31st March 2012

 I am up early... got the dive site clean up today... which 35 people have signed up to!!!

Its going to take a lot of organising.... so with fried egg sandwich in hand... off I go..

By the way... I made this video a couple of days ago..


https://vimeo.com/39481980

xx

SD

29th March 2012

Its been a few days..

Let me first say a big thank you to all the lovely people who sent cards and gifts to me... it was very nice..

Jenny got me lots of stuff... I got a torch, keyring, some boardies, a bounce on water ball, picallilli, and some KP peanuts!!

I started an Open Water course the day after my birthday (with a massive hangover!)... Luckily the 1st day is all classroom academics.  I had 3 students who were wonderful learners.. they picked everything up with ease... although I constantly teased them by calling them Team Retard.

As I was finishing the course, Jen started an open water course... so we have not had much time to spend together. I also immediately picked up a cold (MAN FLU!!) and spent 2 days laying on the sofa trying my best to feel as sorry for myself as possible.

Birthday shout outs go out to Dad, and Aunty Pat... who both celebrated their birthdays in the last couple of days.

Yesterday, after boredom had kicked in, I headed out to Junkyard to try diving... going down was fine... Going up... ouch... I had a reverse sinus block.  Air gets trapped in the sinuses, and cannot escape as you ascend, expanding inside the sinuses. Needless to say, painful... and it took about 14 hours including a night of sitting on the couch with massive headache and toothache before I heard a nice hiss in my head where the air had finally come out... Phew...  Residual pain is still there... Jen response "I told you not to go..." did not meet with the best reception..

So... it looks like another couple of days out of the water.. but I have UK work to get on with...

On another note... the countdown commences still Roy arrives!! WOOOOOOOHOOO!!!

x

SD

23rd March 2012

Simon had a great Birthday!  He got back from doing surface cover just after noon and as no one had checked in for Open Water, he had the afternoon off.  YAY!!!

After opening all of his card and prezzies, we had a bite to eat and Si just collapsed on the sofa and snoozed, he was shattered :-D   So, this was a lucky break for me :-D   I walked down to Crystal to collect my bike as I had to pick up his Birthday cake, but then realised by the time I ride into Sairee, pick up the cake it would have melted, so I managed to get a bargain of a taxi there and back.  With cake in the restaurant at Crystal, I then cycled home.  Boy it was hot!   Most of the afternoon was just spent chilling, we had no electric until around 4pm, so the less we did the cooler we were.

Early evening we headed down to Crystal for a beer or two.  It was pretty quiet but thankfully Si was in deep conversation, so I zoomed to the Crystal restaurant to get the cake and then ran down to Whitening and back as fast as I could so he didn't suspect anything.   Puffing and panting, Si asked "Where have you been?"  .."Oh, just to the loo and chatting to one of the DMT's about stuff"     Mission accomplished! 

Around about 8pm we jumped on the bike and headed down to the restaurant  ...sat at the bar and had a Mojito and then 5 mins later the gang turned up, Cormac, Tim, Carsten, Tina, Helen, Johannes, Tracey, Manu and Satia  ...I think Si was genuinely surprised.

The food was really good and then they brought the cake out ..candles burning brightly we all broke into song  ...Happy Birthday to you    ....Argh, Si was delighted :-D

Birthday cake half eaten and boxed up again, we all paid and then headed to 'Vibe' to join in the Snorkel Test that was going on for the newly qualified Dive Masters  ...all the action, drinking games etc had finished by the time we arrived so we sat out on one of the benches where Si was bought shot after shot by everyone which he loved NOT!!  

By the time we got home, I went to make a much needed cuppa and by the time I'd switched on the kettle, Si had passed out  ...That's Birthdays for ya!!!

22nd March 2012

A special message for Chloe. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR CHLOE!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

We hope you have a wonderful day and get lots of great prezzies :-D

 XXXXXXXXXXXX

21st March 2012

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU !!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU !!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR SIMON !!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU !!!

