Day 56 - 30th March 2010

It's the last day of Reef Check today and Si is starting team teaching an Open Water Course so couldn't come out on the boat.  He was pretty gutted, as it turned out to be 'Speedy', Crystal's speedboat.
Apart from yesterday morning, we'd never been on it and now it's two days on the trot for me.
I waved goodbye to Simon and we headed out to the 'Lighthouse' reef which is on the other side of the island.

Today the students are doing their final survey on a shallow (5m) transect 100 meter line where the findings will be logged onto a global database and I headed out with Katti (another Instructor) to survey the deep transect line (10m).  I took the Invertebrates survey as I find that a lot easier than identifying fish ;-)

The visibility was pretty good, an array of coloured coral, abundance of fish.  I was amazed at the lack of sea urchins and sea cucumbers compared to Mae Haad reef.

After Katti and I  had finished the deep survey, we headed off for a fun dive as we still have lots of air left so we headed off trying to find some caves but unfortunately didnt find them and got attacked by a couple of large Trigger fish which was fun  ..NOT!

Back at Crystal we collected the data and transfered it onto forms which Nathan will later log for global use.

In the evening, I caught up with a few people in the bar whilst waiting for Simon to finish his academics with his student before heading home.

Jen

Day 55 - 29th March 2010

Early start this morning, and we squeezed on to the speedboat with some Divemaster trainees.

We were out purely for a fun dive and our mission today was to find a fish we had never seen, The Pink Tailed Triggerfish. We had some information about where 1 or 2 were living on a particular dive site called "Red Rock".

So we began our dive, and went North from Red Rock for about 40 mins and were just about to turn around when we saw them... Awesome fish, very timid (unlike there big cousins!).

Mission completed, we headed back to the boat and ran in to 3 Titan Triggerfish (the big cousins)...   One of them was massive (comparable to a pickup truck engine!) and was very aggressive.. After swimming out of his area, he swam around a rock and hid hoping we would come past... so he could attack again! Cheeky damm fish!

In the afternoon,  we were out on the longboat this afternoon helping with reef check.  It's easy diving just pointing out Substrates, Invertebrates, Fish and any other oddities to the students

Back on land we gathered to discuss their findings and Nathan went through some of his books pointing out numerous corals and discussing what students noticed with regards to coral bleaching, disease & various causes   ..doing the Reef Check course really does make you look at the dive sites in a different light.

Both pretty tired and sweaty we headed home.  Popping into 'Kanya' our favourite Thai restaurant on the island so far to get a take away

Jen

Day 54 - 28th March 2010

Today we're helping Nathan out with Reef Check as a few of the Instructors are taking the course.

This morning they're in the classroom doing academics so we went to Deep Down Productions so that Si could print out some of the outlines for the Documentary Course that he's building whilst I began to read a book that one of the guys gave me.

After reading a couple chapters and Simon's printing complete, we went to Crystal and waited for Nathan and the Reef Check students to finish their classroom work before heading out on the longtail.  Nathan gave a briefing, for today, the students just had to identify substrates, invertebrates and fish (certain types) just to get them into the swing of things along the transect line (100mtr line)  We've helped out numerous times with the course and we're still continually learning with each dive that we do.

After an hour or so, we surfaced after the students had a go at trying to identify each category and then headed back to the beach where we discussed the days findings.

That evening for dinner, we headed to 'Safety Stop' for a Sunday roast and a game of Settlers of Catan.

Jen
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Day 53 - 27th March 2010

Last night was such a laugh.   After going doing to 'Vibe' at around 8pm there was hardly anyone there so Si and I went for a stroll along the beach and grabbed some food at 'Blue Wave' restaurant and then on our return to 'Vibe' the bar was full  ...so many people from Crystal were there for Mark's (Instructor) leaving do.
Little Dave who runs the bar put made a speech and wished him farewell and then announnced that anyone that wanted to buy Mark a farewell shot, it'd only be 50baht  ...so as you can imagine, he had loads lined up on the bar :-D    An hour on or so Simon and I decided to leave and go to 'The Castle' to meet up with Nathan & his wife Tracy who were already there.  At the entrance we paid to get in and received an disgusting orange shot and then looked for Nathan & Tracy who were already on the dance floor. 
As the evening progressed, more people from Crystal turned up and then the heavens opened.  It was quite a weird experience dancing whilst getting totally soaked.  Steve (from Crystal) who was Dj'ing there did a brilliant job and managed to mix in 'Take me dancing, naked in the rain'   ..anyway, after beers & buckets, we left around 1.45am

When we woke it was chucking it down.  Once it had just about stopped, Si went out to get some breakfast.  My museli, fruit & yoghurt turned out to be only fruit, so with that he headed back into Sairee to get what he's paid for.   When he finally returned we sat and enjoyed our breakfast watching Eastenders.

