28th June 2011

A few days ago, we had a dive site clean up day..

35 people from our school turned up... the biggest in over a year which was great...

The boat headed to Shark Bay where we all jumped in with our separate groups. Jen and I were on our own, and collected various pieces of electrical cable, batteries and plastic bottles.

About 20 minutes into the dive, we came across a massive net, which took another 30 minutes to cut coral and other things out, to release the net from the bottom. Carrying it back to the boat was difficult, but we managed.

 Once on the boat, we managed to free the remaining coral, and found two of these poor crabs entangled in it.

Free, the crabs went on there merry way, and we returned to the Dive School...

A very enjoyable day for all!

26th June 2011

Today... just me and Jen having some fun dives... brill...

24th June 2011

Spending time out of the water, concentrating on UK work... but in the meantime... a new promo...

21/22nd June 2011

It's been an enoyable but tiring couple of days. We've both been teaching  Advanced Open Water.

Si started on Monday and as I didnt have much to do, tagged along for the first of 5 adventure dives.

Fortunately, as the group had chosen different dives, I was able to help out and take one of the students on the 2nd dive for their PPB (Peak Performance Buoyancy) which worked out really well as the other two were doing Fish ID.

After what seemed a never ending day and back on dry land we packed away our dive kit and Si met the students to complete log books. They had a 7am start so headed off home. 
Si and I on the other hand grabbed a refreshing beer before headed to Vibe with Carsten & Tina for a game of Settlers of Catan and food.   

Tuesday morning, Si left early, I managed to sneak an extra hours sleep in as I didnt have to meet and greet my students at Crystal until 9am.  Academics completed, we broke for lunch before packing bags and heading out on the afternoon boat for their Navigation and PBB dives

On our return we had an hour or so break before going on a Night dive which was brilliant.  We saw stingrays, cuttle fish, ocotpus and an indian walkman.  The students loved it and I think it was one of the best night dives I've done in a long time.  After a choppy journey back we headed straight home as I had an early start the next day.

 I left Simon in bed asleep early and walked to Crystal.  Todays dives were at Chumphon & Red rock which were both amazing.  Visibility was perfect and both students said they couldnt have wished for a better finish to their course, which is nice to hear.  They'd done so well and for me it was brilliant to see how much they'd improved and learnt.

20th June 2011

Yesterday, we were privileged enough to be allowed on board the 1st boat to go find the wreck..

One of the guys took a camera, and got the first view of the ship underwater...

Here it is.. ( 1st 45 secs are the same as previous post!)

xx


SD

18th June 2011 - HMS Sattakut

This was a big day....

The Navy were in town to bury one of their ships under the ocean, for us to play with...

A mini concert and fireworks were held the night before, with various dignitaries giving speeches (in Thai, so I have no clue what was said)

I had spent a few day preparing and organising with Deep Down Productions, to send video guys out on New Heaven, Crystal Dive, and Planet Scuba's boats. Also we arranged to have one video shot from high up on the island to get a wide shot. There was also some communication with BBC Asia dept, that they may be interested in a report. Nice!

So, up at 4:30am cos I couldn't sleep... I did some UK work, before waking Jen at 7am.

7am was the 1st event of the day (Buddhist Ceremony), and I had asked a video intern from DDP to film it... unfortunately he went to the wrong location and then had camera issues.

Jen and I arrived at Deep Down's offices at 8am, with Jon (video intern) waiting to tell us his problems. 5 minutes later I had the camera fixed, and sent him running to the correct location. The ceremony was going on till 9ish, so I still anticipated some footage.

We all packed and prepared our cameras, then nipped next door for coffee. At 9am, Jace (videographer) and Cormack (video intern) walked to Planet Scuba to join their boat. Jen, James (another videographer) and I walked to Crystal.

New Heaven were meant to leave around 10am with Jen on board. We called Nathan at 9.15am to confirm that he was coming down. He then apologised as he had forgotten to tell us that the times and location of the boat had changed. Bugger!

