyway... on a lighter note... the sprouts are growing!!!

28th May 2011

Beach & Dive Site Clean Up

We were at Crystal at 9.30 after stopping at the supermarket to buy some biodegradable bin bags. All of the DMT's (Divemaster Trainees) were scheduled to help so we had around 31 people helping which was amazing.

I think the best turnout in a long time, which goes to show what a bit of badgering and promotion can do.

After a quick chat, people started cleaning the beach in front of Crystal and all around the dive resort. The amount of plastic, broken flip flops, bottles and junk behind the bar area was incredible. We filled so many bags we had to ask nicely to use the Crystal taxi truck to take all the rubbish down to the pier, and even after that, there was more! I really don't understand peoples attitude to the disposal of rubbish.

The Dive Site clean up started at 2pm, so all geared up... the clean up crew headed to the boat. On board were bags, baskets, and scissors for cutting nets or other things that may need to be cut free from coral.

Divided into teams, we headed off in our own directions and started the hunt for garbage. The visibility at Mango Bay was stunning, and before long we began to find small bits of net, mesh bags, fishing lines and plastic bags wrapped around some of the smaller corals... which if left would suffocate them and then algae would grown over them, killing them.

It was very time consuming but always rewarding. After a 90 minute dive, we surfaced and handed up our bags of rubbish.

Back on deck, a few photos were taken and then we headed back to the main pier, to get the rubbish we had collected and put with our earlier collection for the bin men to take away.

26th May 2011

A day off!!! WOW!

Its been a while, and today Simon worked on UK work, and we just generally tried to chill out, and catch up with things that we had not had time to do recently.

Our plants are going well...

Here is the growth!

2 days after planting

3 days after planting

25th May 2011

Booked on the early morning boat, Si, Thais and I got our dive kit ready and headed down to the boat.  Todays dive sites were ‘White Rock’ and then Twins.

The first dive was good, Simon led.  The visibility was good and we spotted at least half a dozen blue spotted rays and a big Giant Puffer.  The only downside was that there were a lot of Trigger fish which seemed to very unhappy and made both Thais and I a bit uneasy.   Si seemed to be totally oblivious of one which shot past his head and circled around him.... Then just before our safety stop I spotted a trigger feeding in our dive path and signalled Si, but before he had chance to even look down, the trigger had swam up, hit his chest and gone back down.   Si was not too pleased as you can imagine.

At Twins, we dropped down and headed over to the coral nurseries to see how they were doing as the water has been 30/31 degrees as we’re hoping that we’re not going to get any major bleaching.  Fortunately only 3 or 4 had bleached fully, others were looking a bit pale, but all in all, they were all looking pretty healthy. Fingers crossed the water temperature will not rise any further.

Oh yes, we did try and find Thais’s ring which she’d dropped a week or so ago, but I think by now, someones either found it or it’s been buried in the sand.  The remainder of our time, we circled the shallow pinnacle, did our safety stop and surfaced.  These were Thais’s last dives as she was leaving the next morning.

Back at Crystal we gathered on the decking and completed log books and then presented Thais with her Reef Check & Marine Resource Management certificates. 

Tonight is ECO Film night, so Si’s playing episode 5 of ‘The Human Planet’ after the open water movies.  

23rd and 24th May 2011

Simon and I met Thais and James at Crystal around 9am and gathered our snorkelling gear and rode to New Heaven restaurant at the other end of the island and had breakfast overlooking ‘Shark Bay’  the view was stunning, such a lovely place to start the day.

After eating we grabbed our gear and headed down the never ending steps to the rocks where we put our snorkelling gear on and carefully made our way through the slippery barbed covered rocks to the sea in hope of finding some shark.  In this bay, there are usually black tip shark and a decent size too.  For about  half an hour or so James finally spotted one, the visibility was good but hazy or so after 15m, so pretty hard to spot the shark.  I only saw 2, the first looked massive and I was startled by it’s size, at least 1.5m and fairly chunky, the next wasn’t so big.   I’ve heard of people snorkelling with about 30 or so shark which I don’t think I’d feel comfortable, especially when they become inquisitive.  I think we all got burnt, we were in the water for over an hour  ..I know Simon was glowing by the evening and that was after spending another good couple of hours at the pool to cool off as we were all so hot ;-D

On the way home we stopped to buy some soil.  Rosie had given Simon some seeds for his birthday and we’d been planning to plant them for ages, so finally put time aside to sow some broccoli sprouts and some chilli’s.  We’re pretty excited to see the results ;-D

On the poster board outside the shop, we spotted a poster for Muay Thai boxing and fighting that night was Simons former rescue student, so we had to go.  So after arranging tickets we went home for a shower, met up later with James and Thais for dinner and stopped off at the shop for refreshments before heading to the boxing.    The fights were good, the first started with some very young boys, 12 or so, which I don’t particularly like but the rest were pretty exciting.  Simon and James were betting 100bht per fight and I thing by the end of the night, Simon was 400bht down.   Si’s former student was on last.  He looked really trim but relied on a boxing technique rather than high kicks and knees, so I was hoping the Thai guy would win but at the end of 3 short rounds, the judges decision was for Si’s old student   BOO!!!!