Later in the afternoon we popped down to Crystal to see if any new Open Water courses were starting but it's all a bit quiet at the moment and the English ones dont start for a few days.
Waiting around in the Crystal bar we chatted to a few people and then popped down the road to check out 'Airshot' very similar to paintball but with pellets for Cartsons (Instructor & Si's ole mentor) birthday which is on the 5th April.  Last year we played paintball which great fun but boy was it hot.

In the evening we stayed at the Crystal bar and watched a video and then we were supposed to go to dinner at Cafe Del Sol with a few of the DMT's as it was one of their birthdays but when we got there, they were no where to be seen.  As it was busy they must have gone elsewhere, we didnt have their tel no's so checked a few places and then decided to give up, grab some food and went home.

Jen

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday dear Pops!

Happy Birthday to you!

Day 52 - 26 March 2010

It's our day off today and we both woke around 10.30.  I was shocked  that we managed to lie in for that amount of time, especially Simon.


After catching up with work & emails I went to collect our washing.  The Thai lady in the office looked at me blankly and said  'I have no washing for you'.  it had mysteriously disappeared or someone else had taken it.  We checked the washing line, she called her boss who clearly remembered me bringing it in  ..but it was no where to be seen.   I was told to come back later and 'Sorry, Im Thai'   ..whats that got to do with it I thought.  Simon wasnt pleased at all as it was most of his clothes.

 After that saga, we popped down to Crystal to see if there were any Open Water courses starting that we could team teach on, unfortunately there were only German & Dutch starting  ..so we headed off to grab something to eat at Cappucino's Coffee house.  I had museli, banana and yoghurt and Si had 2 poached eggs on toast.

It seems blisteringly hot today so we decided to go for a swim at Crystal Regal pool   ..this is where our friend Scott stayed.  The pool was pretty quiet apart from a bunch of open water students doing their confined session at one end of the pool.  So Si and I mucked around in the rest.  After a few hours of handstands, being half drowned and races we dried off and came home, only stopping for toothpaste, crisps and water.

Tonight we're off to 'Vibe' beach bar with a crowd of people and then going onto 'The Castle' club where one of the instructors are Dj'ing  ...should be interesting.

Day 51 - 25 March 2010

Jumped on the bike and headed into Sairee, what I forgot to mention yesterday that we found a Ikelite housing for Si's little Sony Hanycam and I've decided to buy it as it's half the price it should be, as it was ordered in by mistake.   So, now I will be filming underwater.  YAY!!!   In comparison to Si's, it's tiny!

Before the boat arrived the beat up truck that carry's Scuba Tanks, got stuck in the sand, so Simon and some DMT etc... helped get it moving... it took a while and looked like hard work!

I'd earlier tested my new camera housing in the pool to make sure it didnt leak  .. then Si mounted the camera inside.

On the boat I was very excited to get in the water and do some filming.  Si didnt take his monster camera out as at the last minute we were asked to lead some fun divers.

Our first dive was at 'Twins'  usually lovely and clear but because of all the coral spawning, it was 5 meters vis tops and very disappointing.  I didint really film anything apart from a couple of Angel fish and clown fish.

The Second dive was at 'Japanese Gardens'  Looking from the boat the vis looked good so I was raring to go.  In the water, the vis deteriorated the further we went so we just circled a small area and lo and behold an Eagle ray gracefully swam past.  Then from out of nowhere all the trainee videographers appeared and were chasing it so they could get a good shot, not really the thing to do but hey, they're still learning, says she, who's only filmed a couple of times :-)  I did managed to get a few seconds of footage though in all the chaos, which I was pretty amazed at as I couldn't see properly as my mask kept on fogging up.

Back on land we washed our kit, reviewed my footage and then dropped my new housing back at 'Deep Down Productions'.  Back at the Crystal bar we watched Tina's open water video for a bit and then shot off to Sairee to meet with Alan & Heidi (our old landlords) for dinner.

After eating and drinking too much we arrived back at home around 9.30pm  ..I really must stop eating when I'm full but the food is just so good...!

Jen
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