Today is Simons birthday :-D   ...so when the alarm went off at 6am, I jumped out of bed to make him a lovely cup of tea.  What more could one want to start the day off with ;-D

Simons 'surface cover' this morning, so has to be down at Crystal by 6:45am, then on the boat making sure everyone who's on the boat should be, noting instructors & students times in/out of the water after each dive,  noting equipment no's, counts and on standby, just incase of an emergency   ....usually the day we start an Open Water course in the afternoon, we have to do the morning surface cover  ;-(

Fingers crossed, Simon should be back around midday for lunch to open his cards & prezzies

Tonight, I'll be taking him for a lovely romantic meal

20th March 2012

First things first...   ...a special message for my God daughter Iona who is 6 today

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR IONA
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We hope you have a very special day with all the family.  We'll look forward to hearing all about it  ;-D
Enjoy your tea party and have lots of fun.  We miss you!!!!!


Oh what I'd give to be 6 again :-D   Today, I feel like an eighty year old  ...After the Rescue course yesterday, I had a celebratory beer with my students, then joined Simon & a few of the Crystal crew for another,, the we all piled down to 'Safety Stop' to play Settlers of Catan (board game).  4 hours later and after multiple beers we ended the game prematurely due to the place closing, and thought it was then a great idea to venture down to Sairee to 'Lotus' beach bar to drink more  ...where had our common sense gone?   Si's adamant that it was my idea ;-D  I'm so so glad we had today off  ...

19th March 2012

I woke up this morning to find the internet on!!! Crossing my fingers that it stays that way.

While Jen is teaching a Rescue Course, and I have been unable to access the internet... I have been playing with Jens camera. It rarely gets used, which is such a shame... so I have made it my mission to get some decent photos from it..

After a couple of hours playing with settings... I came up with these 2 below. Click them to make them larger for the full effect!

Oh, and a couple of days ago, I put a collection of Triggerfish footage together... take a look on the link below!

Trigger Video CLICK HERE

All thats left to say is, I hope Mum enjoyed Mothers Day, and is was great to speak on the phone... hope you like your little pressie today...

xx

SD

17th March 2012

It seems the internet has broken... yet again!

I have paid a provider £20 to get me online (albeit at super slow speed).... just so I can manage UK work and emails while this mess is sorted.!

On another note... its another birthday!! This time its Chris (Jenny's brother in-law)..

Happy Birthday & St Paddy's Day!!

15th March 2012

Happy Birthday Emily!!!

Its been pretty bad here internet wise, and have had single emails and webpages taking over an hour to load.

Apparently its been a problem on the mainland for almost a week now... This evening its finally working again (keep your fingers crossed).

Anyway... back to Emily... We hope that you had a great birthday party and lots of cake and pressies!!

xx

Uncle Simon & Aunty Jen!

12th March 2012

Open Water went really well. 

The group were really good and I think it was the most confident group I've had in a long time.  A pity that the two Austrian lads decided to have a day off due to one of them cutting something in his throat.  Lucky for them, Simon said he'd take them instead of being put with a load of chinese. If only they knew how lucky they were
After a pretty easy couple of days diving, the group had qualified and we all met later at Vibe to watch their video   ...which Im glad to say, two sold.

I had the next day off while Si had to meet the two Austrian boys for dives 1+2 and then he was up early the following morning for their dives 3 & 4.
After a surprize lunchtime visit from Simon and a delicioius egg, bacon and sausage sandwich, Si has a 20min snooze and then headed back to the office.

Around 3.30pm I headed down to Crystal to meet Si as we were off to New Heaven dive school to go out on the boat with them to witness and catch some coral sporn.    We eventually headed out around 6.30, set up our gear and jumped in the water for a quick survey of the area to find certain species that were going to spawn.  Spawning happens only a couple of times a year and a few days after full moon, which is related to the lunar calender ...so corals marked, the divers took it in shifts to watch for any sporning action.  It was all pretty exciting  and just a waiting game.  At one stage someone surfaced and shouted GO GO GO  ..we all kitted up as quickly as possible and jumped in  ...but unfortunately only one of the corals at the deep marker had started spawning  ..and only a small amount of coral spawn was collected.

x

Jenny

9th March 2012

Jenny, vastly improving started back with an Open Water Course of 5 people... The 1st day she found very tiring but was doing well.

