Latest News- December 2014

Wednesday 24th December 2014

Congratulations to our two newest SSI Instructors Erik and Johan who passed their instructor exam yesterday. They had two days of exams in which they passed with flying colours just in time for them to celebrate Swedish Christmas today. Well done also needs to go to Iain their Instructor Trainer for preparing them to be the best #realdiving

Ho Ho Ho! From everyone at Big Blue Diving we wish you all a very Merry Christmas. We had our staff party the other night which the annual staff awards and tequila shots. The awards went to both the dive staff, the resort staff, the boat and equipment staff and to idiots that also deserved an award for being idiots! We love each other a lot.

Awards went to:

Best Retail sales- Tim

Best Team- Shop Girls 

Best Dive staff- Ernesto

Best Newcomer- Rick

Biggest Contribution- Robyn (Drift)

Best Instructor- Petra

Best Sales- Wibeke 

Good Samaritan- P’Tia

Best Land based staff- May

Best Boat Staff- Soe

Most Valuable Staff- P’Nut

Friday 19th December 2014

Big Blue Diving is bursting with pride today as our longest serving instructor Simon Garrity or SSImo as we call him has just been awarded the SSI International Training Director rating. This means he will be conducting SSI Instructor Trainer Seminars, primarily in and around SE Asia. This is pretty much the highest rating possible to achieve as an instructor with SSI. This course has taken place in the Philippines over the last week. Simon has asked me to pass on HUGE thanks go Al Stewart for all the support over the years and throughout the process, and also to the team at Big Blue Diving, he couldn't have done it without you! Congratulations SSImo on this rating there will be a few cold beers waiting for you when you get back. #REALDIVING

A new record has been set for the world's deepest fish. The bizarre-looking creature, which is new to science, was filmed 8,145m beneath the waves, beating the previous depth record by nearly 500m. Several other new species of fish were also caught on camera, as well as huge crustaceans called supergiants. The marine animals were discovered during an international expedition to the Mariana Trench, which lies almost 11km down in the Pacific Ocean. Until this expedition, the deepest fish had been found in the Japan Trench, also in the Pacific Ocean. A 17-strong shoal of pink, gelatinous snailfish (Pseudoliparis amblystomopsis) were recorded 7,700m down. This new record-breaking creature is close to the depth-limit at which scientists believe fish can survive. The dives made during the expedition were all conducted by unmanned vehicles, but a few humans have visited the world's deepest place.In 1960, US Navy Lt Don Walsh and Swiss oceanographer Jacques Piccard made an incredibly risky journey to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in a bathyscaphe called the Trieste. And in 2012, Hollywood director James Cameron made a solo descent to the seafloor in his sub called the Deepsea Challenger. He described the place as a desolate, alien world, and has taken a lot of characteristics from deep sea marine live in many of his films. Very cool and still so much to be discovered.

Thursday 18th December 2014

BSAC (British Sub Aqua Club) have just held their charity Scuba Santa event in the UK. With nearly 200 divers entering the water dressed up in Santa outfits, they are planning on raising over £2,000 for both the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institute) and DDRC (Diving Diseases Research Centre). Various dive centres around the country head down to Chepstow and Vobster Quay in Somerset for the event. I think we should have something like this next year here at Big Blue Diving and proceeds can go to our Eco projects.

As Christmas is rapidly approaching the social calendar is filling up fast. With Divemaster Challenges, Pub Quizzes and the Big Blue Staff party it is going to be a great build up to the Christmas dinner. if you are thinking about coming to Thailand for your holidays and t o Koh Tao to learn to dive accommodation at this time of year fills up quickly too so to avoid disappointment be sure to book your courses and fun dives and accommodation now. We still work throughout the holidays but some trips will not be running. There will be no diving on the morning of 23rd, 25th December or the 1st January. All other dive trips and courses will be running as usual around these dates.

Monday 15th December 2014

Two of our ex- DMTs Johan Arsbog (aka JD) and Erik Sundkvist are half way through their SSS Instructor Training Course being taught by our very own Instructor Trainer Iain Goodfellow. Erik completed his Divemaster training in 2011 and went back to Sweden but has now come back to Big Blue after having enough of all the Swedish beauties. JD started his Divemaster training around 5 years ago but due to injuries and being unable to find the door out of a few bars, and finding a passion for technical diving, now he has finally completed his DM course and is taking the next step on the professional ladder. The two boys have been working very hard over the last few days. The course consists of lots of studying, academic presentation, pool presentations and open water presentations. Once they are ready they will sit their Instructor Exam which is split into 3 parts, written exam, classroom presentation assessment and open water presentation assessments. If you are interested in giving up your day job and starting a career that can take you all over the world, where the ocean becomes your office and where you get to meet people from all different walks of life, then find out more about becoming a dive professional by sending us an email to info@bigbluediving.com

When a baby whale shark was discovered swimming in the open sea on Sunday in the Maldives, it was a big deal. According to a local news report, a whale shark that young had never been spotted in the region and the find began speculation that whale sharks may be breeding in the area. It was regarded as a “joyous occasion” by a local research centre. However, when the 45 cm baby was captured and later shown to be swimming in a resort pool , it was extremely distressing Whaleshark Conservation groups because whale sharks are a threatened species and are protected, as they can grow up to 12- 13 metres they most certainly do not belong in captivity. The docile filter-feeder whale shark was hand-captured by employees from Ganhei Island Resort, and originally said to have been kept only temporarily in holding tanks before it would be released. But later in the day, photos surfaced showing the whale shark in a saltwater pool at a different resorts pool, swimming with resort guests. It turned out that instead of releasing the whale shark, an attempt by its captors was made to sell the animal to the owner of another resort. However, that person demanded that the captors take the whale shark back to where it was caught, and set it free. To end on a very much happier note, the baby whale shark was released after being catalogued in the Maldives Whaleshark database as WS217. Researchers will be able to identify the whale shark in future years, if it returns and is spotted. Happy ending thankfully!