Jen, now with no options, ran to Planet Scuba and managed to get a space on theirs (YAY!)

That left James and I waiting for our ride. The owner of Crystal had a boat for press that we were allowed to go on. It was supposed to leave at 10:30.

The schedule for the boat sinking was 11:30am. James and I was still on shore waiting for the boat to go with me cursing and moaning into my phone at various people who I spoken to about the event. Eventually the boat left at 11:45am... luckily the wreck had not sunk yet.

The boat zoomed over to the HMS Sattakut, and we got some shots for about 30 mins before being told that due to the weather it was not being sunk today... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!

All that stress, and then to hear the news that it wouldn't be sunk..... oh well... so we returned to the shore, I picked up a motorbike that I have rented while my bike is having an engine rebuild (another story!) and then Jen and I headed home while a huge rainstorm came in.

1 hour later, I look out from our balcony to see that the ship had dissapeared! NOOOOO!

The ship either sank in the rain, or the Navy sank it deliberately misleading boats to remove them from the site. Who knows...

That was our day... a long one, with no happy outcome. Everyone was very cheesed off about missing the sinking.

It turns out that the one boat that was there to see it.... was New Heaven, who Jen was originally supposed to be with... hey ho...

Here are some shots of the HMS Sattakut...



xxxx

SD

17th June 2011

Big Update tomorrow, with the sinking of the navy ship!!

Too busy till then!


Much love


xxxx

14th June 2011

So, another day resting ears and working on UK stuff.

In the morning though, Jen and I went to help clean some Mangroves, the only ones left on Koh Tao...



It was an hour long, sweaty, and smelly work... but we cleared a lot of rubbish with the help of the local school..!


Then for me, it was back home for more UK work, while Jen went fun diving... lucky sod! That night we went to sleep at 9pm!!!

13th June 2011

Another day working hard on UK work.

More interesting though... in the evening when we came home after dinner... we found this fellow...


Needless to say, Jenny was dictating the orders of how to remove the snake, which after pulling its tail and getting rid of it with a broom... I googled and the closest match is the Malayan Krait (Top 5 most venomous snake in the world!!)

Here is some vid, with no sound as the mic was disconnected...

12th June 2011

Another day out of the water... Jen spent some time at the pool. I fixed a puncture on the bike, more UK work... and also this..

11th June 2011

With Simon busy with work I eventually walked into Mae Haad.  It wasn't so hot today which was nice and I'd packed my towel and ipod just incase I ended up by the pool.

I had a couple of jobs to do, stop in at the printers to get some Eco posters printed off, which I did, but got the wrong size DOH!!!   ..then I took a slow walk down to Crystal to sign myself and Simon up for tomorrows Dusk dive, which I later found out was cancelled due to the weather  ..typical!  It's going to be rescheduled, so hopefully by then, Si's ears will be 100%.

My day did improve, Nathan was in the office and suggested that we did a quick dive at Junkyard as his friend was over from Oz, so I gladly accepted, grabbed our kit and set off on the longtail almost being swallowed up by the wave.  By the way my day was going, I didnt think twice about the boat sinking ;-D
So moored up, jumped in and did a quick clean and tour of the site.  We came across 20 batfish near the newly deployed eco bug which was cool, then a couple of really big squid which took me ages to spot.  They're fascinating creatures, very timid and very fast.  After scrambling back on the boat which was a third full with water, we headed back to shore.  Luckily the bilge pump was working else we've have been bailing the water out.

As the clouds gathered and wind picked up, I quickly headed home. Just as I got in, the heavens opened, what timing!!

That evening Simon and I went into Sairee for food at 'Mint' . Red chicken curry & red curry tofu which was very tasty and home to watch 'Paul' the movie which turned out to be pretty funny.

10th June 2011

Not much to report...

