30th November 2018

It's been an action packed November teaching, taking DMC's out on ECO dives and then doing lots of land work as I've been out of the water with an deep infection in my leg.  I don't know how I got it, maybe I might picked something but I don't remember but now I'm paying and Simon is paying for it as I'm out of the water for another week, poor ole Si has to do ALL my water work for my courses Small but deep but now it's itchy, so it's on the mend. 

This is what we've been up to in pictures.

I've had a lovely girl called Michaell doing some ECO courses with me and now it's at the stage where she's organising the DMC's (Dive Master Candidates) to do eco activites and dives which as I am out of the water has been brilliant.  We've/she's been making cement bottle nurseries which will be deployed at our artificial reef Junkyard and then at a later date filled with coral fragments.  A fun job but hard work mixing cement by hand in the heat.
 

Dive Against Debris Team

I taught a couple of students the 'Dive Against Debris Specialty' in which they organize, brief a dive, collected marine debris and come back and record /report it helping to improve waste management by helping convince individuals, governments and businesses to act on marine debris

Si's trying to fix his laptop

So with Simon running about, filming, sorting everything for our new eco boat, doing the waterworks of my courses, fixing other peoples laptops, Self Reliant teaching, he's been dealing with major issues with his laptop as it's stopped charging ..for the 2nd time ..not having the greatest of times ...we are both looking forward to coming home for a break :-D 

Deployment of old speedboat at Junkyard

Final resting place for speedboat

When this old speedboat was first deployed, it was so buoyant that Simon had to pull it down.    Now that it's been in the water for a week or so, it's a little heavier and Simon and a team were able to move it with the use of lift bags to it's final resting place.  All that's needed now is for it to be populated with coral :-D

Taking our eco boat for a spin

This is my maiden voyage in the ECO speedboat.  We had a little cruise around Maehaad before dropping a  couple divers off at Junkyard and then we powered back to shore.  I was the deckhand, responsible for hooking up and tying off :-D     The boats coming out of the water today as it needs to be equipped with lights, tank rack, new name, anti-fouling paint  etc  ..but once done and we're back in January, it's going to be amazing to be able to go out when we want, do what we want and not have to rely on anyone.  The boat will be named 'Cuthbert' ..after our ECO mascot :-D

Intern doing some water testing

Another land activity which students can go for a 'water testing' fun dive and then I can do testing with them on their return :-D 

We are missing you all and send lots of love

XOXOX

08 November 2018

Hi everyone!    We hope that everyone is very well and that you're slowly getting used to the cold weather.   You'll be glad to know that it's not all sun sea and sand here.  We've had stupid amounts of rain, wind and it's got rather chilly.  Im still walking around in shorts and tshirs ..oh and a rain jacket but everything is damp ;-(   It's a tough life LOL

We have some exciting news.  We've got a boat for ECO!!!  It's 23ft and 140 hp ..it'll will seat about 10 people but after we've made some adjustments, so it can hold scuba tanks, it should be comfortable for 4-6 people.  Two friends kindly donated the money for the boat who are passionate about ECO.  I think Simon and I are still in shock :-D   

The ECO boat

It arrived a couple of days ago and one of the first jobs Simon did was to is to install a bilge pump.  Thank goodness he did as we've had torrential rain ever since.  The bilge pump is manual, so with it being the new boat and not knowing how much waters has been taken on, poor Simon, acting our captain has been constantly getting wet, having swim out, board, turn the bilge pump on and empty the water.    The wind has also been horrendous, so that hasn't helped.

Captain Simon checking on the water levels as stupid o'clock 

Lots of rain means lots of run off  ..as you can see

01 November 2018

Tomalina, 

You're such a handsome dude!!

Happy Birthday!!!

Go out and have a few on us :-D 

We'll celebrate when we're back :-D

Love Jenny Wren & Sid

XXX

31st October 2018

Happy Birthday to You

Happy Birthday to You

Happy Birthday Dear Fiona

Happy Birthday to You !!!!!

What a wonderful sister you are!! 
I hope you had fun at Pilates and that you're going to spoil yourself later ;-D  ..you had better!!

Cheers!!!!

Happy Birthday Fi Fi!!!!

18th October 2018

Hope everyone is well. 

I still want an elephant!!  LOL

What a wonderful experience my Birthday trip was and I'm still feeling very fortunate to have experienced all those amazing activities.

Back on the island we went straight back into work ..so same, same!!   I've been diving most days, Si's is still working non stop,  social media for Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, designing T shirts, posters, building websites,  updating my website, filming, coral transplanting  ..he has a list that goes never goes down but is always adding to it.  Plus Win from the bar has left.  he's gone back to Burma to see his family and then working in Malaysia.


I got him a T Shirt printed so that he's never for us :-D   He's not actually crying in this photo.

I've been teaching Tim and lady called Halie (another instructor) Reef Check, which is a 4 day training course.  This course teaches them how to use a standardized method to monitoring fish, invertebrate and substrate so that they can participate in surveys worldwide.  It's been challenging at times but fun. They've both learnt a lot and enjoyed the course which is a good thing.  It was odd teaching Tim.  He was very well behaved :-D

Reef Check Course

 After students have done Reef Check and if the students are staying around for a while, I take them out and show them a few  coral transplant techniques, which I don't charge for but I think I might in the future ;-D    As most of them find out, it's a lot harder than it looks, especially to secure the corals to the substrate so the corals have got maximum contact and minimal movement.  After I demonstrate, they 'll have a go with a bit of rubble.  They're usually thinking that they've done a good job when I come along and critique ..usually ending with them starting over :-D

Mr D in action

Tim adamant to get it right

I hope everyone is well and that Mr M is recovering from his fall.