In the meantime, I completed a 1 person Advanced and then straight in to a 6 person Rescue Course.  This course required me, an MSDT (new instructor getting experience), 4 DMT's (Divemaster Trainees) and the 6 students. A whopping big group..

I pushed them hard as I want people who do this very tiring 3 day course, to really get value and confidence to be able to perhaps help in a real life scenario.

They all bonded together and worked as a team.. 4 of the 6 students are heading to the DMT program and its good to make some friends to share your experiences.

That evening, in celebration... they all went out and got absolutely hammered (I didn't go!).. The guy in the 2nd picture carrying someone up a ladder, decided it would be a good idea to ride his bike home when by all accounts he couldn't even walk.. He ended up being found in the middle of the road with a broken leg and other less serious injuries. He has been shipped to Samui for an operation and will probably go home. What an idiot! Lesson learnt I hope...

Anyway, Jen is finishing tomorrow, but only with 3 out of the 5.. Two of her students needed a day off for medical reasons... so I am taking them tomorrow afternoon.. Day off soon please... :-)

x

SD

6th March 2012

I've spent the last couple of days just sleeping and drinking.  Thankfully most of my aches & pains have gone and my rash has nearly disappeared but now i've got an irritating itch all over my body which  ...which is nothing compared to the joint pain that i've experienced. 

Simon took a crew of 17 people to Biorock for an educational dive. We dive it very little and 15 out of the 17 people had not even heard of it. They transplanted broken coral to the structures in quite a strong current. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it.

Today, Si was up early after a terrible nights sleep.  We has a call(3am) telling us that there was a chap at the the Thai Inter (clinic) that was in bad shape, who didnt know where/who he was that had been involved in an accident  ..so after Si making various calls to the operations manager we later found out that he'd been evacuated by speedboat over to Samui  ...goodness knows who he was, thankfully it wasn't someone from Crystal  ...i just hope he's ok as from the call last night it was touch and go whether he'd make it  ..  No news as of yet
I've been up since about 7am  ...watching tv, so far today I've watched Troy and Volcano has just started.  I think I'll take a walk  down the road to get some water as we're totally out.

In the evening I ventured out with Simon to a Save Koh Tao meeting to discuss this years events, Koh Tao Festival, new and up and coming projects, coral spawning and the workshop for coral nurseries, so it made a good change from TV and cups of tea.

2nd March 2012

Climate Change Conference.

After having the last few days off and then jetting off to Bangkok for a couple of days attending a Global climate change conference held by the Norweign Embassy, everything seems now, looking back,all a bit of a blur. 

When we first received the invites we were pretty excited as it was something new, in Bangkok, so be nice to have a mini trip, but after attending it, we both came away feeling slightly disappointed due to the fact that nothing new had been learnt.  One bonus was that we finally met a lady called Dr. Suchana Apple Chavanich, associate professor, dept of Marine Science at Chulalongkorn University who certified us as Reef Check Instructors and had a wide ranging knowledge when it comes to research/qualifications on Marine Biology and another was that our trendy hotel was generously paid for by our Course Director who attended the conference as well and led us astray in the bars   ...which I must tell you, Simon was paying for it this morning!!

It was a nice change to be away but it's always so nice to leave the hussle and bussle of a city behind and come back to Koh Tao...

Also, in the last few days, I have been feeling unwell... Sensitivity to light, rashes, and joint pain in my hips and knees which is causing a severe lack of sleep... After a bit of research, it seems that another mosquito spreading disease called Chikungunya has affected a few people on the island, and my symptons match up with it. Hopefully the situation improves in the next few days..

xx

Jenny