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.
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 😀 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.