Friday 12th December 2014

As diving professionals we spend most of our time in the water but have you ever thought of living under the water permanently. Two scientists have broken the record for the longest time spent living underwater. The biology professors, Bruce Cantrell and Jessica Fain, have spent nearly 10 weeks in Jules' Undersea Lodge, which bills itself as “the only undersea hotel on Earth” and is located just off the coast of Key Largo, Florida. Cantrell and Fain, decided to live underwater to learn more about marine biology and educate students about the ocean. The undersea hotel is anchored just offshore under 7.6 metres of water. There are two guest rooms and an eight-by-20 foot common room, access is gained via a wet room with a moon pool. It has many portholes that allow visitors to watch sea life. The facility is filled with compressed air (as is the case with a spacecraft), which posed some interesting challenges, for example, before learning that under pressure, food cooks much more quickly than on land, Fain inadvertently burned some toast and “exploded” a few hot dogs in the microwave. The researchers will return to the surface on Monday, December 15, putting the new record for living underwater at 73 days (breaking the record was their stated goal at the outset). “I think we’ll be happy to see the sky and sun again,” Cantrell said. (Article from underwatertimes.com)

Over the next few days we will be following the experience of one of our Divemaster Trainees who recently finished their course.

Part one- My Dive Master Training Experience-
“One January, in a hostel somewhere in Mexico, I met guy that changed my life, he made me fall in love and showed me a whole new world. After talking to him for a while, I was pretty convinced but I was super nervous about my first time, he assured me though that it was super fun and I would be completely safe. And he was right. I went diving, I think it was then that I knew I wanted to be a dive professional. I’m sure when most people say they met someone that changed their life, it’s because they fell in love with them, but for me it’s because I fell in love with diving. So my journey started. After doing my open water and advanced course in Panama, I eventually made my way to Indonesia for my rescue course; next I had to make the big decision where to do my DMT. So after a bit of thinking I had a couple of places in mind and I hopped on a train from Malaysia, having slept through my train stop I ended up in Chumphon instead. And although partially accidental, coming to Koh Tao and to Big Blue has been honestly one of the best decisions I have ever made.

My first week here was kind of felt like I had moved to a new school. Everyone already had friends, and seemed to know what they were doing effortlessly, there was homework and exams, and I had to get up early. But fortunately I was wrong and it was really nothing like school, all the people here were genuinely really nice and wanted to help me, and everything slowly started to make sense. Despite the early mornings, homework and kind of being the Divemaster’s and Instructor’s goffer, I still absolutely loved it. I think the one of the most surprising things though was when I started assisting on courses, I quickly realised that this was something I really enjoyed and couldn’t wait to do another one. I thought it was really strange but great to see someone’s first breath underwater and then see them go from that moment to the end of a course. I hadn’t really thought about doing my instructor course before but it is definitely something I am considering now.”

Thursday 11th December 2014

Prince William has sharply denounced the rapid growth of illegal wildlife trading worldwide but praised Air New Zealand for leading the way in refusing to ship shark fins on its planes. Citing statistics from Interpol, the international police organization, William said recent seizures of illegal wildlife products were the largest the agency has seen. Every year tens of millions of sharks die a slow death because of finning. Finning is the inhumane practice of hacking off the shark’s fins and throwing its still living body back into the sea. The sharks starve to death, or are eaten alive by other fish, or drown (if sharks are not in constant movement their gills cannot extract oxygen from the water). Shark fins are being “harvested” in ever greater numbers to feed the growing demand for shark fin soup, an Asian “delicacy”. Not only is the finning of sharks barbaric, but their indiscriminate slaughter at an unsustainable rate is pushing many species to the brink of extinction. Since the 1970s the populations of several species have been decimated by over 95%. Estimates of the global value of the shark fin trade range from US$540 million to US$1.2 billion a year.

This is something that has to stop, please while you are on holiday or even at home if you see restaurants serving and displaying shark please, please, please DO NOT eat there as this will only encourage this kind of behaviour. Koh Taos most popular dive site Chumphon Pinnacle used to be famous for its sharks, 4-5 years ago I could honestly with my hand on my heart promise my divers that we would see at least one shark if not more when we would dive there, I would even go as far as to say if we did not see any sharks I would buy the whole boat a beer- I never bought beer because we always saw them. Now we only really have sightings around Shark Bay and Liem Thain Bay. Save the Sharks Save the World!

The island is getting pretty busy right now on the lead up to Christmas so if you want to go diving with us we strongly recommend that you book online to save disappointment of not having any accommodation. We start courses every day, so whether you want to learn how to dive and do your Open Water course or if you are already certified and would like to further your diving education with the Advanced or Rescue or even your Divemaster course you can start when you like. If you would like to just go fun diving as a certified diver we have 2 dives every morning and 2 dives every day that you can sign up for with our Divemasters. Night dives are also available upon request. So what are you waiting for send us and email at info@bigbluediving.com and come and join us for Christmas.

Wednesday 10th December 2014

4 of our most recent Divemaster Trainees celebrated finishing their course in a Doctors and Nurses themed Challenge. Our new Divemasters JD, Paul, Lina and Tiffany were amazing sports putting up with what can only be called loving and admirable humiliation and abuse, in the form of syringe shots, spanking, and other rubber glove and lube hospital based games. It is a long tradition at Big Blue that the DMTs have the option of having a Challenge as a way of congratulating them on their hard work throughout their training. Training as a Divemaster is hard work but it is also one of the best courses there is in the diving industry, the DMTs and other members of staff become like a family and it is always a sad time when it is time to leave, that is why most people don’t leave Koh Tao and stay on to become Instructors which is exactly what JD has decided to do.

Thailand like many countries relies greatly on the oceans and rivers for their food source, and so being a fisherman is a popular career to many Thai people. Whether it is commercial for the masses, or just local, feeding only their friends and family, it will affect the fish populations, in some way. The island of Koh Tao rests approximately 65km off the East side of mainland Thailand, and is the furthest North of all islands on this coastline. The Gulf is popular for squid fishing, barracuda fishing, king mackerel fishing, and the fishing of snappers, all of which play a crucial role in this particular ecosystem.

However it is more the way they are caught that is really having disastrous and long term affects within our oceans, the use of trawler nets, purse nets, and long lines, which catch more than the targeted species and when snagged on the coral will be left at the bottom trapping more fish for during their lengthy lifespan. So a solution may finally have arrived, a bio-degradable fishing net with a tracking system so each snagged net can be recovered for repair, or if left below, can then be triggered to break down at productive rate. For more information on this new design look in to the Remora net.

Monday 8th December 2014

For 3 days only in Dubai Sony have opened The Xperia Aquatech concept store which lays at 4 meters underwater, you can only enter if you are a contest winner, VIP, or otherwise Sony-approved patron before you can enter the strange jellyfish-themed underwater structure. It has been opened to promote their underwater products. Yes it is only a marketing gimmick but as there are already underwater hotels why not shops. Not sure that all shops would work, I can’t see items such bread and toilet paper surviving being transported back up to the surface, maybe the way forward is a type of shopping housing using lift bags to bring them to the surface. Perfect for those remote islands where land space is an issue! So it looks like the way we shop as divers is about to change- or not!

