28th August 2015

We were all up bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning ready for a good walk to the view point.

Kirsty hadn't done the whole walk before and sadly she's leaving the island early September, so we thought we'd take on a little adventure ;-)

Even though, we left pretty early, it was still very hot.  We'd packed water, covered ourselves with suncream and marched upward and onward till we finally came to the first stop/view point.

We are so lucky living on a pretty island such as Koh Tao  ...you really have to sit back sometimes and just take everything in  ...this view point is the perfect place to do that.

The journey down the hill was pretty steep in places, Kirsty and I had a few little slides.  The track's so uneven that it really plays havoc with your knee's  ..we definitely are getting old, but not too old I hasten to add :-D

Simon gave me a big old stick, which was great for fighting off snakes that we encountered  ...urgh!!!!

        

26th August 2015

Where has the time gone?!    ..it's our 9th Wedding Anniversary!!!  

Simon got up early this morning to go and get his tyre fixed as he had a blow out last night with Kirsty on the back.  They're both ok not really going that fast but Simon nearly had a close encounter with a Taxi.   I'm so glad we're both wearing helmets now.    On his return I was presented with a beautiful bunch of flowers and then breakfast, which consisted of freshly made croissants, boiled eggs and a mug of fresh coffee   ....yummy!!!

Thank you for our lovely cards  xx

Of course.... every anniversary means its Roys birthday!!

So a very Happy Birthday to you!!

xxx

Jen & Si

24th August 2015

Hi all,
We hope Charles enjoyed his Birthday activities and that you didn't miss us too much.
A year older & smarter :-D

So, here are the long awaited photo's of our house.
The quality isn't brill as I took them with my phone  ...but good enough for you to get an idea

TV & eating area

Kitchen area & my gas cooker :-D

Work & eating area

Si's bike & view of Hacienda from front door

My bikes

Comfy hammocks

Side of house facing Hacienda

With this house, we haven't got the view that we are used too  ..but it's cozy and much quieter than expected, especially being next door to Hacienda.

It's very convenient, only a few minutes cycle to Crystal and we've got 7-Eleven just over the road.

What's really handy ..if we've all had a really busy day, we can phone Hacienda for delivery and the time it takes us to get back, shower  .. food's usually at the door or on the table. How good it that?!

23rd August 2015

Dear Charles,

Simon and I wish you a very Happy Birthday!

Enjoy your day and we will be thinking of you.

Sending lots of love & hugs,

Jenny Wren & Simone  x x

(sorry it's a Ford in the pic)

21st August 2015

It's been a busy few weeks.  As Simon mentioned, I've had a Eco student here for 3 weeks who has now left.  So I'm finally free to start sorting things out ready for the office move.
Eco is moving to Steve's (Crystal Images) new apartment, just across the road.  We were originally told that we had to move from where we are as the landlady wanted the building back to extend it and then turn it into a coffee shop and massage place  ...as though they're aren't enough on Koh Tao.    So the next few days, I'm going to be sorting, clearing and humping furniture around.

As a treat last night, I went for a massage ...I have found a great place where you can have an hour thai massage for only 200 baht, which is about 4 pound  ...how cheap is that?!    When I walked in, I was greeted by these little things

x

JD

18th August 2015

So... what have we been doing for the last 10 days.

Well, since the 9th Jen has been continuing the eco course, and I have been working on UK projects. Not much in the way of diving, apart from a day out to Sail Rock having a couple of fun dives...

Apart from that, I have been trying to hike every other day if possible...

Jenny Eco student passed her Reef Check Eco Diver course and is just finishing her Marine Resource Management Course before doing some internship stuff..

She is now building a new nursery from recycled metal, and hopefully will deploy the structure today, since the weather indicates some big storms coming.

We popped over to Samui for the day to have some fun go karting, and stayed the night with David at Cocooning Hotel. We also met up with Atilla and Timea who had recently moved from Koh Tao to Samui just a few weeks ago...

 It was good to catch up, and we all had far to much to drink... We just managed to get the ferry back the next day.... it was fully booked, but arguing for ages, they finally relented and popped us on the boat... phew!!!

Meanwhile, the news of an explosion in Bangkok, is very concerning, but please be assured that we are all fine here.

xxx

SD

9th August 2015

Well.... finally I have a back that is back to (kinda) normal.

I have been able to test dive, and each day has seen a marked improvement.

Jenny has been busy with a Reef Check Eco Diver course. The girl who is studying is only 16, and Thai.. but speaks perfect English. She seems to be extremely intelligent, and I think Jen should some fun over the next couple of weeks of teaching her.

The weather is still very unpredictable. Bright sunshine, then strong winds, then rain... you sinply can't tell how its going to be from 1 minute to the next.

I returned to hiking yesterday, doing 7.5km up and around the island. It was a nice temperature.. cloudy and spitting, so I didn't get too hot. Weather permitting, I shall be doing a longer walk... we shall see.

In other news.... it was Mumsies Birthday!!

5th August 2015

Dear Fiona & Chris

Wishing you a very Happy Anniversary!
Have a fun filled day!

Love
Jenny & Simone
x x x

&

a little message to 

MRS M

3rd August 2015

I have been out of action for the past few days with a seized back that has been bloody painful and made me quite grumpy!

Gently easing, I decided to help Jenny out with a buoyline repair today.

What had happened is that a couple of days ago, a huge car ferry thought it would be a good idea to moor up on a line thats only suitable for a dive boat. Hence it snapped almost immediately. By chance, Crystal were at the same dive site (Junkyard), and someone filmed it with their phone.

Now, although this is a rare occurence (and soooo dumb), we have lots of buoylines that break from wear and tear. This is the 2nd one at the dive site in just over a week.

What people on the island don't seem to understand is that there is not and endless supply of buoys and ropes, nor do the great people that fix them get paid. Its sometimes a difficult job and takes at least a day or so to prepare and deploy... Rant over.!

Jenny and Kiwi had arranged to head out this morning to fix 1 line. They helped carry my dive bag and set my equipment up so that I could get set up in the water and not stress my back. Then they dropped down to fix the line.

Well done... with no input from any other dive schools as per usual... apart from Chad at New Heaven, who is always exctremely helpful. Its such a shame that the schools that use Junkyard on a daily basis just ignore any calls or request to help maintain the dive site so that they can benefit.. ah well...

xxx

SD

01 Aug 2015

Yesterday I organised a Beach & Dive Site Clean Up for all the DMTs (Dive Master trainees) at Crystal.  I met a keen bunch of DMT's around 8.45 and equipped them with gloves & bin liners down sent them along the beach and around Crystal to collect rubbish.  Some of them might as well have stayed in bed but there were a few that put some effort into it.

In the afternoon, we, DMT's and 3 fun divers went out for the dive site clean.  Our first destination was, Ao Mao, one of the new artificial reefs which then leads into a pretty coral reef  ..not much rubbish was found, only plastic bottles and fishing wire.   The 2nd dive site was Tanote Bay  ..this again didn't have much trash to collect, which is good.  Everyone seemed to enjoy both dives and we all came away with a sense of achievement.

Simon has been out of action for 2 days, since he has somehow put his back out, and cannot walk without pain... He looks like a penguin when he walks at the moment.. hopefully it will improve soon...