My ear is a bit sore and I have keeping it dry in the hope it improves.. In the meantime, its been manic UK wise on the work front.. So I have been concentrating on that. Most afternoons it has been raining.

Yesterday evening, we were required to attend a Crystal meeting to discuss procedures etc.. Very long, but useful information.

After that it was time for some free food and home.

x

SD

9th June 2011

By the time I woke, which around midday, Si had been up working for a good couple of hours so feeling pretty guilty, I got up and made beans & egg on toast and tea which was absolutely delicious.

I must say I was feeling great after last nights festivities but Simon had one of those slow building hangovers, probably due to fact that he'd not eaten anything and just drank.

Around 7.30pm we rode to Crystal as it was Eco night.   We played 'Human Planet' episode 6, Rivers and the first episode of 'Whale Wars'.   Considering that the bar was pretty empty when we arrived, by the time we'd ordered pizza and started watching Human planet, I looked around and there were at least 20 or so people which was really pleasing.

8th June 2011

World Oceans Day!

And to celebrate it, we had an Eco boat ready to hit Twins dive site for some Eco action, with about 30 volunteers!

Splitting into team, some went out with bags and looked for rubbish, some went looking for Drupella snails, and some went to transplant coral.

At Twins, we have our 2nd nursery, which is now very over crowded due to the excellent growth, and we jumped into the water with our keen Eco recruits and headed to the nursery.

Upon arriving, there was a very important task to do first. Move a Crown of Thorns starfish that had moved in underneath. If it had decided to climb up the nursery, the results would have been devasting. The starfish did not want to go quietly, and it took me a good 10 minutes to wedge him out of his place with an iron bar, using all my strength!


Jen gave me a hand, and eventually he complied and moved into the awaiting basket. I then swam a good 50m away from our nursery and rehoused him.

Back to the task in hand, the coral transplants. Picking 15 of the most suitable candidates, we gave each of our recruits a single piece to transplant with our help. We headed over to "The Magic Tree" which is a Buoyancy World structure. In the tree are built in glass bottles, perfect for our transplants.



Two dives later, it was home time.. ready for a night at "The Castle" which is a nightclub I have only been to once before... Nightclubs are not really my thing... But since this was sponsoring Eco Koh Tao, then we had to attend and lend a hand badgering people for money.

We ended up leaving quite late, and the free buckets of alcohol took there effect and I was out for the count about 30 seconds after we got home..

7th June 2011

After a few hours of solid sleep we got up and showered.  Still feeling out of sorts, we had breakfast, toast & tea and stayed in for most of the day.  I sorted out the washing while Si did some editting. 

Around 7pm we headed down to Crystal to see if there was anybody about but it was dead, so we popped to Vibe, ordered a Calazone takeaway and went home.

6th June 2011

Up early, we packed our bags and headed down to Zest for breakfast.  I ordered while Simon shot down to the pier to confirm our tickets on the Lomprayah. The boat left at 10.15, so we had plenty of time to have breakfast, buy some essentials for our trip.

On board, I dozed whilst Si read his book.  Before long, we'd arrived at Chumphon.  Making our way down the rickety mile long pier, we were met by a Andaman representative who then shuffled us quickly into minibus.  As there were only 3 passengers we had ample space to stretch out.

Not long into the journey, I knew that there was no way that I could sleep, there were no seat belts and the drivers foot must have been made of lead.  Due to the speed that he was going I literally had to wedge my feet against the seat infront and hold on with either hand.  Overtaking on most bends, squeezing between lorries with cm's to spare ..I was a nervous wreck.  At one point the other passenger paid him to slow down, not that that helped.  Finally after the 3 hour minbus journey from hell, we arrived at Ranong only to realise that we'd missed our departure date by 1 day, infact all of us had, so we then had to go back in the minibus and go to the immigration office to pay a 500baht fine, sign some paperwork and then hop back in the minibus for another 10 minute journey back to he ferry port.