So if you are travelling in Thailand at the moment and you’re wondering what you can do for Christmas that’s a bit different, why not come and complete your Open Water Diver course. This 4 day course will allow you to dive anywhere in the world with a dive buddy. The course includes 2 days of theory and academic sessions, a confined pool session, and 4 open water dives taking you to 18 metres. Your Instructor will guide you through the course in a relaxed and comfortable pace. The possibilities after completing the Open Water course is endless, if you decide to continue on to your Advanced Course we will continue your education with dive that really tone your dive skills and include a deep dive 30 metres, night diving, and even an intro to wreck diving. You may decide to go down the technical diving path and learn more about deco diving and mixed gases and deeper diving. Or then there is the conservation route where you can learn more about coral nursery plantations and fish and coral identification. Seriously with the planet being covered in over 70% water this is the job to be in! Drop us an email if you would like to know more info@bigbluediving.com

Friday 5th December 2014

Today is a very special day in Thailand. We celebrate the 87th birthday of King Bhumibol Adulyadey, also known as Rama IX. He is the longest serving monarch in the world serving for 68 years. The King’s birthday – also known as Father’s Day in Thailand – is a public holiday and Thais traditionally wear the royal yellow as a sign of devotion to the monarch, while roads are lined with royal flags. Happy Birthday. Long Live The King.

There has been a rise in Jelly fish in Thailand in the recent few weeks. While relatively harmless they will give you a nasty sting. Please be careful while you are out swimming especially with small children, use a mask and snorkel or goggles and keep your eyes peeled for the pesky little buggers. If you do happen to get stung by a jelly fish, get out of the water and remove any of the tentacles with tweezers (not your fingers), and pour vinegar over the area for about a minute, ice cubes can also help. Peeing on yourself or whoever has been stung does not work! Or buy yourself a rash vest from Drift which will cover your arms and chest up and also provide sun protection.

The Divemaster Trainees have a night out tonight at the mini golf; we have around 11 DMTs now so we use this as a team building, blow off steam evening. These guys work really hard throughout their course so what better way to treat them than to give them the night of to hit some ball around some windmills and giraffes!

Latest news- November 2014

29th November 2014

Christmas Dinner preparations are under way. The menu is being drawn up by our very own Super Chef Scotty as I write. Turkey, lamb, pork and all the other stuff that goes with a Christmas Dinner. The decorations are being dusted off, Christmas hats are on order, and playlists are being composed. Christmas is the time of year when we really do hate the fact that we live on a tropical island, no snow, no scrapping ice off the windscreen on the way to work, no standing in the cold at bus stops. Instead we have to burn our bums on the red hot bike seats, have to deal with sand in our board shorts, spicy Thai food that makes us sweat more than we already are and beer that gets cold really quickly. It really is a hard life we lead here on Koh Tao, so please spare a thought for us at this festive time of year.

Today’s beach clean-up was a great success; we picked up litter from the top end of north Sairee back to Big Blue Resort. A tank trolley was filled to the brim with plastic straws, cigarette butts, empty beer bottles, bits of rope, polystyrene, empty plastic bottles and much more that doesn’t take a huge effort to walk an extra 20 metres to a rubbish bin. Well done Rachel for organising the clean-up and even bigger THANK YOU to everyone who took part in the beach clean-up and also the underwater reef clean up. Your free conservation bag is waiting for you.

Island news now, the road the comes from the main road down to our resort which was dug up a few years ago to fit a ‘drainage system’ that funnily enough didn’t work, that was dug up and filled it with sand which turned it into a bog of sand resulting in us having to use alternative roads to get back on to the main road. Well it has now been completely resurfaced with concrete which means we are back to having complete access from the main road again all the way down to our resort. Lets see what other bright ideas they come up with to stop water run off when it rains!

Thursday 27th November 2014

Big Blue Conservation will be holding this month’s Beach and Reef clean up on Saturday at 10 am. If you want to come and join in with the fun and get the ultimate good feeling then we will be meeting at Big Blue one, where we will clean North Sairee beach. Then we will jump into the water in the afternoon for the Reef clean which is completely FREE for all certified divers.

We had some very happy divers the other morning when they spotted a baby 3 metre Whaleshark at Chumphon Pinnacle. They are usually not around this time of the year but who knows what goes through the brain of a whalesharks when it’s out swimming along. Open Water divers who were on the boat were lucky enough to see it, 3rd dive ever and they see a Whaleshark, not bad going, especially as we have instructors here with thousands of dives who have still never seen one or it took years of diving before they finally had their Whaleshark cherry popped.

Today is Thanksgiving for those American friends of ours. They will be tucking into turkey with all the trimmings and pumpkin pies. Interesting fact to know was that if Benjamin Franklin had his way, the turkey would be American national bird. An eagle, he wrote in a letter to his daughter, had "bad moral character." A turkey, on the other hand, was a "much more respectable bird." The thought of any country having a turkey as its national bird is quite amusing. Gobble gobble gobble!!

Friday 21st November 2014

We have been noticing a few jellyfish around Koh Tao recently, nothing dangerous but still little pesky stingers. After a conversation with one of my Advanced Adventurer students after a night dive she informed me about jelly fish nappies/ diapers. Yes nappies made from the bodies of jellyfish.

The eco-friendly product is being developed by an Israeli nanotechnology start-up company, and was inspired by research conducted at Tel Aviv University that studied the super-absorbent quality of jellyfish flesh. Jellyfish nappies were found to be twice as absorbent as most brands currently on the market, and they biodegrade in less than 30 days, which means fewer nappies take up space in landfills.(Don't worry, researchers remove all the stingers first.) They are manufactured by first breaking down the jellyfish flesh and then adding antibacterial nanoparticles. The resultant raw material is being called "Hydromesh," a name that is decidedly less yucky-sounding than the stuff it's made from. The products are particularly appealing because jellyfish populations have been booming worldwide as a result of overfishing and global warming. As fisheries decline, jellyfish encounter fewer predators and less competition for resources. The gelatinous organisms are also more adaptable to global warming. Researchers warn that if trends continue, the oceans of the future will be primarily the domain of jellyfish. Whether it’s right or wrong to kill jelly fish for our use, it’s still a pretty cool idea. So there you go Squishy from Finding Nemo really is your friend.

