Chris & Carole's Underwater Adventure

We liked Chang Mai, but it was another city and we don’t really like cities too much. So we decided to head south for Koh Samui by plane and then by ferry to Koh Tao for a PADI Open Water diving course. We were a bit worried about the weather as the monsoon was very active in this area and while we were in Bangkok all flights were stopped to Koh Samui due to heavy rain and there was a state of emergency due to flooding. When we checked the weather with the Big Blue diving school in Koh Tao they told us their comms had been out for a few days but the weather had improved and things were getting back to normal.

So, we jumped on a plane and flew down on Carols birthday (13th November). The airport at Koh Samui is a private airport operated by Bangkok Airways and is a real delight. Very tropical, completely open plan, with thatched roofs. The temperature and humidity was quite something – it was much hotter than Chang Mai. We were taken down the ferry jetty in a little jeep thing. At the ferry dock we could see swaying palm trees, white beaches and an enormous golden Buddha which I guess must have been 50 metres or more in height.

At the other end we were met by transport from Big Blue. For any of you thinking of taking up diving I’d thoroughly recommend going to Koh Tao to do it. There are absolutely loads of diving schools / resorts and the cost of the open water course is about £140 with Big Blue. The accommodation with them is about £7.50 a night while you’re diving for a luxury hut with aircon, hot shower and flushing toilet about 30 yards from the beach. The more basic huts were about half this price. We decided to start the course the following day (14th November).

In the evening we chilled in the bar/restaurant, had a drink while watching a beautiful tropical sunset. After eating, we lounged on a little platform with the wavelets lapping a few feet away, sitting on scatter cushions with adjacent low tables with candles. The platform was screened from above by trees with overhanging branches festooned with lanterns, All this while listening to great music. Idyllic.

The first day of the course was form filling including our medical history. Carol has a damaged back and I have high blood pressure so they contacted a diving medical expert who said we should be checked out by the local clinic. We trotted down the road to them and were welcomed by the traditional Thai welcome of “200 Baht plis.” Anyway we passed and were allowed on the course with two Dutch couples and a Swedish couple. Big Blue have a policy of a maximum of 4 students per instructor so the assigned two to us. We were paired up with the Swedish couple and had a lovely, enthusiastic young Welsh instructor called Dean – known as Deano.

The next morning was theory and in the afternoon we got into the water off the beach. We had to do a swimming test to a boat about 200 meters away and back. This was my next problem. I’m a lousy swimmer and I’m scared of being in the water without a mask, from a childhood trauma I’ve never got over. 400 Metres is probably the sum total of all my previous swimming experience. I have no idea how, but I managed it, albeit far slower than the rest. Carol managed it with ease as she’s a good swimmer. So we were allowed to put the kit on, which is very heavy. The sea was flat calm and very blue at 30C. Fab. We practiced dealing with water in masks, losing, finding and replacing the regulator you breathe through etc, all in chest high water. A bit scary but we dealt with that OK.

The next day was similar, with theory in the morning and diving skills practice in the afternoon. This time in about 3 metres of water which is a lot scarier and being deeper, you have to equalise the pressure in your ears which a couple of people found difficult. Carol couldn’t cope with this as she got very anxious and was worried about holding the rest up. Deano, the instructor was absolutely great with her, but she decided to give up the course. The time was getting on so Deano decided to re-do that lesson the next day.

Carol was still adamant she didn’t want to go on the next day so we completed the skills, including a short swim underwater with mask removed, towing an unconscious diver on the surface, taking all the diving kit off and putting it on again etc. At the end of this we had a 30 minute dive to one of the resorts boats. Loads of lovely coral, and great fishes.

