We are off on our Visa run today and by 8.20, both of us were showered, packed and ready to go.
Simon had strapped the suitcase to the back of the bike and we each had a rucksack. Its the first time that we've travelled so light :-D ..just a mere 8 kgs
Our first stop was Lederhosen bike shop to drop off the bike and collect Si's passport, then we walked down the street to 'Cafe Del Sol' for a much needed breakfast.
At the pier we checked in and sat around for a while before the lomprayah arrived.
The jouney only took 2 1/2 hrs to Koh Samui and we were met at the other end by an lovely air-conditioned coach which took us straight to the airport.
Our flight wasnt until 5.15, so I had a snooze and Simon read his book before we could check in.
Once checked in, we headed to our gate and took full use of the courtesy food & drink and caught up on mails.
The flight was good, maybe a little scary coming into KL as there was a massive electric storm going on but apart from that, fine. Past passport control we collected our lugguage (1 piece) and grabbed a taxi to our hotel, The Mandarin Oriental, a very plush hotel next to the Patronus Towers of which we have an awesome view as you will see from the pictures that we shall put up in a couple of days, cos we left the connecting lead for my camera at Koh Tao.
After unpacking and freshening up, we headed out to do some exploring and to find somewhere to eat. Not really knowing at this time what was open & what wasn't, we caught the skytrain into China town in the hope of finding the Vegetarian restaurant that we discovered on our honeymoon.
Unfortunately we ended up walking for miles and getting slightly lost on our way back to the hotel so went to bed exhausted and hungry. We at least had a lovely bath though and a good nights sleep..
Saturday, 1 May 2010
Friday, 30 April 2010
Day 83/84- 27,28th April 2010
All of the Open Water students decided to do their Advanced course which was great. I just feel for Clare the girl with the ear infection that couldn't continue but at least she's got her Scuba Diver certification.
In the Advanced course, the students have to do a 'Deep' (30mtrs) and 'Navigation' dive combined with another three, so the majority went for Peak Performance Buoyancy, Night, Wreck apart from one who chose Photography.
The Advanced course, two days of diving went really well apart from the night dive which I found the most challenging.
On the Night dive descent, one of the girls freaked just 1 or 2 meters down because her torch went out and managed to scramble to the surface between the rungs of the boats ladder ..which is near enough impossible but once I whacked her light, which then came on again, she was fine. I dread to think what might have happened if it had been choppy.
Once in the water there was a slight current which didnt help. Then to find an appropriate place and to communicate to them, to navigate a reciprocal heading (which I'd briefed and written down on a slate for them) was a complete nightmare, God knows what I would have done if Simon wasn't there. Then once that was over, I spotted a cuttle fish, my first since being on the island and what did one of the girls do? She nearly stood on it! Arrggggh!!! As you can tell, taking students out on a night dive for the first time is not one of my favourite pastimes.
In the Advanced course, the students have to do a 'Deep' (30mtrs) and 'Navigation' dive combined with another three, so the majority went for Peak Performance Buoyancy, Night, Wreck apart from one who chose Photography.
The Advanced course, two days of diving went really well apart from the night dive which I found the most challenging.
On the Night dive descent, one of the girls freaked just 1 or 2 meters down because her torch went out and managed to scramble to the surface between the rungs of the boats ladder ..which is near enough impossible but once I whacked her light, which then came on again, she was fine. I dread to think what might have happened if it had been choppy.
Once in the water there was a slight current which didnt help. Then to find an appropriate place and to communicate to them, to navigate a reciprocal heading (which I'd briefed and written down on a slate for them) was a complete nightmare, God knows what I would have done if Simon wasn't there. Then once that was over, I spotted a cuttle fish, my first since being on the island and what did one of the girls do? She nearly stood on it! Arrggggh!!! As you can tell, taking students out on a night dive for the first time is not one of my favourite pastimes.
Day 82- 26th April 2010
Morning dives went well and back on dry land we washed our dive kits and then gathered in the restaurant. All students apart from one girl who had developed an ear infection had sucessfully passed their Open Water. I completed their temporary Open Water Cards whilst Nathan took them up to retail to have their photo's taken. All in all they'd done brilliantly and were all hopefully going on to do their Advanced course.
That evening we arranged to meet up at the new 'Regal' hotel to watch their video. It turned out to be a great night as it was Crystal's bosses wifes birthday and they'd put on a band, dance performances and a free buffet. Everyone seemed to be there and as the night went on, people were being thrown in the Regal pool. I fortunately stayed dry :-)
That evening we arranged to meet up at the new 'Regal' hotel to watch their video. It turned out to be a great night as it was Crystal's bosses wifes birthday and they'd put on a band, dance performances and a free buffet. Everyone seemed to be there and as the night went on, people were being thrown in the Regal pool. I fortunately stayed dry :-)
Day 81- 25th April 2010
This morning the Open Water students did their final exam and swim tests, whilst Nathan, Simon and I headed out on the longtail to put down a new anchor line and to check out the coral nursery Junk Yard reef.