Once over to Burma, passports stamped, it was time to head back.  I was so looking forward to the drive back  NOT!!!     After we all spoke to the driver, to SLOW DOWN he finally did and we arrived safely back in Chumphon at the Farang bar (English bar) around 7pm where we able to relax, eat and were taxi'd to the night ferry which left at 11.30pm.
The ferry was very simple, we each had a mattress half a meter wide with the smallest of pillows, not that I wanted to put my head on it but we were lucky, the boat wasn't that full, so spread ourselves out.  The annoying thing was that I needed the toilet a few times and had to clamber over everyone in the dark, stooped, as you couldn't stand, then navigate down a tiny staircase, over all the supplies of food and yet more people to finally reach the loo.    

We finally arrived back on Koh Tao just before 5.45am and headed straight home to bed.

3rd June 2011

Turtle today!

Here is some video Simon took..

1st June 2011

Feeling much brighter today we had breakfast, boiled egg, soldiers and a cup of tea and headed into town.   Our first stop was Crystal, to sign up for tomorrows morning dives.

Then Deep Down, the videographers where Si chatted (geeky stuff) with James (another videographer) whilst I popped next door to 'Island Travel' to sort out our Visa run to Burma. Every 3 months we have to leave the country for a 3 month extention.   So this time we're just to do a quick one.

Get the boat, minibus and boat over to Burma, have our passports stamped and straight back again.  We leave on the 5th at 10:15am and return the following morning just before 6am.  It's not the most pleasant of journeys but it's quick.
After our little chores were done, we went for a lovely swim at the 'Regal' pool.  Si tried several times to drown me but with little success ;-D
We headed home for lunch and made some boiled egg sandwiches with mayo and Im proud to say, Simons newly grown brocolli sprouts.  They were delicious!!

Tonight is Eco Film Night, so it's off to Crystal bar to show Episode 6 of 'The Human Planet' Grasslands.  Hopefully there will be a good turn out!

31st May 2011

This morning, we both woke with thunderous headaches after last nights drinking.  I think I eventually surfaced around midday.  Si in the meantime had done UK work,  popped out to get provisions and by the time I actually showered, had breakfast on the go.  Egg & beans on toast, orange juice and nice cup of tea.   How lovely was that?! ;-D

We both spent most of the day vegging out, watching various tv series and a couple of films.  Just the cure for a hangover ;-D 

We did pop out in the evening though, as Simon needed to speak with Jace (videographer), so we popped down to Crystal for an hour or so and then headed to 'El Gringo's'  Mexican restaurant for a takeaway.

Such a lazy day!

30th May 2011

Happy Birthday Jan
&
Happy Anniversary Rosie & Charles.            Have a fabulous day!

After a slow morning, Simon and I eventually left the house around midday to rendezvous with Nathan and family who are visiting from Oz to dive Junkyard.

At Crystal there was no sign of Nath, so we shot up to Zest for breakfast.  Whilst I ordered, Si raced to the garage to see if they had a footpeg for the bike as the rear passenger side had fallen off but returned minutes later footpegless. 

Back at Crystal, Nathan and co were setting up so we rushed to get our kit and piled everything on the longtail and headed out. After securing coral and adding new signage to the Sydney harbour bridge Si and I went off on our own to do a bit of cleaning and rejoined Nathan & Co back on the longtail Naths sister was amazed by amount of life that had moved in and with all the work that we've done.

The afternoon we chilled out with Nathan and his friends and family and Simple Life's pool, had a few games of catch and then headed to Yoga, which I was pleasantly surprised as to how flexible I was (NOT)  90mins later, we headed home, showered.

Today was also Nathans friends birthday, so we'd arranged to meet up at Vibe for drinks as it was '80's night.  All Naths crew had dressed up and had funky shades and were the life and sole of the party, singing, dancing and we just watched in hysterics, they were all so funny.  Too many wine and soda's i think Si and I were the last to leave.