The next day, we returned to Junkyard for some repair work. Joined by a couple of other people, we worked very effectively and completed the small repairs in a timely fashion. While we were doing this we found evidence of fishing... a rod and reel, and also a fish trap.... If I catch the buggers!!

Returning back after 2 dives, we headed home so Simon could concentrate on UK work... ending at 22:30 super tired and going to bed!

21st May 2011

A morning observation dive at Chumphon, for our latest certified Eco Diver.

I really enjoyed this dive. It was quite spooky... very clear unless you looked down.. at 20m there was a thermocline and you could not see a thing... you can see it below as the camera swoops over Jens head... For the high quality version of this video  click here.

Hope you enjoy...

19th May 2011

Today, we hit the longtail for some coral transplanting.

We arrived at the nursery and chose the most viable candidates for transplanting to our new permanent structure. In the last week, there has been a significant colour change in the corals. I think due to the temperature and weather conditions, they are starting to struggle.

Moving them to the new structure, may cause some stress, but its slightly lower in the water and has a little bit of cover to maybe help reduce the overall stress in the long run.

In a 70 minute dive, we managed to transplant 20 corals between 3 of us. A slow process, but we need to be very careful not to damage the bases of the corals that have settled and grown over the last 6 months.

18th May 2011

Over the last few days we have been extremely busy... Here is a summary....

Our day off a few days ago started with nice refreshing swim at the Regal pool and then breakfast at Cafe Del Sol.  Si had UK work to do, so dropped me in Sairee and then went home.  I went for a massage which was bliss. 

After taking a slow walk home and nearly passing out from the heat :-D  I passed out on the sofa whilst Si carried on working.  Later on, we showered and went out for food and came back for a lazy night in front of the tv.

Si's been teaching a MRM  (Marine Resource Management) course since the 13th which I've been helping out on.  It's been going really well and Si's doing a brilliant job.  Most mornings have been doing academics, whether in a classroom, when they’ve been free or cafés.  The only thing with the cafés, is the noise but it’s a more relaxed atmosphere and we can have breakfast whilst teaching which has been nice. 

On the MRM we cover a lot of material, the course can be taught in one day, which we both think is ridiculous as there’s so much to take in, but breaking it up into a 4-6 day course is much more beneficial for the student/s.  There’s an array of subjects to cover, from Ecology & Biology of coral reefs, Reef Management issues (divers perspective), and Promoting Sustainable diving practices.  So as you can see, an awful lot to cover so in order to break it up, we’ve been diving and improve fish & invertebrate, various surveys along with a visit to ‘Bio Rock’, the electrified artificial reef, where we transplanted broken and soon to be dead corals.

Today, we’ve just finished the last unit on this course in Cafe Del Sol and are on the afternoon boat to go to ‘Twins’ & Japanese Gardens’ for quadrants surveys

Open Water Video !

Finally, I managed to get hold of the Open Water Course video from last month. Notice the freaky headwear... especially my dive mask with ear defenders which I was trying out.












x


SD

8th - 11th May 2011

 We've both been teaching Reef Check, which is a 4 day course. 

Mornings have been spent in the classroom talking about the study of corals, what are they why are they important, optimal conditions for growth, health, threats, data collection so that we can see what state of health our reefs are in, and watching video clips and in the afternoons we've gone diving identifying corals and collecting data.  Not forgetting the all important exams ;-D

Reef check is probably one of the best courses we've been on.  After completing this course, it made us look at diving in a completely different way.  Before, I just wanted to see fish, the bigger the better, turtles and the likes, but now it's like it's opened a window to a different world, the symbiotic relationships, our dependancy and the importance coral reefs plays in the survival of the planet.   I hope I'm not going on, but it's really interesting :-D  It's just a shame that we don't have more people signing up doing the course.  

Tomorrow we are having a day off and then the day after, we're teaching Marine Resource Management, thats a 6 day course going into even more detail. We shall take some piccies for you.!

x

JD

7th May 2011

On the 5th, we started the Advanced course. Academics in the morning and on the afternoon boat for a Navigation dive, Peak Performance Buoyancy and then out for a night dive. All the dives went swimmingly well. We couldn’t have asked for a better student.

Then, on the 6th we were up early and down at Crystal by 6.45am for the last 2 qualifying dives, Deep and Naturalist. Visibility was good, slightly cloudy at depth but all n all, two very chilled dives.

The 6^th was a sad day, it’ Simons Nan’s funeral and in memorial to her, our good friend James (carpenter) & Nathans son, Kailash, made us a unique memorial raft which we’ve decorated with beautiful flowers, candles and at the side, we’ve put a gorgeous picture of his Nan in a handmade bamboo frame which Si organised.

In the evening we went down to the beach and at the exact time as the memorial service in England we played the order of service released the raft into the sea at the end.

The tide, however was our enemy that night, and the raft came in eventually, so the next day, we took a dive boat, and launch it successfully into mid ocean....

R.I.P.