The rest of the course involved four more dives at increasing depths, practising our skills at dealing with flooded masks etc at deeper levels. There wasn’t a single dive where I didn’t come close to panicking at least once – for example when I had to take my mask off at 10m depth and stupidly breathed in through my nose. It cleared my sinuses beautifully though. On the final dive we swam through a solid wall of thousands and thousand of barracuda and were investigated by 5 circling sharks. At one stage my diving buddy, Sarah, pushed me away from her. I wasn’t sure why, so I turned to look at her for a few moments. After the dive I found out there was a shark about 2 metres away at that point and she had sensibly trying to push me between her and the shark. I suppose it made up for me kicking her in the head, while trying to show off to the videographer who was making a video of the whole thing.

Anyway it was a great course in a fabulous location. I can’t begin to describe how beautiful the diving was but the video is stunning and I’ll bore you all with it at every chance when I get back. Sarah and I (the other two students were off due to ear problems) were cheered by all the experienced divers in the dive boat and we got a great round of applause when the video was shown that night. There are a number of videographers but ours was shot by the boss, a lovely lady from Florida. She was so proud of the video (especially the close up of a gaping maw of a shark) that she’s sending a copy to her mum and the dive instructor, Deano also ordered a copy.
We’ve now moved to another resort further up the beach which is a little more luxurious at the huge price of £32 a night. We went snorkelling yesterday at another gorgeous location. I absolutely adore Thailand.

The next mail will be from Singapore or Australia where we go next week.

Hope you’re all well

Chris and Carol

From one of you!

Being surrounded by young people, all generating that collective sense of excitement that comes with trying something new, brought back to me the feelings I had when I started diving some 17 years ago.

As I stepped off the Lomprayah high-speed catamaran from Koh Samui onto the rickety jetty on the island of Koh Tao, my senses were immediately overwhelmed by the sound of bar music, the smell of cooking food and the throngs of young travellers. Between potholes filled with rainwater, trucks and mopeds fought for the few remaining square metres of dirt track that led up to the jetty. Within a few steps strangers were offering to take care of my diving needs for the duration of my stay. This was backpacker heaven.

I was booked into the Big Blue Diving Centre which, on first impressions, seemed well-enough organised. I was shown to an air-conditioned room with a bathroom attached, just a few metres from the beach and dive centre. The various dive centres have their respective bars lined up along the shore. Oddly, they don't seem to compete with each other but simply co-exist, like various branding exercises for cool.My first surprise was that the barman at our dive centre turned out to be the son of a good friend back in England. Even stranger, it turned out that Joe would also be my dive guide for part of my stay.

It was towards the end of the June-October low season during which the weather in the Gulf of Thailand can be changeable to say the least, but the tourist authorities are naturally keen to promote year-round diving. Are you a gambler?

As it turned out, the weather would remain superb throughout my stay. The sea took on an eerie flat-calm quality which I had never experienced before and the sun shone ferociously. If you do take a chance and visit Koh Tao in the low season, you'll find that prices in an already cheap place are even cheaper. It's also less crowded. Long-tails, which are wooden constructions powered by huge outboards, whiz you out to one of the large dayboats that take you on to your dive site. These boats are not pretty but they are well-maintained, functional and in my case seemed to house the local skipper's family too.

Chumphorn Pinnacle and White Rock to the west of Koh Tao provide a series of underwater rock formations and swim-throughs guarded by shoals of barracuda. This is a popular place and much used for the training of novices. However, squadrons of divers swimming in close formation were not an exciting enough spectacle to create a good first impression. South-west Pinnacle, in fact a series of 25 pinnacles, was more successful in grabbing my attention. Vast arrays of anemones clung to the rock while their faithful clownfish weaved in and out of their tentacles. Damselfish in their tens of thousands hugged the sides and titan triggerfish guarded their nests from photographers who ventured too close. Below, football fields of sea urchins, arrayed with mathematical precision, gave immense scale to the scene.

Chumphorn Pinnacle was to figure repeatedly in the next few days as reported sightings of whale sharks increased. It was my sworn intention to photograph such a beast and that was exactly what I tried to do - along, it seemed, with half the population of the island. But my usual bad luck was to prevail and I came back empty-handed. Perhaps you will be luckier than me if you go to Koh Tao. They certainly talk a good whale shark there - the resort staff discussed their experiences more frequently than at any other location I have ever visited.

