29th January 2016

It's been over a week since we arrived back in the UK.    Si's joined the gym which he's been going to daily and I've been out and about on my bike which I've found a lot harder, especially in the cold & wind.  So different from the heat of Koh Tao.

Simon's been working continuously on various projects  ..he's never really off his PC with one thing and another.   He's been editing footage from our Komodo trip back in April.  It seems such a long time ago but what great memories :-D  We'll be posting some links soon :-D

We've managed to catch up with most of Simon's family which is brilliant. They're all well and it was really lovely to see them all.   I need to arrange to meet up with my big sis Jan & family in Sussex and hopefully meet my new great niece, Emily Rose :-)

The weather has not been too bad  ...wet & windy but it's been mildish ...compared to when we first got back.  I think we've adjusted.

My sister's tea room reopened on the 26th, so I've helped Rosie out with a Costco & Macro run and Fiona and I have done some tidying outside if the Tea room, cleaning windows, brushing up the moss etc  ...it's looking much neater and more inviting.  Fiona took me shopping to Basingstoke for an hour or so the other day. I really enjoyed the novelty of being able to shop for anything you wanted but after a couple of hours, I had my fill.

This afternoon we popped to the 'Lock up' (storage place) as Simon had to locate tapes that he needs to work on.   It's been 6 months since we last open up our unit. There were a load of dopey old flies on the ceiling but apart from that, all's well.

24th January 2016

Our last few days on Koh Tao seem a distant memory now  ..I miss the heat for sure but it's great to be home and see all the family.

Our journey, even though it was very long, went pretty well.  We left Koh Tao on the afternoon Seatran ferry to Koh Samui, then caught a taxi to Samui Airport.  

We had a slight delay with our flight to Bangkok but I entertained Simon by playing 'eye spy' which he truly enjoyed.    Our luggage was checked in all the way to Heathrow so that was good.  Thankfully we had not forgotten to put a change of clothes/warmish clothes into our carry on luggage as when we arrived in Vienna, and had to disembark for a couple of hours, it was minus 4 degrees  ...ONLY 39 degree temperature change.  

The last leg of our journey to London went pretty quickly, both Simon and I were in and out of consciousness and couldn't wait to collect our luggage and collect the hire car to go home.  Unfortunately we had to wait around in the freezing cold for a bus, then wait in a chilly car rental office for what seemed like forever.  All turned out well as even though we'd (Si) had booked the car ages ago, they hadn't got the right car, so we got a free upgrade  ..Peugeot 308 :-D

Finding it a little odd to see so much traffic, driving, frost everywhere, proper roads etc we made it home and sat down to a refreshing cuppa where we were greeted by Charles (bro in law) Jim, lovely old boy who regularly visits 'Rosies' my sisters Tea shop and reminds me so much of Dad and then a little later, my sisters, Rosie & Fiona, :-) 

Fi & Rosie

After unpacking, a few more cuppa's, we all went for a lovely walk to check out all the newish calves and later on, Simon played with his new drone

16th January 2016

The time is flying and we both can't wait to see everyone but we're not looking forward to the extreme temperatures that are forecast in the UK :-D

Nathan who used to run Eco Koh Tao & his son are visiting Koh Tao until the end of Jan.  They've been doing research on giant clams and biodiversity of marine life on an artificial versus natural reef. Fortunately for Nathan, I've had 2 Eco interns that have been around to help with the research, which has been brilliant as he'd so much planned and I think without help, he'd have had a huge feat. 

I've also arranged for some of the DMT's (Dive master trainee's) to give a hand making cages for the clam transplants. It's funny as Nathan has not changed one bit  ...he's the same ole Nathan but Kailash his son, has grown up a lot and I think proper schooling has done him the world of good.  

Nath hard at work while DMT
Chris cuts the chicken wire;-)

Wire cut, then shaped into a box around a crate

Clams in their original cage

Individual clams transplanted ..(A) covered (B) uncovered

2 dive sites, 160 clams & 80 cages  

So, with only a couple of days left on Koh Tao, I decided to go diving this morning with Jenny (Eco Intern) Getting up at 6am was a little bit of a struggle but it was certainly worth it.  Both of our dives were lovely.  Great visibility, hardly anyone else on the dive sight and lots of marine life out and about.   We're both going to miss diving  ..if only the UK was a little hotter :-D

12th January 2016

On a very happy note  ..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR ROSIE!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU !!!

We can't quite believe that it's been 2 year since you were here ...where does the time go?

