15th and 16th March 2011

Our Open Water Course went really well.  It was great to be back teaching again.  I did feel a bit rusty after a few months out of the water, only to be expected I suppose.

We started out with a very large group of 17 but then the next day, the group was split into 3.  I ended up taking 5 students, two Canadian & English and a friend from Motorola who was German.  Simon decided to assist me as he had a slight ear ache and didn’t want to chance starting the course and then not being able to finish,  otherwise he would have taken a group of 6.  Better to be safe than sorry ;-D

Yesterday, with academics, the final exam, confined water skills and swim test complete we took the plunge into the sea.  The visibility wasn’t great, 6 or so metres and there seemed to be divers everywhere but the students did brilliantly. We even had a couple of close encounters with a couple of Titan Trigger fish but everyone kept their cool.   They all got to grip with their buoyancy pretty quickly and we had a great couple of 40minute dives at ‘Twins’

Today we were up at 6am and down at Crystal by 6.30 in order to get the good BCD’s and dive bags as the ones we used the previously were all pretty tatty.

Todays dive sites were ‘White Rock’ and ‘Japanese Gardens’  .....thankfully the visibility was better, thought still not brilliant, maybe 10-12metres.  With only a couple of underwater skills to do, which the students sailed through.  We had a great dive, spotting, barracuda, a moray eel, butterfly, banner fish, a nudi branch to name but a few.  Everyone came up with smiles, so Simon and I were happy.

Having completed log books, paperwork and completed their temporary certification cards, Simon and I picked up a sandwich, went back to our room to eat and then spent the next couple of hours playing around in the pool.

Tonight, we’re going down to Crystal to watch our Open Water movie and celebrating with our students.It will be uploaded as soon as Simon gets the video... so look out for it soon... it should have some nice comedy moments.!

x

J

13th and 14th March 2011

Hey guys..

Well, on the night of the 12th... Jen was asked to start an open water course.. so the last 2 days have be full paced with Jen taking the lead and me assisting.

In light of the intensity of the course, plus dance rehearsals... we have had no time to do anything else... but expect more stuff tomorrow when the students go for their 1st dives in the ocean.

x

SD

12th March 2011

Yesterday, while we were diving Mae Haad reef, one of Crystals dive boats went to Chumphon Pinnacle, and saw 2 whalesharks!!!

So this morning, in the hope that they were still hanging around, the boat returned there fully packed with 60 divers including us.



The conditions were not too calm, the sea was rolling well... and after a 45 minute choppy journey, we arrived at the dive site.



Needless to say, no whalesharks appeared, but we saw a decent size school of big boy barracudas.. cool! Once everyone had returned from the dive, we went to White Rock. The journey to White Rock was even choppier! Jen struggled, not quite having her sea legs yet.... but made it.



White Rock was uneventful, some nudibranchs, angelfish, and a sting ray... but Jens camera leaked a little so we spent most of the time worrying about that.. Once back on the boat, we removed the camera and dried everything out... luckily its all okay..

Speaking of things breaking, the throttle cable on the bike snapped last night... so I had to take that to a mechanic in the afternoon... so we are without vehicle at the mo..

We spent the afternoon swimming and relaxing, then at 7pm, Jen went to a clothes swap party with Tracy, and I chatted to Carsten at the Crystal Bar.

Tomorrow, Jen starts an Open Water Course! It was a bit of a surprise to get one so quickly... but great...

x

SD

11th March 2011

After a terrible nights sleep for some reason or another, we headed down to Crystal around 8.30am, ordered breakfast and met up with Nathan and some Marine Biology students over from Koh Phangan.

This morning, we dove Mae Haad reef, off the longtail and assisted in putting down some 5metre cross transects. This didn’t take long at all so, Simon, Nathan and I left the group and swam over to Junk Yard to see what additions had been made and to see the Sea Hares (really large Nudi branchs/sea slugs) which have appeared in the last couple of months due to the abundance of algae growing on the sea bed. It didn’t take long before I spotted one ..oh my goodness, I wasn’t expecting them to be so big. It was about the size of my fist.

Apparently the numbers have declined in the last month but I think we saw at least half a dozen of them on the dive. Apart from the new sea life, puffa’s , batfish to name but a few, the coral nursary’s we’d put down before we left, are doing extremely well. I think we’ll soon be doing some transplanting!!

After a 65 minute dive, we headed back in to shore, washed out kit and went home for a shower. I had intentions of mailing people but promptly fell asleep for a couple of hours while Si did some UK work.