Hin Kao, or White Rock, to the west of Koh Tao, has some lovely swim-throughs with abundant soft corals at the base interspersed with sea fans. The mighty triggerfish dominated here and I saw a couple of moray eels. The seascape was impressive but the visibility was not always a match for it, a problem which cropped up from time to time as a pot-luck feature of diving outside the main season. To the south-east of Koh Tao is Shark Island, named, rather disappointingly, because of the shape of a shark fin formed by the top of the island itself. I say disappointingly because I didn't see any sharks there. This is a shallow dive on sloping rocks from 5-20m decorated with loads of soft corals, sea fans and barrel sponges. My old friends the titan triggerfish were there too, trying to relieve me of a few ounces of flesh, and poor visibility and too many divers put a bit of a further damper on proceedings.But I liked the relaxed approach to diving in Koh Tao. Instructors coached their pupils in the open-air bar as young novices came and went from the water. Safe diving practices appeared to be suitably emphasised and everybody seemed to wear a happy smile. Even I adopted one after a while.

Koh Tao is usefully placed for anyone heading on to Australia, as you can get yourself qualified before you get there. This is common practice for a lot of travellers who arrive with no equipment and can rent all they need for the course they want. For example, a four-day standard Open Water course, and four nights' accommodation, costs only about £150.

For me Koh Tao is a place for young backpackers low on money and high on adventure. It is what it is, and perhaps what I like about it is that it doesn't pretend to be anything else.

Shark Conservation

Mattel/Matchbox have just released a new toy to the market, the Mega Rig Shark Ship.The product in question comprises of a grossly oversized shark, a diver with diving cage, the parts to assemble a variety of ships and a large harpoon to kill the shark with. It promotes the idea that sharks are man eating menaces, that it is OK to hunt and kill sharks. It teaches children that destroying life is fun. But it's only a toy? Look at the juveniles across the whole of nature. Many play games, these games provide them with valuable lessons for use in their later life. This is what play time is for, exercising the mind and body, and preparing the child for the trials of survival in adulthood. It's therefore important to ensure that the lessons they learn are correct.

The Mega Rig Shark Ship teaches a child lessons that have no basis in fact. Sharks do not grow to 50 foot in size. They don't eat divers, they don't pose a threat to humans. They are not fearsome creatures and their numbers need to be protected, not subjected to needless hunting. I don't for a minute think that a child playing with this toy will rush out and buy a harpoon as soon as they can and go out in search of sharks to slay, however I do believe that they will grow up with the same misconceptions about sharks that the general public has today. It is these misconceptions that place shark conservation so far down our list of priorities, when it should really be up there with whales, tigers and pandas. However, there is another far more important reason that I would like this petition and Cause to get as much backing and publicity as possible. I believe it is a potential way of increasing the awareness of shark conservation issues world wide. It's hard to grab people’s attention when you talk about shark conservation. The general public doesn't really care that much, they hear the subject and immediately pop it into the pigeon hole marked "Sharks are menacing man eaters" and turn off the thought process. You may get a few new subscribers along the way, but generally we end up preaching to the converted. The main stream media doesn't give it any lip service because it won’t sell papers and won’t gain viewers. The Mega Rig Shark Ship is more likely to cause debate ("but it's only a toy!"), debates generate discussion and inevitably arguments, and the media loves a good fight. The more this toy is discussed the more people hear about the current misconception about sharks and the plight of sharks in general. Basically the overall cause of Shark Conservation gets advertised and marketed on the back of the furore around this toy. Whilst some people may not agree with how wrong the Mega Rig Shark Ship is, they may start to understand more about Shark Conservation in general, the issue may become more real and important to them.

