Here’s a couple of pics from yesterday.

Starting from the left we have James, Justine Jenny & Si.

James & Justine are hopefully going to continue to help, while we gather more followers of the cause!!!

The second picture, shows the beginnings of a new artifical reef we are building… 2 days in and a puffer fish has already made a home…. ahhhhh..

The third picture is of our table and chairs… something for new students to play with..

Enjoy!

The much anticipated hill to our Thai house.

Sadly video does not do it justice, but believe me, not many people make it up to our place!!

Think of the London-Brighton bike ride… the big hill (Ditchlin Beacon?) before you get to Brighton is nothing compared to this beast, which is only partially covered in concrete!!

Even a nutcase like me, with less sense that a lemming, has a healthy amount of fear.!

Reef check course (3 days)
We learnt about tropical eco systems and how to monitor them. Coral reefs are the highest bioversity on earth after rainforests. Reefs are the oldest stuctures on the planet. They protect 20% of the worlds coast from wave action, provide a home to 33% of fish and a nursery to 25% of species. We watched ‘Inconvienent truth’ which is a presentation by Al Gore on the global warming and the effect its having on the Earth ..certainly makes you stop and think as to why major steps are not being taken.

Project AWARE speciality course – Aquatic World Awareness, Responsibility and Education (1 Day)
We covered: Aquatic world functions as a single ecosystem / The importantce or any threast to both temperate and polar waters / Threats to coral reefs / The pertinent issues that place aquatic ecosystems in jeopardy (fishing, coastal zone and wetlands degradation and pollution, and lastly, went through possible solutions to many aquatic enviroments to help conservation.
Bio-rock

Afternoon dive with neighbouring dive companies to sink some huge slabs of concrete in order to create a new buoy line for boats to moor on for this new Biorock site.
The Biorock is a man made structure which consists of four massive steel domes. The site utilizes low voltage electrical energy to stimulate coral growth and is going to be an excellent training area for new open water divers taking the pressure off other dive sites in the area.