Every day is a school day here at Big Blue even for the instructors; Alex and Ernesto have completed their Side Mount course with Phil, and are now half way through Advanced Nitrox and Deco Procedures with Rick waffling on about the mechanics of bubbles amongst other big technical words. Recreational diving is only one part of what diving has to offer. Learning a new set of skills keeps us on our toes and expands our knowledge of our passion even more. If you are interested in expanding our sponge like brain and learning to dive drop us an email at info@bigbluediving.com

  

Thursday 20th November 2014

With it being our low season in the Gulf of Thailand we have sent some of our boats over to Chumphon for their yearly repairs and paint jobs ready for Christmas. With these boats being away our remaining boat has been working constantly every day starting at 6.30am and at night with advanced divers and fun divers going out on night dives. If you have ever been on our boats you will know the Captains and boat crew work tirelessly and always have a smile on their faces while they are filling your tanks and helping you in and out of the water. The instructors decided to have a whip around and bought the Captain and crew a big thank you present. The crew were clearly touched a soon tucked into to the goodies. Thank you for all the hard work Waverunner Crew kap.

This morning our advanced divers visited our local wreck HTMS (His Thai Majesty Ship) Sattakut. originally launched in 1944 the battleship was commissioned by the US Navy and was used during WW2. It was then bought by the Royal Thai Navy in 1946 and was used as a patrol boat until 2011. The Thai Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) purchased the ship with the intention of donating it to Koh Tao to act as an artificial reef, in order to promote tourism. The vessel was stripped of its engines, furniture, electric cabling and thankfully its ammunition! After being cleaned and sent to Koh Tao, it was sunk on the 18th June 2011. This wreck is now full of life boasting schools of juvenile fusiliers and barracuda, giant pufferfish, Jenkins whip rays all using the shelter from other predators. Being 30m to the bottom at the stern, this is perfect for deep dives and obviously the wreck dive option on the Advanced Course. Penetration of the wreck is strictly prohibited for recreational diver and only allowed for divers with technical dive training.

It’s a bit windy here at the moment to as a keeping up with Big Blue Health and Safety protocols we sent some monkeys up the palm trees to cut down the coconuts before they fall! Yes we have trained monkeys (also known as Nick Bufton) to cuts down the coconuts when it’s windy. Health and safety of course, if one of those lands on your head you would only know about it once you have regained consciousness! Ouch! Bonus for us though as we have free coconuts going for anyone who sees them, but make sure you get them fresh as you will go Milky Joe -coco-loco if they have gone off!

Sunday 16th November 2014

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to freedive down and hang out with the fishies with no bubbles, no equipment. Just you, a mask and fins. What is freediving or apnea diving? It is having the ability to dive whilst holding your breath, without any artificial apparatus. Freediving gives complete freedom underwater. It encourages you to ‘live in the moment’ by helping you to remain calm in the mind and truly connect to your body. A range of aquatic activities such as snorkeling, surfing, spear fishing, synchronised swimming, meditation & yoga, benefit from and, require techniques taught in Freediving.

Big Blue Freediving offer a variety of courses, with no experience required other than being able to swim! Level 1 Freediving course is an introductory course. In this course you will learn the appropriate skills and knowledge to dive safely to depths of up to 20 metres. We have complete confidence that all students can effortlessly reach 20 metres!

• theory sessions on Freediving Equipment, Physiology of Freediving, Freediving Skills and Freediving and Your Freediving Environment,
• freediving breathing techniques, for before and after diving,
• dry breath hold and relaxation session,
• dynamic apnea (horizontal under water swimming) and safety procedures,
• two (2) open water depth dives (along a secured line) where you will progressively learn about technique including adequate finning, body positioning, becoming more streamlined and carrying out safety procedures.

Sometimes due to medical reasons you may not be able to take the scuba diving certification, if this is the case freediving is another way to experience the underwater world. If you would like more information on freediving and the courses we off please email info@bigbluefreediving.com

Our group of Divemaster trainees have been studying hard the last few days. Physics and physiology lectures, skill demonstrations in the pool, boat skills days as well as attending some marine conservation lectures. Once all the coursework and exams are complete the course is very much hands on experience with assisting courses, leading fun dives, organising and running dive trips. It a very worthwhile course and leads to employment in possibly one of the best industries in the world! Not that we have any bias at all here, but we do have the best jobs on the best island in the world!

Wednesday 12th November 2014

One rainy night our Technical diving manager Rick Devanney had a quiet night in front of the TV watching one of his all-time favourite movies The Little Mermaid and while Sebastian the crab was singing away about it being better down where is wetter under the sea, Rick thought he would see just how better it would be all the way down at 100 metres. So off he popped over to the mainland to visit Song Hong Sinkhole which is a 200 plus metre deep sink hole located in Thung Yai, Southern Thailand, in the middle of no-where! It is about a 3 hour drive from Khao Sok National Park which is also famous for its cave systems. Song Hong is a site for experienced technical divers and full cave divers and not for the faint hearted. Rick successfully completed a 104 metre dive. He had 5 tanks with him using advanced Trimix procedures. The dive lasted a total of 1 hour 30 minutes, with 1 hour and 10 minutes of that being decompression stops back up to the surface. Now he has his feet back on the sand of Koh Tao planning his next adventure.

We have had some familiar faces popping up in the resort recently Mama G-spot has returned from the mother land of Ireland bearing gifts of sweets: strawberry boot laces, flying saucers, black jacks, rhubarb and custard sweets ah the list goes on thanks G for the sugar rush you gave us, it’s great to have you back. We also have the Big Swede JD (Johan) who first came to Koh Tao to start his DMT a number of years ago, he is one of our longest serving Divemaster Trainees and is now back to hopefully complete his course this time. It’s always nice to see familiar faces returning to use, it’s that invisible bungee cord I mentioned before when you try and leave bringing you straight back again.

Finally as yesterday was Remembrance Day, we paid our respects in various places at 11am. Some of on boats, others on land all stood in silence to remember the fallen soldiers over the past 100 years. Thank you for those who took part in what is the 100 year anniversary of the ending of the First World War.

