Over the last few days we have been extremely busy… Here is a summary….
Our day off a few days ago started with nice refreshing swim at the Regal pool and then breakfast at Cafe Del Sol.  Si had UK work to do, so dropped me in Sairee and then went home.  I went for a massage which was bliss. 
After taking a slow walk home and nearly passing out from the heat 😀  I passed out on the sofa whilst Si carried on working.  Later on, we showered and went out for food and came back for a lazy night in front of the tv.
Si’s been teaching a MRM  (Marine Resource Management) course since the 13th which I’ve been helping out on.  It’s been going really well and Si’s doing a brilliant job.  Most mornings have been doing academics, whether in a classroom, when they’ve been free or cafés.  The only thing with the cafés, is the noise but it’s a more relaxed atmosphere and we can have breakfast whilst teaching which has been nice. 
On the MRM we cover a lot of material, the course can be taught in one day, which we both think is ridiculous as there’s so much to take in, but breaking it up into a 4-6 day course is much more beneficial for the student/s.  There’s an array of subjects to cover, from Ecology & Biology of coral reefs, Reef Management issues (divers perspective), and Promoting Sustainable diving practices.  So as you can see, an awful lot to cover so in order to break it up, we’ve been diving and improve fish & invertebrate, various surveys along with a visit to ‘Bio Rock’, the electrified artificial reef, where we transplanted broken and soon to be dead corals.

Today, we’ve just finished the last unit on this course in Cafe Del Sol and are on the afternoon boat to go to ‘Twins’ & Japanese Gardens’ for quadrants surveys

Finally, I managed to get hold of the Open Water Course video from last month. Notice the freaky headwear… especially my dive mask with ear defenders which I was trying out.

x

SD

 We’ve both been teaching Reef Check, which is a 4 day course. 

Mornings have been spent in the classroom talking about the study of corals, what are they why are they important, optimal conditions for growth, health, threats, data collection so that we can see what state of health our reefs are in, and watching video clips and in the afternoons we’ve gone diving identifying corals and collecting data.  Not forgetting the all important exams ;-D

Reef check is probably one of the best courses we’ve been on.  After completing this course, it made us look at diving in a completely different way.  Before, I just wanted to see fish, the bigger the better, turtles and the likes, but now it’s like it’s opened a window to a different world, the symbiotic relationships, our dependancy and the importance coral reefs plays in the survival of the planet.   I hope I’m not going on, but it’s really interesting 😀  It’s just a shame that we don’t have more people signing up doing the course.  

Tomorrow we are having a day off and then the day after, we’re teaching Marine Resource Management, thats a 6 day course going into even more detail. We shall take some piccies for you.!

x

JD