Around midday, we met with students with dive bags prepared and headed to the boat for dives 1 & 2 which were both at 'Mango Bay' Nathan briefed the dives and I led ..after dive 1 I felt pretty disheartened as it was like trying to herd cats. Dive 2 was much better, students were starting to find their buoyancy and I felt pretty proud of them.
Tomorrow, it's an early start, 7am for their final dives 3 & 4, so after a few beers at Crystal we headed home. I say home but we were actually dog, cat and house sitting for Alan & Heidi for the night, whilst they were in Samui. Riding up to their house on the bike reminded me of how I do not miss that hill...
Around midday, we met with students with dive bags prepared and headed to the boat for dives 1 & 2 which were both at 'Mango Bay' Nathan briefed the dives and I led ..after dive 1 I felt pretty disheartened as it was like trying to herd cats. Dive 2 was much better, students were starting to find their buoyancy and I felt pretty proud of them.
Tomorrow, it's an early start, 7am for their final dives 3 & 4, so after a few beers at Crystal we headed home. I say home but we were actually dog, cat and house sitting for Alan & Heidi for the night, whilst they were in Samui. Riding up to their house on the bike reminded me of how I do not miss that hill...
Monday, 26 April 2010
Day 80 - 24th April 2010
So today continued with more "roof work" in very hot conditions, and then in the afternoon we all jumped in the pool to train some new divers for the confined session of Open Water Diver.
Also, Rob (one of the "Sweet Transvestites in Rocky Horror") had arrived back from hospital where he had been since the Rocky Horror show, since he had a rather nasty meeting with a taxi while riding his bike home...
Here he is showing off his nicely repaired foot!
Also, Rob (one of the "Sweet Transvestites in Rocky Horror") had arrived back from hospital where he had been since the Rocky Horror show, since he had a rather nasty meeting with a taxi while riding his bike home...
Here he is showing off his nicely repaired foot!
Saturday, 24 April 2010
Day 79 - 23rd April 2010
More of the same today..
After completed the frames yesterday, we started working on the material of the "roof" which is made out of green plastic net, so we can transplant coral on to it..
All day long in the sun, doing this was incredibly draining, and we stopped about 6pm, grabbed a quick bite to eat and then home to bed...
After completed the frames yesterday, we started working on the material of the "roof" which is made out of green plastic net, so we can transplant coral on to it..
All day long in the sun, doing this was incredibly draining, and we stopped about 6pm, grabbed a quick bite to eat and then home to bed...
Friday, 23 April 2010
Day 78 - 22nd April 2010
Its time to renovate "The Junkyard".
Organised a week ago, we went in this morning to start building some new structures to expand the artificial dive site we created 1 year ago.
Sadly, due to miscommunication... Jen, Me, Nathan, and Debbie out of the 25 people who signed up for it.. were the only ones who turned up. It didn't matter... Jen and I had our own idea for a "Coral House" and went shopping for materials to build it.
After shopping all morning, we returned to the beach to start building our "house"
It took the rest of the day to plan, build, argue, debate etc. for Jen and I to finally build our frame.
We ended the day quite tired from all the sun and hard work, but we had to attend the islands 1st Eco Film Festival. I had created a film for the festival, basically just a neater version of a video I did last year here. Unfortunately, due to issues beyond my control, I had to pull the film from the festival.
Even though my film was not on, we went and watched the other 10 films showing. The standard of most of them was not great, but I guess the message was there... They were trying to do some good.
We left there asap, to go to bed!
Organised a week ago, we went in this morning to start building some new structures to expand the artificial dive site we created 1 year ago.
Sadly, due to miscommunication... Jen, Me, Nathan, and Debbie out of the 25 people who signed up for it.. were the only ones who turned up. It didn't matter... Jen and I had our own idea for a "Coral House" and went shopping for materials to build it.
After shopping all morning, we returned to the beach to start building our "house"
It took the rest of the day to plan, build, argue, debate etc. for Jen and I to finally build our frame.
We ended the day quite tired from all the sun and hard work, but we had to attend the islands 1st Eco Film Festival. I had created a film for the festival, basically just a neater version of a video I did last year here. Unfortunately, due to issues beyond my control, I had to pull the film from the festival.
Even though my film was not on, we went and watched the other 10 films showing. The standard of most of them was not great, but I guess the message was there... They were trying to do some good.
We left there asap, to go to bed!
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