Jenny, vastly improving started back with an Open Water Course of 5 people… The 1st day she found very tiring but was doing well.

In the meantime, I completed a 1 person Advanced and then straight in to a 6 person Rescue Course.  This course required me, an MSDT (new instructor getting experience), 4 DMT’s (Divemaster Trainees) and the 6 students. A whopping big group..

I pushed them hard as I want people who do this very tiring 3 day course, to really get value and confidence to be able to perhaps help in a real life scenario.

They all bonded together and worked as a team.. 4 of the 6 students are heading to the DMT program and its good to make some friends to share your experiences.

That evening, in celebration… they all went out and got absolutely hammered (I didn’t go!).. The guy in the 2nd picture carrying someone up a ladder, decided it would be a good idea to ride his bike home when by all accounts he couldn’t even walk.. He ended up being found in the middle of the road with a broken leg and other less serious injuries. He has been shipped to Samui for an operation and will probably go home. What an idiot! Lesson learnt I hope…

Anyway, Jen is finishing tomorrow, but only with 3 out of the 5.. Two of her students needed a day off for medical reasons… so I am taking them tomorrow afternoon.. Day off soon please… 🙂

x

SD

I’ve spent the last couple of days just sleeping and drinking.  Thankfully most of my aches & pains have gone and my rash has nearly disappeared but now i’ve got an irritating itch all over my body which  …which is nothing compared to the joint pain that i’ve experienced. Simon took a crew of 17 people to Biorock for an educational dive. We dive it very little and 15 out of the 17 people had not even heard of it. They transplanted broken coral to the structures in quite a strong current. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it.

Today, Si was up early after a terrible nights sleep.  We has a call(3am) telling us that there was a chap at the the Thai Inter (clinic) that was in bad shape, who didnt know where/who he was that had been involved in an accident  ..so after Si making various calls to the operations manager we later found out that he’d been evacuated by speedboat over to Samui  …goodness knows who he was, thankfully it wasn’t someone from Crystal  …i just hope he’s ok as from the call last night it was touch and go whether he’d make it  ..  No news as of yet
I’ve been up since about 7am  …watching tv, so far today I’ve watched Troy and Volcano has just started.  I think I’ll take a walk  down the road to get some water as we’re totally out.
In the evening I ventured out with Simon to a Save Koh Tao meeting to discuss this years events, Koh Tao Festival, new and up and coming projects, coral spawning and the workshop for coral nurseries, so it made a good change from TV and cups of tea.

Climate Change Conference.

After having the last few days off and then jetting off to Bangkok for a couple of days attending a Global climate change conference held by the Norweign Embassy, everything seems now, looking back,all a bit of a blur. 

When we first received the invites we were pretty excited as it was something new, in Bangkok, so be nice to have a mini trip, but after attending it, we both came away feeling slightly disappointed due to the fact that nothing new had been learnt.  One bonus was that we finally met a lady called Dr. Suchana Apple Chavanich, associate professor, dept of Marine Science at Chulalongkorn University who certified us as Reef Check Instructors and had a wide ranging knowledge when it comes to research/qualifications on Marine Biology and another was that our trendy hotel was generously paid for by our Course Director who attended the conference as well and led us astray in the bars   …which I must tell you, Simon was paying for it this morning!!

It was a nice change to be away but it’s always so nice to leave the hussle and bussle of a city behind and come back to Koh Tao…

Also, in the last few days, I have been feeling unwell… Sensitivity to light, rashes, and joint pain in my hips and knees which is causing a severe lack of sleep… After a bit of research, it seems that another mosquito spreading disease called Chikungunya has affected a few people on the island, and my symptons match up with it. Hopefully the situation improves in the next few days..

xx

Jenny