They may also start to frown when they see shark fin soup on the menu, or see a dead shark displayed in a shop window. How much of a boost would shark conservation get if this argument got big enough to reach the national newspapers or the evening news? Perhaps that target is too high to achieve. But it's certainly worth trying, especially when all it takes from you is a signature on a petition.http://www.gopetition.com/online/15258Thank you for your listening, if you have any comments to make, or would like to get more involved with this drive, please let me know via the Facebook Cause.http://apps.facebook.com/causes/view_cause/36709Kind regards,
Stuart Keasley

Big Blue's Open Water Course

So what is the Open Water Course, why do I need it & how long is it gonna take cos I really don’t want to spend my holiday sitting in a classroom!

That’s what we hear from most new arrivals when they rock up at Big Blue & realise we are a dive resort with accommodation for our divers. Its not that we want to bully anyone into diving far from it but guys if you just want a holiday & no diving then no probs let me refer you to a couple of very nice friends of ours who couldn’t give a monkeys if you go diving with them- Silver Sand Bungalows & Blue Wind Resort. If you want to pay a little extra then check out Sunset Buri cos they got a swimming pool!

Now this isn’t an article about our neighbours & friends. This is about the Open Water Course what it consists of & what you can expect while doing the course with us at Big Blue Diving Resort.

DAY ONE- ORIENTATION
When we start the first day of the course we start at 4pm. Reason for the late start is cos this bits easy. You can relax while you meet your Instructor & the other guys on the course & then together you’ll fill out some forms & have a chat about the next few days & the schedule so everyone knows what to expect. Then your Instructor will give you your manuals & will stick on a video we need you to watch. Not the most exciting movie you are ever going to watch but necessary & by 6pm its all over. Off to the Beach bar & grab a seat & a beer & hang out with your new mates while you watch the sun go down. As I said a very relaxed way to start your Open Water course.

DAY TWO- CONFINED
Next morning we are going to meet up in the restaurant. Everyone can order their own breakfast and then bring it into the classroom while we start the morning with another quick Video. Then we are going to come back to the restaurant grab one of those tables at the waters edge & your Instructor is now going to have a chat with you & explain what it was you have just watched, why you need to know it & what you are going to be doing in the afternoon. Your Instructor will introduce you to your equipment showing you hat everything does & how or why, & explain about certain physical aspects that concern the human body & diving- primarily air spaces- Ears, Sinuses & lungs! After a thoroughly detailed & entertaining morning trying on your equipment & discussing everything you need to know it’ll be lunch time!
A quick chow down of local or western cuisine later & its time to grab your prepared equipment bags & its off to the beach. Now we are going to grab an area in the shade your Instructor is going to give your scuba tank & ask you to stand behind it while they show you again, while you follow what they do this time, how to assemble your equipment together.
Having followed all the procedures needed to get the equipment assembled & assigning our buddies its time to check each other & finally & very excitedly get into to the water. We are looking for an area deep enough to comfortably stand up in, so around chest to neck height. Then its masks on & regs in then we submerge head below the surface breathing underwater for the first time!

Now of course this bit could be done in a swimming pool but the first thing you realise as you check out your alien surroundings is how much cooler it is to be diving in the sea rather than a pool. There are all these little fishies around you! At first you call them fishies but by the end of the day you will know them as Damsels, sergeant majors, or Mullets! In addition you'll see heaps of star fish or sea cucumbers. Having checked out your friends for a while you’ll suddenly realise how easy all this diving & breathing underwater thing actually is!

The Instructor is going to grab your attention now & demonstrate for you a skill that you have seen on the video, had explained in the classroom & been shown what to do before jumping in the water. Your Instructor will demonstrate it very slowly & clearly & then will come over to you all individually & ask you to repeat the skill. Once you have competently demonstrated complete mastery of this skill the instructor will then move on to the next student. The types of skills that you will need to demonstrate competency with include skills using your regulator, clearing your mask, achieving neutral buoyancy & removing & replacing parts of your equipment while underwater & also at the surface. Once the session has finished it is time to disassemble & clean our scuba gear & head straight to the bar for a debrief & another sunset beer!
It’s a great afternoon & one that has opened up a brand new world to you.