Today I am transplanting a coral for your birthday and it will be named 'Posie'  eeehhhh!!!!!

We hope it's not too cold for you and the bulls are not behaving themselves :-D

Have a fantastic day and we'll be back soon to celebrate :-D

Lots of love & hugs,

Jenny & Simone

X X X 

9th January 2016

The last couple of days have been a bit strange.  We were both shocked to hear the passing of our friend Mike and haven't really had any communication as to what happened.  It's not that surprising that no one knows as Mike didn't really touch base that often :-D

Simon has been working non stop. Steve's  been on his visa run and Si's had to manage 'Crystal Images', supervise students, deal with inconsiderate instructors as well as not getting any sleep or 'Jenny Time'.  So he's absolutely shattered and his back has been playing up, so he's looking forward to some quiet time.

I've managed to get out and do some repair work with some volunteers to JunkYard, our artificial reef.  Due to the fact that there's been a lot of coral damage & traffic through the site/domes in general and that we have now closed the site for repair, I've decided to close some of the smaller domes off with rope nurseries which has worked out pretty well but it's a time consuming job that I hope we can finish before we return to the UK.

Coral transplant using wire technique

One of the blocked off domes

Rope nursery blocking divers swimming through

7th January 2016

Just a quick post, as I am busy from the moment the alarm goes off until my head hits the pillow.

I have heard that an ex house mate of mine has passed away. No real details on what has happened.

He was a very different person. Never settling down and a true adventurer enjoying travelling and the outdoors, living his life exactly how he wanted to live it while dealing with Diabetes.  RIP Mike... it was a pleasure knowing you.

03rd January 2016

Well, it's an exciting time as I've been out on Crystal 1 (small boat) and have removed the buoy lines from Junkyard (our artificial reef) as it's about time we did some repairs and closed off some of the domes that we put down so people stop swimming through with inexperienced divers and breaking the corals that we've taken time an effort to transplant. It's so annoying!!

So, I had a crew of about 6 people who helped.   Trying to explain to the captain exactly what was happening was very hard  ...my acting skills are pretty poor :-D

Anyway, there are 2 buoy lines at Junkyard of which the first was very easy to remove and take back to the boat.  Before removing the 2nd line, we went for a dive and transplanted all the pieces of broken coral back onto the domes and cleaned them free of ascidians (they compete for space with the coral) ready for more transplants.

After the dive, we surfaced only to find another 2 boat tied up to our boat.   All dive schools were warned that 'Junkyard' was closing but the 'idiot' instructors claimed that they thought it was only for 1 day  DOH!!!     So as there were a lot of people already in the water, waiting to go down, I let them go for a short dive.  I made sure that I was waiting at the line ready for them to surface, so I could immediately remove the buoy and dive down, taking the rope down to wrap around the cement block, so that when we do repairs etc, we can locate the block, bring up the line so that Crystal 1 can moor up.  I've also got a Thai written message that I can give to the captain, so he knows that no one can tie up on the back of the boat

Simon has been working flat out looking after 'Crystal Images' as Steve is on a visa run to Hong Kong and is not back for another week.  Crystal is at it's busiest   ...the videographers that are working at the moment are inexperienced but they're trying  ...if only they had a little more common sense and were potty trained  Simon life would be so much easier :-D

01 January 2016 - Happy New Year

New Years Eve was a busy one.  I was in the office teaching in the morning and on the afternoon boat doing a Reef Check Survey with my current students William, Tifany and Will, who was kind enough to help out as he’s already Reef Check certified.  Simon was working hard in the office overseeing the video boys with their courses.

By the time we'd finished it was pretty late and we were both shattered, so decided not to go home to shower/changed.  I think most people had a hectic day and the majority of people gathered of what’s left of the bar and celebrated until 11:30pm and then people headed off (staggered would be more accurate) into Sairee for the NY festivities.   Simon and I were shattered and very tipsy, so we wobbled very slowly back home, where we warmed up some leftovers and went to bed immediately after midnight.  We’re such party animals these days!   I went to bed with a headache and woke with an even worse one.  Lovely Si, as always, looked after me, popped out to get some pills and a bundle of provisions as he was making pitta, salad, potato salad, hummus and all sorts as Tina and Carsten came over for a games evening (Settlers of Catan. Heads Up & car chases) 

&

TODAY is 

Roberts 22nd Birthday!

Many Happy Returns!!!!

New Years Day Tractor run

Sending lots of feet tickles

(even though your feet are really smelly!!)

Love & Hugs

Jenny Wren & Simone

X X X X