1st May 2012

So... its been a busy couple of days, doing as much work as possible before Roy arrived.... and then the 29th came around... it was time to go and meet the ferry.

I left Jen at Safety Stop, and walked to the ferry which was just pulling in.. I could see Roy waving from it..

Roy stepped off, and we had a hug and waited for the luggage to come off.. Then this woman wearing a hat walked up to me and said "Don't you say hello to your mother then?"  What a shocker... Mum had travelled over too!!!

After a few minutes of me stuttering and open mouthed, we headed to Safety Stop to get some breakfast. Roy had a fry up and Mum had some toast.

Then it was time to check them in... once that was done, Mum went for a couple of hour nap, and Roy, Jen and I sat by the pool..

That evening, I had duties to perform in the "Snorkel Test", and then it was off to the festival... We arrived too late for the local dances, and the main stage had a heavy metal band on!! 

 Not exactly Mums scene... so we grabbed some food and a couple of drinks then headed to bed.

The next day, we sat by the pool in the morning, and then I conducted Roy's scuba review.. Seeing as Roy had not dived in so long, I was a little worried that he might have forgotten a lot... It turns out that I needn't have worried.. He was excellent in the pool, so we decided to get a cheeky dive in at Junkyard. 

I took the longtail boat out, and we dropped down, and after a few issues with ear equalising, went for a 52 minute dive... I can't tell you how strange it is to dive with my brother... It keeps surprising me when I turn and look at him and think "Oh... Roy is diving!"

After our dive, we went to dinner at Whitening (Yum Yum), and then retired for the evening...

xx

25th April 2012

Sorry for the lack of blogs, the time has just flown. 

I’ve been teaching Reef Check & Open waters.  Si’s been really busy with UK work, editing films for the Koh Tao festival  (28^th/29^th April)  , teaching Marine Resourse Management, organizing, prepping and filming the Crystal Dive Eco Underwater Olympics and among various birthday bashes. 

Then on top of that, had a 24hr sickness which he’s now fully recovered from. So it’s been pretty full on.

To our excitement, Roy, Simon’s brother is coming over.   It’s lovely seeing someone from home! We’ve booked him into the Regal Resort, 2 mins walk down the beach from Crystal and has a lovely 3 tier pool. We’d probably spend a lot more time down there if we had it, just playing in the pool.  He’s coming at a great time as the Koh Tao Festival is on.  

Today the power went off pretty early so after a quick cup of tea and shower, we rode to Crystal to make use of their amenities.  Unfortunately their powers out too, so we’re pottering about, updating signs and just waiting for the power to come back on.

The Island is pretty quiet at the moment, not too many big courses going on.  Next month things should pick up when we’ll be wishing for time off.

Songkran 2012

What a day!!

Simon and I took a cautious ride down to Crystal, prepared for the worst.  Strangely enough, we arrived down at Crystal dry as a bone but that didnt last for long.  Guns bought and loaded the water fight commenced but a few unlucky staff who were stuck in the pool & office, it was going to be a long day.

As we gathered in numbers, we headed down the street to 'Safety Stop' which is an ideal position on a corner so we could shower the passing traffic and all the newby's off the boat who were dry for only a short time.  I did feel sorry for them for a nano second but they should have done their homework and realized it's not the ideal time to travel :-D

As you can imagine, things got very messy but luckily no casualties   ..apart from a few heavy heads the next day ;-D

Check out these photo's

x

Jenny

13th April 2012

Its Songkran time...

So out we go to get wet all day long... report to follow...

In the meantime... a small clip... read the description on the clip to understand what the fish are doing...

https://vimeo.com/40199315

xx

SD

Tsunami Alert Info

Just to let you know...

There has been an earthquake in Indonesia (pretty common) and Tsunami alerts issued for the Indian Ocean area. This does affect the West coast of Thailand.. Koh Tao is in the Gulf of Thailand, protected by a massive land mass.

These pictures are from Phuket, Phi Phi, and other Western coastal resorts, where evacuation orders to higher ground have been issued purely as a precaution. So far, no actual evidence of a Tsunami have been noted.

Take note, we are unaffected by this, so please do not worry.  Any further updates, I'll let you know..

xx

9th & 10th April 2012

The last couple of days have been pretty slow.  It's supposed to be Full Moon rush but for some reason Crystal has been pretty quiet so neither Simon or I have had work apart from a 3 person DSD (Discover Scuba Diving) which where one of the girls couldn't descend  ..very frustrating but there was a language barrier.

Easter eve we went to Carsten & Tina's for dinner.  Tina had cooked two delicious casseroles, of which one was veggie.   Boy, they were both good.  All I'd eaten I think that day was a banana, so I was ravenous :-D

A few hours of chatting and numerous drinks, we were persuaded, as it seemed like a good idea to go to 'Fish Bowl' beach bar, where we ordered tonics and then sat on rocks, sneakily pouring our own vodka into them   ..cheeky I know but what the hell :-D   It was a great night and funnily enough bumped into a crowd from Crystal  ..which were amazed to see us both out on the dance floor.
The next day we both woke with horendous hangovers and spent the day watching tv and just chilling on the coach drinking copious amounts of water and feeling like poo   ...urgh, I didnt realise we'd drunk that much ..when do we ever learn  ;-D

Feeling better and knowing that it was the start of the MotorGP in Qatar  ...Simon ventured out around 10pm to 'Vibe' to watch the race.  I really couldnt be bothered, bed seemed so appealing.

After a good nights sleep we were in much better condition.   Si was busy with Uk work and I made breakfast (egg & beans on toast)  ..around 1pm, Nath & family came over to watch the Aussie rules game (Hawks/Geelong)  ..It was a great game but the Hawks, lost by a couple of points  ..Nath and Kailash were gutted.

Once we had a free house, we headed out ourselves to Crystal to update a couple of notice boards and then went to the Regal pool with Si's new ball that actually bounces on water  ..it was great fun but our arms are killing us today ;-D

The next day, since we still had no dive work, we went filming at Mango Bay and Twins for a project that Simon is working on... with great visibilty, the dives are so much fun...

Happy Easter!!

HAPPY EASTER !!!!!!

We hope everyone has a lovely day!!

Jen & Si  xxx

8th April 2012

So,

A quick round up of the last couple of days..

It was Carsten's birthday on the 4th, and we planned to go shoot BB guns at each other.. Unfortunately the place was closed for a week... so Plan B... mini golf.

We played for hours, all getting far too much sun... but was a fun time...

Then it was time to go to the Save Koh Tao meeting, before zooming to Vibe to join in the birthday party antics. We stayed until Carsten fell asleep (too much to drink!) and retired home for the evening.

Next day, I was dealing with video work etc, while Jen went diving...  checking out our coral wreck we designed last year... its looking well.

Now the lovely bit... For the last week or so, I have had a very itchy toe... I thought it was a bit of athletes foot (very common with the climate we have here)... It turned from itchy to quite sore and swollen a couple of days ago, so yesterday I went to the clinic...

It turns out that my toe is currently a home for a worm!  If you look at the photo below you can see the route that the little bugger has travelled.  I must have picked up the worm by walking through a puddle with some bacteria in it.

Good news is, that its very easily treatable... A few tablets for 3 days should kill the little blighter... and I just have to be careful not to get it infected..  No problem going diving with it.. which is good.!

6th April 2012

Another video for you!!

We went to Chumphon, for a fun dive together... doesn't happen very often!

Here's the footage!

https://vimeo.com/39808850

xx

3rd April 2012

So, while the rain is here... another video for you that was filmed last year but I have only had time to edit now!

https://vimeo.com/39397160

xx