   

Saturday 8th November 2014

Next Monday our very own conservation queen is organising an Eco Day for guests and DMTs. This will involve a dive on our coral nursery where you will learn how to clean, maintain and replant coral which will attract new marine life. With reefs around the world being threatened, many scientists feel that much of the world’s reefs could be lost in the next 100 years. The destruction of reefs are due to humans primarily with trawling, dynamite fishing and chemical waste as well as divers and snorkelers who damage the reef and who thing it’s perfectly ok to stand on and break at their convenience. The only thing snorkelers and divers shown touch in the water is each other and they should only leave behind their own bubbles nothing else. A number of organisations including Save Koh Tao and other dive operators on Koh Tao have begun constructing small coral nurseries to test the feasibility and success of different methods. So far 3 different types of structures have been test-built and all have been successful. Come in and ask to speak to Rachel if you want to come and join us or email her at info@bigblueconservation.com

With monsoon supposedly being here and this being our low season now, not all the instructors are working. So what better way to spend the afternoon than in the pub watching the rugby! New Zealand v England in the Rugby League first and then England v New Zealand in the Rugby Union. Now our big boss here is a kiwi and there are a few Brits here so I am going to polite and leave it there.So its off I go to see if I keep my job or lose it but the end of the day.

Friday 7th November

Last night saw the sky lit up with lanterns and decorated floats to celebrate Loy Krathong.
Loy Krathong is one of the most popular festivals that Thailand celebrates annually on the twelfth lunar full moon. “Loi” means to float and “Krathong” is a lotus or crown shaped vessel. The traditional Krathong are made from a slice of the trunk of a banana tree or a spider lily plant and decorated with banana leaves, these are natural materials and will biodegradable. It usually contains a candle, incense sticks, flowers and coins. When the moon is high the candles and incense are lit to offer thanks to the Goddess of water: Phra Mae Khongkha. Our thanks are for drinking and general use and safety in and around the water and forgiveness for the misuse of water through wastage or pollution. After making a wish, the Krathong is launched and we watch them drift away.

The Noistar Animal Clinic Pub Quiz was a great success and saw a great turnout in the Big Blue Bar, there was a few questionable questions, but as the Quiz Masters claimed that they were ALWAYS right (or at least Wikipedia is!!) There was no arguing! The entry fee was to be split with half going to the clinic and the other half as prize money but the winning team gracefully donated their prize money to the Animal Clinic giving them 3400 baht, along with t-shirt sales and further donations. A massive thank you to everyone who turned out for the night and supported the animals of Koh Tao, Eco-Rachel for organising the night for the clinic and also to Instructors Mini Ant and Oli for their internet searching skills in coming up with all the questions.

Are you already a Divemaster with over 100 dives and been diving for over 1 year since your open water cert and are interested in becoming a diving instructor? Big Blue Pro are starting an SSI Instructor Training Course (ITC) on 14th December. The course is usually conducted over 10 days and followed with the Instructor Examination (IE) straight after. Instructor training is designed to emphasise learning and development to prepare you to function as an instructor. 

You gain knowledge, skills and coaching techniques to teach effectively;

The focus is on 'real world' application;
Your performance is measured throughout the programme to assist you to improve your abilities;
You are given an introduction to the business of diving, including economic, social, cultural, legal, governmental and environmental concerns as well as marketing and customer service. Once the course has finished, if you decide to stay on Koh Tao Big Blue will give you an internship which allows you to see how courses are taught at Big Blue with your own Instructor mentor to help give you pointers and logistical infomation to running your own courses. You will recieve around 30 certification under the supervision of your mentor. An excellent way to begin your teaching career.

For more information about the course email info@bigbluepro.com or check out www.bigbluepro.com

5th November 2014

If you have visited anywhere in Thailand you will have come across plenty of cats and dogs lounging around. Koh Tao is no exception, most resorts have their ‘family dive shop pets’, but on Koh Tao there are no animal shelters, no nationally run charities, but we do have Noistar Animal Clinic. This clinic was established in 2004 as a permanent veterinary clinic and has been helping to look after the pets and other animals on the island ever since. The amazing place is completely self-funded via donations, and with Big Blue having quite a few furry friends who have all used the vets before we thought it would be a great idea to help them raise some money by having a Pub Quiz night tomorrow night (6th November).

Entry is only 100baht with 4 people maximum per team, if you and some friends fancy coming down and testing your knowledge against our resident nerdy quiz master you need to sign up by 7pm and the quiz begins at 8pm in the Big Blue Bar. The winning team will receive a cash prize and you will have the chance to donate some of your beer money to a well-deserved charity. See you tomorrow night.

We have a new group of Divemaster Trainees starting with us right now; they are beginning an intensive course which covers all aspects of diving. This includes theory covering the physics, physiology, and dive planning theory as well as learning how to demonstrate skills in the water to an instructor level. They also learn how to give thorough boat and dive briefings and how to guide certified divers safely on fun dives. This course is hard work but it is also good fun working alongside dive professionals from all walks of life, with skills that can be transferred to any job in the real world, it is truly an amazing experience. I can say that because I did my Divemaster course here and I still haven’t left Koh Tao. If you want to try something different and get out from behind the office desk why not find out more about the Divemaster course at info@bigbluediving.com

4th November 2014 

It’s been a few days and in typical jinxing style it has rained for the last two days, and today the sun is again beaming down. So now I am going to say it will be snowing tomorrow, just so our Thai staff can see the white powdery stuff that we left Europe for to stay and work here as dive professionals. If it does snow tomorrow will drink me coffee and tiger out of my trainers! We did get to see a very cool and very large tornado off Sairee. The twister was way off from Koh Tao but it had everyone on the beach taking photos. We do get to see quite a few of these but this was by far the biggest we have seen in a long time. Thank you to Andreas Fiskeseth for this picture.

On Koh Tao, Halloween is one of the biggest nights along with Songkran and Christmas Day and it was celebrated in style, it was also a leaving party for our instructor Rich who along with his merry band of men came dressed up in unmentionable costumes of an extremist nature (!!). Our resident fun diver and ex-DMT Aida also left us to go off on another one of her adventure around the world, this time over to New Zealand, being a rocket scientist has its advantages!

Have you ever wondered how long you can hold your breath for? The longest time holding the breath underwater was 22 min exactly by a Danish guy called Stig Severinsen at the London School of Diving in London, UK, on 3 May 2012. What about how deep you could dive without a tank and just a lung full of air? Natalia Molchanova of Russias national team recently made a new world diving to a depth of 237 metres in dynamic apnea, that’s nearly 5 lengths of an Olympic sized swimming pool! Do you think you could do better? Or would you like to give freediving a try, maybe you are unable to scuba dive but would still like to experience the underwater world, then Big Blue Freediving could be just for you, courses are scheduled for your needs and can be booked ahead of time. If you would like more information on freediving just drop us an email at info@bigblue-freediving.com

Latest news- October 2014

Friday 31st October

Monsoon? What monsoon? The weather here right now is amazing, the sea is flat as a ladyboys chest pre surgery and the diving is beautiful. 2 of our boats are off having their yearly facelift, ready for the Christmas crowd, and many of the instructors are preparing for this years Movember. Any excuse to grow facial hair and shaving it into weird and downright scary moustaches’. None of the boys here are shy in the slightest so keep your eyes peeled for some interesting designs. DM Steven will be keeping his Jesus beard as he stores his lunch and snacks there for when he is a bit peckish on a dive.