DAY THREE- OPEN WATER DIVES 1 & 2
Next morning its breakfast time again. Another TV brekkie & another beachside classroom session discussing what the plans are for the afternoon & next morning, & working out the times & depths that we can go diving for.
And before you know it we are back on the boat again having scoffed down another lunch & heading out to do our first proper Open Water Dive down to a maximum depth of 12 meters. Our preparation is faultless. Everyone knows what they are supposed to do & even if they do forget then they know the right people to ask for help. Its easy its fun its exciting & its about to be the highlight of your holiday.
When descending into this weird & wonderful world the first thing to remember is to equalise! Without squeezing & blowing out against a pinched nose you won’t be able to descend very far so don’t forget. And then once we are at the bottom its establish neutral buoyancy time & get with your buddy get horizontal & lets go for a cruise in this whacky underwater wonderland! You are gonna see Bannerfish, Angelfish, Parrot fishButterfly fish & loads of those we saw yesterday. If we get lucky we might get to see an eel or a stingray aswell! Keeping an eye on our air supply is a lot like keeping an eye on the petrol tank in your car! So once we get to a quarter full we are going to end the dive & slowly kick for the surface no faster than our Instructor before breaking the surface establishing positive buoyancy & then blabbing with your friends about this fish & that fish & how cute or ugly they were what it was like to do this or that & how much air have you got left & wasn’t that cool!!!
An hour long interlude at the surface while we change divesites drink tea or coffee, munch on cookies & discuss what we are going to do next then it’s in again for a second dive. Same as before but different! Different fish different corals different entry & this time we are going to do some of what we did yesterday but in slightly deeper water.
Day 3 finishes with stories around the beer bottles under a blood red sky!

DAY FOUR- CERTIFICATION DAY
The final day of our course starts early. The reason for this is because with over 45 dive shops on the island we want to get to the site before the other shops & the best site we can offer you now is Chumphon Pinnacle. A beautiful submerged series of pinnacles with its shallowest at about 12 meters & its deepest at 30 meters before the sands slope off to a maximum depth of 40 meters. We are even going to bring a videographer with us to record our fun & games. The maximum we’ll be diving to today is 18 meters. A very different dive to yesterday where the bottom was at 12 meters. The reason we choose to dive here on the Open Water Course is because we want to show you real diving & by introducing you to Chumphon you’ll completely see & understand the massive difference between this site and the other sites you dive on your course. Chumphon is famous for all the reef sharks that call this place home & if you are lucky & keep your fingers crossed then you might even experience the largest fish in the sea & the one creature all divers hope they will come across on their underwater travels, the magnificent Whaleshark.
Once this first dive is over we are off to our 4th & final divesite of the course where we have some more skills to do & more things to find. Mastering the art of buoyancy control is what we are striving for here.
Then its back to shore A quick recap on everything we have learnt & done & then its quiz time- 50 questions all multiple guess where you have to score a minimum of 75%. Bearing in mind you have seen everything on the video, have seen it in shallow water, & done it yourself in both shallow & deeper water this part is a breeze.
And all going according to plan you will now be certified as an Open Water diver. You will be given your license & will now be permitted to dive anywhere in the world down to a maximum depth of 18 meters! How easy was that & the fun is exemplified when we all get together in the evening to enjoy the movie of our mornings dives over a pizza & some beers!

And that my inquisitive friends is how we do it & why we do it!

The next thing we usually get asked is how long is the Advanced Course why should we do that over fundiving & when can I start!

To all the Open Water Divers we have certified this year, congratulations. We wish you many more years of future underwater happiness!

