27th November 2014

Hey guys...

Its busy at the moment..

Jen has been working pretty much non stop with small courses. I have been busy with video work, and self reliant diving.

A couple of days ago, I was on the last dives with a student, on the Self Reliant course (means you can dive on your own).

I jumped in from the boat, and the student and Steve (Crystal Images Manager) jumped in after.

30 seconds later the student started screaming and thrashing his arm around... I noticed tentacles flying around his head and directed him, quite sternly, to stay still. I looked under the water to see a Box Jellyfish swimming away with only 1 tentacle left on it.

We got the student up on the boat, removed the tentacles, and requested a boat to collect us from the dive site so we could get him to the clinic. Apart from the pain, which wore off a day later... he was fine.

In the meantime.... I have had the 5 days of Black & White challenge on Facebook... Here are the photos.....

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19th November 2014

The boss of the dive school received an email yesterday....

I thought you should read it...

"I just wanted to let you know how impressed I was having Jenny as my Open and Advanced Open instructor. I am and educator and found her to be incredibly knowledgable, thorough and caring. She really knows her stuff and introduced me and the rest of the class to diving in a respectful, ecofriendly and fun way. She did not scrimp of safety measures and checked us all to ensure we had covered everything. She was also very kind and considerate, going out of her way to find equipment that I needed in a small fit, and that another fellow needed, a diving hood. She was so very enthusiastic and loves what she does, aside from being extremely well informed and engaged in diving. There was never a time that I felt she was bored, or uninterested eventhough she has probably done the course teaching, a million times before.

Each of us was special, and she took note of what each one of us was nervous about, had trouble with or did well, and never forgot to state this to us. She was so encouraging and lovely. I believe you should keep her forever because if she is the way people are introduced to diving, they will most certainly love it, be ecologically responsible, and not fear anything.

Great choice having her there. She is tops and so is your facility. I am seriously considering taking my Dive Master Internship with you, and I live in Canada.

Great facility and well run business Crystal! I also wrote a review about you guys on Trip Advisor because I think people should know about you.

Appreciatively,
Susan Adaskin"

Well done Jenny...

xx

SD

18th November 2014

Argh, a day off!!:-D

After a four person Open Water, two person Advanced and a one person Discover Scuba Dive Course, I was ready for a nice lie in  ..but for some reason it just didn't happen.  I was up and about by 8am, very unusual for me :-D   Simon on the other hand was already out and about  ..he's very much looking forward to finishing this videography course that he's been doing.

So after sending a few emails and catching up with the cleaning, I cycled down Mae Haad to have a chat with Nathan about the possibility of taking over ECO  ..you see he's leaving, going back to Oz at the end of the year and Eco Koh Tao is either going to fizzle out or if I want, I could take it on. I sill have lots of unanswered questions and our meeting didn't go as I had anticipated  ..anyway, will tell you more at a later date, once I've made some sort of decision.

So, after catching up with Simon, who was just off the boat from his final dives with the student. I headed to the Regal pool for a swim  ..the sun was out and just as I was about to get comfy, the heavens opened  ..typical!   I was going to get wet anyway, so I had a good swim.  I was the only person there for an hour or two until a group of noisy Italians invaded the pool so that was when I dried off and left. 

Thankfully by now the rain had stopped so I cycled around looking for inspiration.  I passed the turning for Haad Tien (resort where Fiona & Chris had stayed)  and immediately thought of Iona & Chloe.With that I peddled to New Heaven Dive School to take photo's of their baby turtles they're looking after as I thought Iona & Chloe would like to see how tiny they are  :-D

On a completely different note ..we are so please to hear that Charles has finally had his hip operation.  About time and we can't believe the speed of it  ..WOW!!

Wishing you a speedy recovery..

16th November 2014

1 week since the last post.

The reason for this is that Jen has been teaching an Open Water course, and then straight into Advanced Open Water.

Me, I am teaching a Videography course. 8 days and 13 hour each day is kicking my butt.. As soon as I wake up I hop on to the bike. Once cameras are prepped and student is briefed, we do 2 dives and see if he can capture some good footage. After that, its time to head back to the office for some editing.

To be honest, its been a tough course. Buoyancy has been an issue, and with Monsoon, the visibility is very limited, leaving the student to get very disappointed with his shots. Only really on the first day of diving did he get lucky and film a turtle.

3 more days, and then I think a well deserved lie in will be possible... and hopefully catch up with some family!


xxx

SD

9th November 2014

I was greeted with coffee and croissants this morning which was lovely.  Simon had popped out early while I slept in.  I have the best husband in the world :-D



It had rained during the night and the forecast for today looked pretty grim but that didn't stop Linda and I going out for a cycling.  She'd rented a bike especially, so rain or shine, we were going to go exploring.


We had great fun, cursed some (most) of the hills, saw some pigs, a snake and a girl fall off her motorbike (she's was unhurt)  and got totally soaked.  So much fun

This was taken just before we witnessed a minor crash

7th November 2014

I must say that it was a very productive day.  

Simon drove me down to the Vets (Noistar Thai Animal Rescue Foundation) where I decided to volunteer a few hours of my time.

You see on Koh Tao there is no RSPCA, no PDSA, no animal's shelters, no sanctuaries, and before this clinic, virtually no medical care of any kind for animals.  So in July 2004, with the support of local volunteers, the first permanent vet clinic opened.  The clinic has a resident Thai vet, Dr Jae and is completely self funding. Monies are raised via events in the UK funnily enough and on the island and all the money donated goes directly to the clinic which is brilliant.  They do an incredible job and I think it would be good to help out from time to time.  It's something different anyway.




After the vets, I popped into the Eco Koh Tao office where Simon set up base to concentrated on his UK work.  He's been cooped up for the past few days, so needed to get out of the house. 

While at the office, I caught up with Linda and we went on a bit of a cleaning spree (2 hrs)  The office was really dirty and I just couldn't help myself  ..by the time we'd finished, we definitely needed to relax by the Regal pool.   Simon caught up with us a little later.

5th November 2014

With it being so quiet, neither of us have been teaching.  Simon was supposed to start a couple of days ago, but had no students to teach.  Everyone that booked in was 'fun diving'.

The weather has been pretty awful.   Monsoon I guess.  Bright mornings and then heavy raining moving in by the afternoon.  I have managed to get out on the bike and swim. 

Simon's not been so lucky.  He's had a really sore neck for the last couple of days and yesterday I had to make a makeshift neck support as he could hardly hold his head up due to the pain (he's coming out in sympathy with you, Rosie)  Poor thing  ..you just feel so helpless not being able to help, but my I was impressed with my makeshift neck collar :-D

Thankfully his neck is feeling a little better today and he has a lot more movement.  I hope it continues to improve.

2nd November 2014

Not only was it Tomalina's Birthday yesterday but the the Heavens opened!

This is one of the 3 tornado's that was caught on camera. 

1st November 2014

Another birthday greeting to this cool dude..Happy Birthday Tom!

Meanwhile... its a very wet day.... we are both chilling on the couch... I have a sore throat and a nice chesty cough so taking it nice and easy....

x

SD