Its always great to hear what you though during your time with us diving here at Big Blue. Here are a few of our most resent students write up on Trip Advisor.

Dennis R, The Netherlnds 27th October-
Diving at BB- “A perfect mix of Russel Crowes rough looks, Robbie Williams' sweet voice, Jacques Cousteau's diving knowledge and Britney Spears' mental health. Simon (26975;) was an ace instructor for my open water and advanced courses. Loved diving at Big Blue! Thanks Simo!”

Avery B, Canada 25th October-
Great Expectations- “My girlfriend and I came here to do our basic underwater course. We both expected it to be good, but it completely beat our expectations. We ended up forgoing out trip to Koh Samui in order to do the advanced underwater course. Oli was our instructor for the basic and advanced courses, and he was great. He didn't push us too hard, but he didn't baby us either; it was the right balance. The basic course had some great dives, but the best by far were our advanced course dives. Going deep water, diving in night, and diving around a wreck were the highlights of our trip to Thailand. Big Blue could not have been better and Oli was a fantastic instructor.”

We pride ourselves in giving you the best experience both in and out of the water, so thank you for all your kind words.

Wednesday 29th October

Sad day at Big Blue today as one of our favourite instructors is leaving us after being on Koh Tao for just over 4 years. Rich has been offered a very good diving job which was hard to turn down, but we all know that if it doesn’t work out (which we secretly hope it doesn’t) he will welcomed back with a week of DSDs and a warm Chang. For those who have been to Koh Tao whether it is to learn to dive, just have a holiday or work as a dive professional, it is a very hard place to leave. Apart from the amazing beaches, crystal clear waters, amazing food, great night life, it is the friends you meet once you are here. There are some friendships that have been forged here that will never be broken and leaving after being here for so long is tough. But the invisible bungee cord is attached at the pier and it’s not long till you are pulled back to this amazing little island in the gulf of Thailand. From all of us a Big Blue Diving and Koh Tao we wish you the very best of luck Rich, but choosing Halloween for you leaving do is just going to end in tears!!

If you are interested in doing something a bit different and want to learn about increasing your knowledge of scuba diving Big Blue Tech are starting a number of TDI courses from the 7th November, these include Intro to tech, advanced nitrox and decompression procedures, finishing up with extended range.These courses will give you a greater understanding of what technical diving is all about allowing you to dive deeper than the recreactional limits of 30 metres using a variety of different methods. For more information on our Tech courses send an email to info@bigbluetech.net.

Saturday 25th October

With only another 60 days left until Christmas is here we thought it would be nice to give you all a chance to win 10 free fundives with us here. Its not a quiz so no need to send your answers to us on a postcard, but we do want you to send us some pictures of yourselves. While you are here we want you to ask us to give you some Big Blue Diving stickers and then your mission is to take a picture of yourself with the stickers stuck in interesting places? so if you are off to India and you can stick one on the Taj Mahal (without being arrested though please- although inside a prison cell would be a good place to put a sticker too) or if you happen to know someone in the celebrity circles stick it to them. Be as imaginative as possible and give us a giggle too, so if you want to win 10 fun dives grab those stickers and get sticking! Email us your pictures to info@bigbluediving.com we will announce the winner of this competition in the end of November. Good luck!!

The big bossman was in the bar last night for a quiet (ahem) drink with his beloved team. Its funny how the rounds get bigger when the boss is buying the beer! He was treated to a Dirty Dancing treat when Patrick Swayze wannabe instructors Sid Bufton and Matt Waters began lifting our newly certified Open Water ladies. Luckily no injuries occured as there was plenty of safety catchers willing to help the poor damsels if the were dropped by their dance partners! See what we put on just for you Jim, now have a safe trip back to Samui with clear plastic seasick bags and unseasoned boat travellers. Until next time.

Really bad joke of the day-

How many people does it take to circumsise a whale?

Four skin divers :)

Latest news- September 2014

Dive Sites from above
Here's something you don't see every day, a photo of Sail rock from the air! It was taken by Big Blue SSI instructor and professional photographer Andy Campbell. He's got one of those "quads", or as I like to call it, a radio controlled helicopter. They seem to be the latest gadgets that people are playing with, and someone has had the brilliant idea of attaching a Go pro to the underneath of it, making it possible to literally look down on the things we see every day! Understandably he was very cautious with it at first, as high tech electronics and water don't tend to mix to well. But over time he's been getting more daring with it, to the point where he'll happily now take it on board the boat and fly it off the deck during his surface interval! We've now got some amazing shots of our fun diver boat Porponawa, and our tech boat Big Blue. When you have such beautiful locations as Chumphon Marine Park and Sail rock in the background, the end result is just stunning. We've also got incredible footage of both our dive resorts, and Sairee beach from the air! If you want to see some of these shots, have a look here at the video uploaded by Big Blue Movies of the 3 day trip to Chumphon Marine Park, organised by the Big Blue Dive Club. If you want to be in any of the aerial shots, then you'll have to come to Big Blue and go diving!

Koh Tao history in brief
It can be quite hard to find out detailed information about the history of Koh Tao, but if you do dig around, you can find some fairly consistent stories of how if came to be the place it is today. It was likely a stopping off point for Malay fishermen for centuries, due largely to its isolated position in the Gulf of Thailand. In the 1800s, there would have been a couple of small villages, while later on in the 1890’s King Chulalongkorn visited the island – which is marked with a monument on Sairee beach. The island remained a quiet place for decades, with a few fishing families and farmers and not much else.
After the Siamese Revolution of 1932, the country moved from being an absolute monarchy to a constitutional democracy (of sorts). Koh Tao was used as a political prison in a similar way to Koh Tarutao in the South. In 1947, the prisoner inhabitants were given a Royal pardon and shipped off out of exile to the neighboring islands of Koh Phangan and Koh Samui. The island was once again abandoned.
The legend then goes that two brothers from Koh Phangan sailed to Koh Tao and settled on the land that is now considered Sairee beach. They farmed and fished and lead a fairly simple lifestyle occasionally trading with those on Koh Phangan.
The Vietnam war came about, which created a tourism boom in Thailand during the 1960s and 1970s for American GIs on R&R. Early backpackers began to explore the Islands in the gulf of Thailand, with dive trips originating from Koh Samui and Koh Phangan. The first full moon party being held on Phangan in the late 1980s. Gradually tourism began to increase on the Islands, and the island began to become more and more developed. First with a few simple shops and dive huts, then resorts, and later bars and other non diving related business. Larger ferry companies such as Lomprayah, Seatran and Songserm began to serve the island with overnight buses originating from Bangkok to fill the many spots on a growing dive industry. The island developed its two main areas of Sairee beach (which is now full of nightclubs, resorts and dive shops) and the sleepier “local” side of Chalok Ban Kao as well as the busy port of Mae Haad.