MISS EVERYONE!!!

Lots of love
XXXXXXXXXXXxx

04 October 2018

So after Cambodia we flew to Chiang Mai which is a city in northern Thailand.  It was the capital of the independent Lanna Kingdom until 1558.  It's old city area still retains vestiges of walls and moats from it's history as a cultural and religious center.

It had a much more relaxed feel about it and the fact that it was much cheaper and had some great markets made it even more appealing :-D  

The most exciting thing and enjoyable thing EVER was our visit to the Elephant nature park, Pamper A Pachyderm 2.  Such an amazing experience!!  

Cuthbert eager to Nelly ;-D

Smiling Simon

We had an early morning pick up from our apartment. as it was going to take a good hour and half journey to the nature park.   Which gave us time to get really excited while watching the safety video :-D     Out on a road in the middle of nowhere we stopped and got out and were greeted by a few locals and 3 beautiful elephants.  We were given bags of bananas to feed them whilst we went on an hour or so hike.   The bananas were an incentive for the elephants to follow us which were refilled at various points along our journey to 'base camp'    If we sped up, then so did the elephants which was a little unnerving at times as these boys/girls were huge.  I didn't fancy being squashed ..so there were a few giggly moments with me scampering out the way and Simon laughing :-D  We must have walked with for a good hour or so before we stopped for lunch down a steep path leading to the river.

Si with a bag of banana's

The elephants didn't join us for lunch but followed on behind and waved their trunks goodbye as they made their way very slowly down to the river to wait for us.

Lunch was yummy, all local and vegetarian, so lots of choice for Simon.  Being so hot, we re-hydrated as much as we could, we were so glad for the little leaf hats that the guys made for us.  I must say that the guides were pretty informative it was very interesting hear each of the elephants history as to how they came to be at the park.  There were all sorts, blind, semi blind, orphaned, rescued from the city, logging, all of which have had a very traumatic life.  There was one particular Burmese elephant that had some of it's foot blown off by a mine ..he's was my favorite I think.  5 years later they still had to bath his foot in antiseptic to stop infection.  ;-( 

   

Anyway after lunch we made some food balls for the elephants for the pre bathing snack ...rice, mango and lots of other fruit which I can't remember

We chopped this lot up and then fed them the balls that we'd made.  They're constantly eating :-D  

After their snack, we walked a short way into the river and were given buckets to throw water over them.  So much fun, they were like little scuba divers ..rolling around, fully submerging themselves and almost doing what looked like a head stand.

There were a few hairy moments where I was thigh deep water filming and one of the elephants decided to do a mini charge at me ...was I scared?   ..maybe?!!     It was so much fun though!!  Simon has all the photo's of the bathing action, so I'll post a few a bit later on.

I WANT AN ELEPHANT!!

To end the day, we finished bathing, feeding the elephants and whitewater rafted to the main rescue center where we were given a in depth tour if the part, seeing lots more elephants, being told their stories and what was amazing was that not only did it rescue elephants but it there it saved water buffalo, cats and dogs.  The lodging for the cats & dogs was incredible ..we both thought it was for staff :-D

I LOVED MY BIRTHDAY PREZZIE    ....THANK YOU !!!!!

30th Sept 2018

Zip lining was a little bit of a let down but it was still good fun.  Basically the staff did everything for you which was a little frustrating when you're used to doing everything yourself.

We started early in the day and luckily there were only 6 in our group all of which were couples and Chinese.    We later understood that they had to be so stringent with rules is that we know from experience that they're not the best at listening, so safety comes first. 

We would have had video but we forgot to put the battery in the Go Pro :-D  LOL

We had some stunning views and Simon teased me nearly on every zip line or bridge that 'This is the one that has just reopened or has just been fixed'  ..He's a rascal.    There were a couple of bridges to walk across and then the rest of the course was mild zip lines ..fun but I don't think we'd go back.

That evening Simon found a vegan restaurant to try, bland compared to Thai standards but very enjoyable.

 After dinner and a massive downpour, we grab a tuk tuk to take us to the The Cambodian Circus.  The show we watched with delight was called 'Same Same but different'

THE CIRCUS ..we had the best seats in the house :-D

The Cambodian Circus ..exciting

Popcorn, Beer & FREE metal water bottle

'Same Same but Different'  It tells a story of everyday situations and explored the different habits and ways of living between Cambodians and foreign visitors.  A sudden downpour and unexpected outage, a hectic boat trip and a relaxing dinner all provide the backdrops for funny encounters and opposing perspectives But in every situation they find understanding and connect at a human level.  The artists share their own unique take on cultural differences, poking good nature fun at themselves and others.    They have different shows all inspired by real life experiences of it's creators and performers with themes such a war, discrimination, relationships, poverty and ghosts.

If you go to Siem Reap, this is a MUST SEE!!