Tuesday 28th September 2010-

Big Blue Tech celebrates the successful graduation of Ash Dunn, James Thornton-Allan, Nick Amidy, Tony Alba and Thomas Hallstrom from their TDI Mod 1 CCR course conducted over 5 days on Koh Tao Island in the Gulf of Thailand. This course was also attended by Ben Reymenants, Simone Reymentants and Kris Harrison.

The CCR Mod 1 course is the first certification level for divers wishing to learn the safe assembly, use and diving of a closed circuit rebreather issued through technical diving certification agency TDI (technical diving international). Nice one guys, you have new dive porn to look at!

Military, photographic, and recreational divers use a CCR (closed circuit rebreather) because they allow long dives and produce no bubbles. Closed circuit rebreathers generally supply two breathing gases to the loop: one is pure oxygen and the other is a diluent or diluting gas such as air or trimix.

WHALESHARK!! the lucky divers on the full day trip to Sail Rock yesterday were joined by a 4metre long whaleshark. The toothless filter feeder hung around for them all to see. Lets see if she hangs around for a few days more.

Saturday 18th September 2010-

It’s not every day we are reminded just why we do this for a living. But when Big Blue Tech organized a professional’s only Wreck Exploration trip, it all came back to us. Relaxing on a boat gently swaying in the middle of the gulf of Thailand with mates, playing DJ with a selection of ipod’s and tiny speakers trying to outdo each other’s cheesiest tunes, girls talk and man talk, and then doing 2 dives on a piece of history that only a hand full of people will ever get the chance to see with their own eyes.

Divers, never forget just how lucky we are to do and see what we do.

Our Big Blue Conservation Queen is at it again. After a night in the bar thinking what could we do to raise the awareness to the ever falling number of sharks in the world Dan and Lala came up with the idea that we could ‘Swim for Sharks’. Sharks are approximately 500 million years old. They have survived 5 mass extinction events. Yet due to shark finning and other human causes such as habitat destruction, many shark species are now endangered. To help raise awareness and support, dedicated (and some say crazy) Koh Tao residents are going to swim around Koh Nang Yuan on September 23rd 2010!

This has now become a huge hit with many of the other dive shops on the island asking if they can join in to swim for them too. If you thought that was good PADI’s Project AWARE has heard over the ripples and they also want in it as well.

Come sign the Shark petition against shark fin soup and other factors causing the decline of sharks. We will also have limited edition shark t-shirts! So come join the fun, sign the petition and watch us struggle! September 23rd 2010. For more information please visit our conservation page www.bigblueconservation.com

Tuesday 14th September 2010-

False Killer Whales and Sail Fish come to Koh Tao!! Big Blue Diving was lucky enough to have both Banzai and Navakid stumble across a school of 20 false killer whales yesterday between green rock and twins. and then spend nearly an hour watching them play infront of the bows. The school, which can stretch miles in length, appeared to be hunting a sail fish! False Killer Whales (Psuedorca crassidens) is the largest member of the dolphin family, and like orcas, kill other large marine mammals. They are widespread in the tropics and temperate waters, have 44 teeth and can grow to 6m! However the killer whales also feed on tuna and yellowfin, and so fishermen, such as the Japanese fishermen from Iki Island, actively hunt them, resulting in only 10 groups left worlwide. They are near the brink of extinction, with 900 individuals being slaughtered in 35 years. Also, they only reach sexual maturity at 12 years, with a gestation period of 14-16 months, and then cannot reproduce again for another 7 years. Both of these issues mean that we were very lucky to see such an interesting and rare marine mammal. Lucky us!

News from Bangkok is that Andrea and Jim are allowed to leave the hospital and Lulu Belle is gaining went quickly so she should be out soon. All three are doing amazing and I swear when Jim comes back he will have the most toned face ever. I dont think he has stopped smiling once, you can tell on the phone that his face is about to crack. Good on you Daddy.

Latest News September 2010

Thursday 12 September 2010-

Apologies for the hiatus - Jim and Andrea had a baby! Sonia and Dan have been left in charge while Jim is in Bangkok getting to know the new arrival, that is when he's not being mesmerised by the sight of his beautiful wife expressing breast milk into feeding bottles - one for the bank there mate, eh? Er.... Congrats go out to our very own Big Paul back in Canadia, Paul's missus has just produced a baby of their own with the simply awesome moniker of .... Maverick 'King of the World' Herygers!

Anyhow, while the boss is away, the mentors will play and last night we hosted Big Blue's first (and probably only) S&M Challenge! The challengers were led on their hands and knees, pulled by a variety of leashes attached to a selection of porn collars. Spanking featured heavily, as did role play, teabagging, alaskan pipelining, spidermanning and more spanking. In the end, Adam was declared the most perverted DMT ever after deep throating a footlong 7 eleven hot dog till he could lick the fingers holding it....

NB The DMT/DiveCon Challenge is an OPTIONAL extra for trainees at the end of the course, please don't let this prospect affect your decision to come and join us for Serious Diving and Serious Fun (optional).

Saturday 4^th September 2010-

Big Blue is very proud to announce that our wonderful, best boss in the world (ahem!!) Jim and is even lovelier wife Andrea gave birth to a beautiful baby girl yesterday, and they are all doing very well. At the moment she is still called ‘Girl’ Donaldson as they are both still competing at paper, rock scissors over names!! Quite a few of the staff (most of us) joined in wetting the baby’s head at Choppers yesterday afternoon and now we quietly suffering the after affects today.

Nick, Sonia, Kelli and Ash have now all returned from going home for a month or so of recharging the batteries, picking up new visas and eating British food and drink that you just can’t get over!! Double Deckers, crumpets, Boosts, Wispas, more crumpets, Newcastle Brown Ale, proper fish and chips with curry sauce and mushy peas, and washed down by more crumpets; ah my mouth is watering mmmmm.

Eco Jen has done it again; we have yet another amazing article in a top Dutch diving magazine Onderwater Sport. It is a 4 page article with lots of wonderful pictures of the resort, boats and the affects of climate change on the coral reefs on the island. Unfortunately we have no idea what it says as its in er dutch. Thank you to Dr Bert Hoeksema who dived with Big Blue Conservation earlier this year and is continually supporting us with his written pieces back in the Netherlands.