3-day trip and full day trips

All dive bags are packed, the breakfast and lunch have been ordered, and hopefully everyone participating will have had (by the time this goes to press) a good nights sleep and not overslepted for the 6am departure to begin their three day, 8 dive trip to Chumphon Marine Park! Organised by the Big Blue Dive Club (running out of Big Blue Tech), the trips have become a monthly event, with the aim of allowing people to dive some of the less frequently dived areas within the Gulf of Thailand. The previous trip to Angthong Marine Park was a great success, and this trip looks to be even better, for the simple reason that we already know that the diving is epic there!
Big Blue Diving is the only dive resort on Koh Tao that goes to Chumphon Marine Park, and in all of the full day trips we've run there, we've never known the visibility to be bad. In fact its always been amazing! Also, because the dive sites are not often dived, the fish are more curious of divers. Plus, well, you know, it's a protected area, so the marine life is thankfully extremely abundant. It also has a purposely sunk wreck called the HTMS Prab, which is now a haven for all manner of marine creatures, and sits much shallower than the HTMS Sattakut.
If this is all making you jealous don't despair, although you've missed out on this trip there will be others. Additionally, on the 21st we are running a full day trip out there on our fun diver boat; Porponawa; the fastest dive boat in the universe! Three dives, breakfast, lunch, chocolate brownies, water and as many soft drinks as you can cope with! If you're interested, you just need to go to the Big Blue office to sign yourself up.. then all you have to do is turn up on the day!

Blue Whale numbers on the rise
It's not often we get good news about the state of the marine ecosystem, but here's some encouraging research. California blue whales are believed to have increased in number to up to 2,200! Historic whaling of these incredible animals saw 346,000 of them killed in the colder waters surrounding Antarctica, but since the practice was banned in 1966 they have increased their populations dramatically. The Californa whales live accross a huge area, from Alaska to Costa Rica. The number of blue whales caught in the Pacific was much lower, approximately 3,400 between 1905 and 1971, and their numbers are not as accurately known as for the California whales. But it's a good sign that protecting them has paid off. Let's hope their increase in numbers continues.

Cesare Benelli

Some very sad news this week, the founding father of scuba diving in Koh Tao passed away; Cesare Benelli. Many years ago he set up a dive school in Koh Samui, called Samui International diving. This was the first dive school in Samui and he took divers to sites such as Sail rock. Not one to just do the same old thing, he realised that as more and more people came to learn to dive or go fun diving, he needed to be able to offer them more, so started exploring the Gulf of Thailand. It wasn't long before he began running trips to Koh Tao, which, in those days was an overnight trip... no lomprayah ferries back then! He discovered many of the dive sites that we visit every day, and legend has it that he named White rock, Red rock and Green rock after the colours of the Italian flag, his homeland.
Seeing that the diving in Koh Tao was better than in Samui, he opened the first dive school here- Planet Scuba. Over time more and more people were drawn to Koh Tao to come diving, and so it slowly developed into the diving mecca it is today. I'm sure it was only a matter of time before people discovered the diving on Koh Tao, but Cesare was the driving force in making it popular early on.
Cesare brought a lot of happiness to a lot of people through discovering the beautiful dive sites we have. May you rest in peace.

Koh Panghan Airport
Announced to great fanfair in 2011 that a new airport was going to be built on Koh Panghan, once construction began everything seemed to go very quiet. But they have a website and everything, and apparently the opening date is now going to be September 2014! Wait a minute, it is September 2014.... So who knows how close to completion it is, and when it will be finally open for business. The runway will be much shorter than at Koh Samui airport, due to the mountainous terrain, so ti will be limited to 50 seater turboprops, and initially will only run two flights a day to bangkok and back.
It will be interesting to see what the costs will be though, i'm sure they will be very competitive, and it's an hour nearer than Samui, so hopefully it will be a viable option for getting to Bangkok cheaply. No doubt there will be a grand announcement once it's all completed.

September is go!

True to form, September is looking good so far on Koh Tao. The sea is flat calm, the weather is scorching hot, and the underwater visibility is absolutely breathtaking! Every dive site is just incredible to dive at the moment. At Chumphon pinnacle yesterday you could see the bottom from the boat, and when diving the pinnacle you could see way way off into the distance; even the thermocline at 40 metres seems to have gone on holiday! I dived the HTMS Sattakut a few days ago- our very own purposefully sunk artificial reef, and again you could see practically the entire vessel from the surface, all 48 metres of it, which is unheard of!

There is a huge array of marine life all over the place too, in the last month we've seen whalesharks, a pod of pilot whales and false killer whales, and on the macro scale the Bruce Lee of the ocean: the mantis shrimp.

September is always a great time to visit, but this is the best one in years! It's a little quieter than usual too, probably because people have been put off visiting Thailand due to the coup. Yet it hasn't affected anything, there is no curfew, no army presence on Koh Tao (and barely any visible signs in Bangkok either). Life continues as it always has- great diving, Sun, sea, lounging on the beach, and a huge choice of amazing food to choose from. Bet you're annoyed you went to Blackpool instead now aren't you....

Mantis Shrimp facts

These little critters are amazing in every conceivable way, so here's a few facts to show you why:

- They can grow up to 11cm long.

- They're very brightly coloured. Their shells can be blue, green, red and orange. The forearms are often covered with spots.

- Their eyes are located on long stalks that move independently. They have exceptional eyesight that is used both for the detection of prey and predators.

- Their eyes are also the most complex in the animal kingdom. They can see ultraviolet and polarized light. They have trinocular vision which means that they can see objects using one of the three different parts of eye.

- All mantis shrimps can be divided on spearers and smashes, based on the morphology of appendages and tactic they use to kill the prey.

- Spearers have spiny appendages that are used to stab soft-bodied prey such as different types of worms and fish.

- Smashers have club-like appendages that easily smash shell of snails, oysters, crustaceans and molluscs.

