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 ;-DYesterday, 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

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

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