Take Part in the Global Shark Census

Hey Guys,
I know many of our divers who come out to dive Chumphon Pinnacle with us are always amazed at how many sharks they see at this fantastic divesite.
It is a great way to realise how undangerous these creatures are & also how magnificent. Many of us are interested in preserving these creatures & are therefore interested in shark conservation but are unsure how to participate?
Now for those of you who have dived Chumphon alot, here is your chance. Please take just a few minutes to contribute to a global shark census using information you’ve already logged or memorized from past diving experiences. The information from you will help protect threatened shark species worldwide. By participating you will greatly increase scientific knowledge of shark populations around the world. To date, most of the information on global shark populations is gained from fishermen and tracking of individual sharks. Scuba divers are a vital, untapped resource and key to filling information gaps. Who can help? As long as you have more than 100 dives or snorkels in a particular area (recently or in previous years) you can help.
Fill out the online survey. Information is needed from your dives – whether you did or did not encounter sharks.
If you have dived other places then fill out a new entry for each area where you have more than 100 dives (e.g. Philippines, Thailand, Great Barrier Reef, etc. The more areas submitted the better).
If you have been diving in one area for more than 10 years, please fill out a new survey for each decade (e.g. Coral Coast: 1980 – 1989 and 1990 – 1999, etc.)
The data you contribute will be used in a PhD study taking place at the Ransom Myers Lab at Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada, to determine the effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and no-take zones in protecting sharks. Don’t delay! Information is being collected now to help complete data analysis by January 2008.
Thank you everyone for your efforts to helping to protect our sharks.

Conservation on a Tropical island in Thailand

Here is a project that offers a unique opportunity for keen conservationists to live and work on one of Thailand's most stunning and famous islands - Koh Tao. Situated just off the southern cost of Thailand, Koh Tao is regarded as one of Thailand's best kept secrets boasting stunning sites, miles of white sandy beaches, lush jungle and world class diving opportunities. Working on the island, willing helpers are needed to help preserve their stunning surroundings whilst educating future generations to do the same. Volunteer on Koh Tao and you will not only have the opportunity to support a vast range of conservation activities, but you will also play a part in helping to conserve this slice of paradise for years to come.

Facts Availability & Costs
Project details: The conservation project is located on the stunning tropical island of Koh Tao, the last of a chain of islands after the more well known Koh Samui and Koh Phangan. The project is an environmental and educational program run by the Secret Garden Conservation centre in cooperation with the local government, primary and nursery school, to help preserve the island for future generations.

Why the project needs volunteers: The project needs volunteers to support the conservation efforts on the island and help educate the future generations on the importance of protecting the island's ecosystem. Much of the work at this project is dependent on having the necessary labour and without volunteers, the battle against irresponsible tourism may be lost to the detriment of the island's future.

What kind of skills you need to go on this type of project: You do not require any specific skills or knowledge, but you will need to be ready to take on a number of varied tasks that may be required of you, and to possibly get dirty in the process! You must be prepared to get involved in every aspect of the project and to help raise awareness of conservation within the local community. General fitness and lots of enthusiasm will definitely enhance your experience.

Your role as a volunteer: You will be involved in a number of activities such as environmental research and surveys, beach cleaning and Secret Garden weekly maintenance, as well as helping educate the future generation on the island. You will also get involved in educational activities such as helping to teach English to local children and outdoor activities. You will be organising charity and sponsorship events and helping with fundraising, eco land development where you will be getting your hands dirty and raising awareness within the local community.

Where the project is based: The project is based in Sairee North on the beautiful tropical island of Koh Tao. You will have you orientation in Bangkok before making your way by bus to the coast and taking a boat to the island for your project. Your accommodation will be in a shared room in a guesthouse (bungalow resort) on the island, meals are not included and the volunteer will be responsible for his own food.

For more information please log onto http://statravel.i-to-i.com/ProjectBooking.aspx?mid=3281&tabindex=1&tabid=941&subtabindex=0&subtabid=942&ci=en-gb&pmt=776&prj=3&dst=22&pkg=1&stg=2