Around 7pm, we met the Crystal crew and started dance rehearsals which went pretty well seeing we’ve missed 3 sessions ..as I think we’ve mentioned it’s a medley of the Village People tracks ..really annoying when you’re humming them whilst diving ;-D

Rehearsal over and done with, we headed out for food and beer to the ‘soft’ opening (I suppose that means, not quite finished) of ‘Vibe Lounge" ...which used to be Dirty Nellys but is now under new ownership. ‘VIBE’ used to be a cool beach bar down in Sairee but had to close do to landlord issues .. anyway.. a few drinks later it was bed for an early nite..

x

Jen

10th March 2011

After a 13 hour solid sleep, we woke feeling pretty refreshed,

We started the morning, with a swim in the hotel pool and then headed to Zest for breakfast. 2 Cappuchino coffees and some scrambled eggs on toast and we were off to the dive school. We grabbed our kit bags and got ready to jump straight back on the Eco wagon.

Nathan, and a few of his students, were heading out on Crystal 1 (the smallest of the fleet, beside the longtail) to Hin Fai (Bio-Rock) to mark some 1 metre square quadrants and some settlement plates for a study a university on the mainland has created.

Being back in the water was bliss, and no equalising issues... which is great news.



Two dives later and we were back at shore.... a quick change of clothes and straight to dinner. Jenny had a Thai Jungle Curry, a spicy soup kinda thing, I had Pad Thai Tofu.

After munching through a tasty dinner, we headed over to Nathans house to catch up on the dance moves for the Underwater festival in a couple of weeks. We ended up just gassing and drinking Green Tea... but rehearsals are tomorrow, so Jen and I need to keep up as we have missed out on 3 sessions!

Before bed, we nipped to Crystal for a quick drink and to meet up with people we hadn't caught up with... another early night! Nice!

x

SD

9th March 2011

So folks... Now I am awake finally... I can update the post.!

At Bangkok airport, we went to bed, and both were awake at 1:30am... Jen stayed awake watching naff movies until 4am, and I stayed up messing with the internet, seeing if I could get BBC iplayer to work outside of the UK.. I did, so Jen will be happy to keep up with all the Eastenders stuff.

At 7am I woke Jen with a cuppa, and we had breakfast before shooting back to the airport for our domestic flight to Surat Thani (southern province).


On the short flight to Surat, we were served with sandwiches.. mine were veggie of course, and a very strange mixture of cream, green beans, and carrots... needless to say, I left it.

Landing at Surat Thani, we were going to get the bus to the town centre, but it was pretty full, and we were not travelling light, so got a cab.

20 mins later and we were at the ferry. We bought at tickets, and starting thinking what to do for 12 hours, before the boat left.

Surat Thani is a town that supplies the islands with various food, building materials, bikes etc. So shopping here was not very fun... we stopped after an hour as there was nothing to see. I then had my hair shaved at a barbers and we returned to the boat, to watch the loading of cargo on the boat.. its amazing how much they fit on.




The waiting around was tedious, Jen bought some fruit from a market stall, I bought a couple of beers, we watched Monday's episode of Eastenders.. snoozed... that was it.



Eventually, 11pm had arrived, and the boat started off. Most people went to sleep. I watched a couple of films, snoozed a little, and watched the sunrise from the back of the boat. The journey got quite choppy for a couple of hours, but thankfully, no one was sick.

So, we arrived on Koh Tao!! YAY! 3 days of travel and we were shattered... and still wearing the same clothes (Yuck!)..

We caught a taxi to the Koh Tao Regal hotel (sounds better than it is) and got showered and changed. Then hit the pool for some exercise. Then off to Zest for breakfast, and meet Nathan and family. Lots of chit chat later, Nathan gave me a lift to pick up my motorbike...

It would not start, and I pushed the bike to the nearest mechanic... knackering!. The mechanic checked and noticed there was no fuel !!! It must have either leaked, or evaporated... who knows... anyway... a little while later, and my bike is running.

Returning to Jen, we had a couple of hours snooze and head out to dinner.. just a quick Thai bite.. which was delicious.. Jen had Pork and Ginger.. I had Tofu Red Curry.. both meals were very good.

Off to the Crystal bar, for a quick hello... and we retired for a 13 hour kip.... I need it.

7th March 2011 - The Journey Back

So, slighty over 3 months after arriving back in the UK, we left the farm on the sunniest day since we had returned... was the bad weather following us or something??!

We were dropped at Heathrow by Charles and Rosie (thanks guys!) and after a slightly tearful farewell by the two sisters, we checked in.

14 hours later, we arrived at Bangkok airport, and after a bit of wandering around, we found the shuttle bus to the hotel.

After check in, we went to our room, and I immediately got on the internet to sort some work stuff out, while Jen went to the gym (good girl!). We both met at the pool bar, before going back to our room, showering, and sitting in our dressing gowns.

Jenny wrote an email to her sis, and then we hit the hay ready for another flight in the morning.