July 28th 2019

Hi everyone!
We are missing everyone and we are both looking forward to catching up with you all in September!   YAY!!! 

It's been pretty busy.  I have got 3 Eco Interns at the moment which I've been trying to keep busy.  They're all older (30-60) which has been refreshing as we tend to all be on the same wave length  ..if that's at all possible ;-D    We've been doing the mandatory clean up dives and Crown of Thorns (big star fish that eat coral) collections and have been out cleaning, measuring and re-tagging all of the Adopt Corals, so that's been a great help.  We've also been helping out to survey and replace damaged buoy lines around the island which has been great fun.  Tying knots with thick rope underwater is a little different than on land, just a little more difficult so we also attended the workshops :-D

Buoy line replace/deployment island effort

This coming week, I'm getting them to construct/build a metal fish, which will be used for recycling plastic bottles.

It'll be interesting as to how this will turn out.  I've got my friend Dorothy to teach them how to weld ..and then I'm just going to leave them to it :-D  ...to a fashion.

Simon is good, he's busy as ever, especially with social media for Eco and updating the website with the 150+ coral adoption updates  ..a nightmare of a job that he does every quarter.

It's Sunday today, the weather is slightly cooler, the wind has picked up and I think it'll rain as some point.   I'm thinking of going for a cycle when the wind calms down but for now, we're both relaxing after our tasty poached egg & beans on toast :-D     Simon will probably go into the office in the next hour or so, so I'll be left to potter, thinking of tidying the garden and maybe splitting some of our Aloe vera plants ...I'll see if the wind dies down. 

Formula 1 is on tonight so Si will be back later as he and the boys (Tim, Kiwi, Steve & Big Rich) will watch the race at Crystal on the big screen whilst drinking beer, munching on French baguette, cheese, onions and pickle ;-D

LOVE TO ALL!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

14 July 2019

It's been a really busy time.

We've had Nathan over from Oz with his whole family.   He was over for a little holiday and then we assisted him out with 10 students teaching a 'Reef Restoration Masterclass' showing different methods of coral propagation, observational dives, coral reef ecology etc   it's all a bit awkward as we are still not allowed law to touch coral, living or dead until the Department of Marine & Coastal Resources have approved dive school proposals and been out to assess individuals.  All a pain in the butt but it's good that it's stopping every tom dick & harry doing their own thing without a clue.
So that was a 4 day course which I could only attend 2 days as had a Greenfins training session to attend.  Poor ole Si, had to the whole session with a very inexperienced group of kids.  He loved it!!

This one is all to do with good diving/snorkeling practices and how to do a reef survey, nothing new for me but compulsory.  Then after that, both Simon and I had to attend the first 'Dive Controller Training Course for Tourism and Coral Reef Ecosystem Sustainability'   which every dive leader or dive pro has to attend and pass an examination which I think isn't a bad thing but they're going to be charging for later down the line.  So lots of new laws coming in and I just wonder whether anyone will be around to enforce them.

Simon is awake in this picture :-D  ...just!!!

Group shot  YAY!

Then finally after all of that pa-lava we we back to our normal office schedule but I volunteer to go out to check all the moorings around Koh Tao to see what state they were in and whether any need replacing, so that was a nice day out, a lot of dives but something different which I enjoyed.  There are over 101 mooring lines that need to be maintained and I think with 15 of us, we managed to check out just over 40.  It's a huge job.  Photo's, depth, state of lines, whether they're missing buoys, condition of buoys, pick up lines, position blah blah blah

Checking mooring lines around the island

Then straight after all of that that we've just come back from doing a visa run/bounce to Burma.  We left yesterday at 10 am and got back this morning at 3.15am   ..so I caught up with sleep and now catching up with mails etc, Simon's down at the office, mails, social media and also trying to replace the propeller on the boat, as Crystal's longtail had broken it in the rough weather that we had a week or so ago   GGRRRRRRR

Hope all is well, have to go and pref for a Reef Check course that I'm teaching tomorrow ;-D

LOVE TO ALL

05 July 2019

I feel awful about the lack of posts.  Sorry!!!!

It's been very quiet on Koh Tao but Simon and I have been really busy.

   

I've just said goodbye to a group of 10 Indian kids and a group leader.  They booked through Eco to do their PADI Open Water Course and then 3 days of Marine conservation.   It was a little challenging but with the help of Simon and an old Eco intern, we survived.    This is only the 2nd group that we have catered for.  The first, 3 girls and a tour leader were all very nice but they're not the best in the water and they were pretty demanding at times  (LOL  ..now I know what all of you go through having to put up with me)   This last group of 10 were lovely but it took ages to get everyone going.   They were all really polite and very smiley :-D

After their snorkel clean up

We've got lots of meeting this week and courses to attend.  In the last month or so the DMCR Department of Marine Coastal Resources have put their foot down and have demanded that all the dive schools doing any coral restoration send in a proposal highlighting exactly what they have been doing in the name of 'restoration'.  We've already attended one training session which was a bit a farce and a bit of a kick in the teeth as we've been working with them for years.   It's only as so many dive schools have jumped on the band wagon with 'ECO' that they want to ensure that things are done in the correct way, not that their diving skills or experience is the best but it's better than nothing and hopefully it will eliminate some of the cowboys out there! 

Nathan, Aussie dude, founder of Eco Koh Tao is back for a week or two with his family. We are running a Reef Restoration Masterclass here on the island.   People have flown in from all over.  It should be interesting as we're not allowed to do any coral work. 

I hope everyone is well and that you're all missing us!

Sending our love

Jenny & Si

XXXX