- They attack their prey extremely quickly- 50 times faster than the blink of an eye. With a velocity of 10 meters per second, their punch has the power of a .22 calibre bullet.

- Smashers are famous for their incredibly strong punches that can break the glass of an aquarium!

- Most species of mantis shrimps are solitary and territorial creatures. They fiercely defend their home against intruders.

- They are able to recognize their neighbours by smell, and also by their shape.

- Some species of mantis shrimp are monogamous and spend up to 20 years together. During mating, they often fluoresce.

- Females can lay eggs in the burrows or keep them in their forelimbs until they hatch. Some species exhibit parental care. The female lays two sets of eggs, one for her and the other for the father to take care of the eggs until they hatch.

- Larvae of mantis shrimps swim as a part of zooplankton up to 3 months. They show aggressive behaviour even during the larval stage.

- Mantis shrimp can survive more than 20 years in the wild.

Latest news- August 2014

New manager at Big Blue Conservation
Sad news today, our head of Marine conservation, Lizzie May is moving on to pastures new and leaving Koh Tao. She's decided to go back to University, which involves getting up late, not really doing anything, and then getting drunk every night. Why she has to go half way around the world to do that I don't know.. she could do that right here!
But seriously, she applied for uni, and based on the work she's done at Big Blue conservation they practically begged her to do the marine biology course!
Lizzie did a fantastic job for us here getting the message out about the importance of looking after our oceans, organising and leading beach clean ups, teaching marine conservation courses, planting coral in our coral nursery and showcasing why it matters, and of course, organising this years hugely successful swim for sharks charity event.
We'd like to thank her for all she's done and wish her all the best with her studies and beyond.
Rachel Linarts will be taking on the role of managing Big Blue Conservation. She's got a lot of experience as a dive instructor, through teaching people to dive in the freezing waters of the UK! She's been on Koh Tao for over 3 years and has probably just about acclimatised to the warm water by now! She is hugely passionate about marine conservation and will no doubt put her own stamp on the eco-shack. Good luck Rachel!

10 things you can do to save the ocean
Given the eco theme, it seems only fitting to get the marine conservation message out. Read these and then do them"

1. Try to reduce your Carbon Footprint and save energy that you use- Your everyday actions contribute to the effects of climate change.
2. Make Safe, Sustainable Seafood Choices- Global fish populations are plumeting because of over-fishing, loss of habitat and unsustainable fishing practices. When shopping or dining out, help reduce the demand for over exploited species by choosing seafood that is healthy and sustainable- no-one wants to see a dead, lifeless ocean.
3. Use less plastic- Plastic floats around in the oceans for a long time before finally degrading, during which time it entangles tens of thousands of marine animals. They also eat it, which not surprisingly also kills them
4. When you go to the beach, clean up after yourself- If you're feeling really helpful go and help out beach clean ups.
5. Don't Purchase Items That Exploit Marine Life- Don't buy coral jewelry, tortoiseshell hair accessories (made from hawksbill turtles), and shark products. Don't release those lantern things into the ocean, they kill turtles.
6. Only buy dog food that contains sustainable seafood- Much of it currently comes from over-exploited sources, which contributes hugely to their decline.
7. Support Organizations Working to Protect the Ocean- There are loads of them that are local to you, and they all do important work
8. Speak out about marine conservation- Contact your local parliamentarian and lobby them to enact laws to protect the oceans.
9. Act responsibly when on the ocean- whenever kayaking, or on a boat, never throw anything overboard.
10. Educate Yourself about marine conservation and marine life- The more you know, the better decisions you can take and influence others that will help conserve the oceans!

Waverunner is Back!
Finally, the news we've all been waiting for, our flagship boat MV Waverunner has arrived from it's monumental refurbishment in Chumphon, and it's looking amazing! She arrived two days go to zero fanfare becuse no-one recognised her! But on Wednesday morning Big Blue divemasters and instructors arrived for work to see a huge dive boat moored up with a Big Blue paint job. Some of them were convinced it was just a cheap copy from China, but when viewed through binoculars it was obvious that such fine workmanship could only mean it was the real deal.
Yesterday it was used in anger to take our open water students out on their first two open water dives, and it behaved like a dream. The difference in interior design is astonishing. Before the refurbishment having more than 15 divers setting up their equipment was like trying to go skipping in downtown Tokyo and not get arrested. But now you could easily fit 60 people on board, have them all set up at the same time and then swing their regulators around their heads without touching anything! There is a, you guessed it, huge area upstairs for relaxing out of the Sun, and there's even a mobile phone charging point!
The captain has been arranging the Feng Sui in his cabin, and by the constant smile across his face he must be pretty happy with it.
Every single employee at Big Blue cannot wait to get on board and see it for themselves. It's taken a while to completed, but it was worth the wait and we're all really proud of it.

Jet skis
Whilst on the boat the other day at Mango bay, I noticed that there are two new naval vessels operating in the area- a couple of jet skis. Now, i'm not really jet ski-ist, as they are a lot of fun to ride around on, but I really can't think of many things that would be worse for Koh Tao than jet skis whizzing around all over the place. Why? Because they are hired mainly by people who, a- have no idea how to ride them, b- may well have been drinking, and c- Are not aware of things they need to look out for and where they should and shouldn't drive them.
Mango bay is the perfect example of this. It's a great location for taking try divers or open water divers out on their first ever dives in the ocean. It's shallow, it's mainly sand, the sea bed slopes really gradually, and you can show them some beautiful marine life without fear of them damaging the coral. On the surface there are of course longtails to be careful of, but this is why divers use Deplayed Surface Marker Buoys (DSMBs), and also use the ears attached to the side of their heads.
Someone on a jetski will be going so fast they won't notice bubbles on the surface that show the position of divers underwater, and they wouldn't know what a DSMB is or what it is for.
The two jetskis I saw ran straight over two DSMBs that were close together, and just carried on going. I don't think I really need to explain why this was dangerous and stupid.
There are lots of jet skis in Pattaya, we don't want them in Koh Tao, it has a totally different vibe here and we want to keep it that way, so lets hope that they disappear soon and we don't see anymore.

Swim for Sharks went Swimmingly!

This year's Swim for Sharks was a great success, with 20 competitors and fun-swimmers making their way around the Islands of Nang yuan yesterday afternoon. The overall winner was a young lad called Bonk, who covered the 3.4kms in an astonishing 56 minutes and 40 seconds. Second place went to Big Blue instructor and previous winner Nick Bufton, with an impressive 1hr 1 minute swim. Third place went to Rachel Linearts, who did it in a very impressive 1hr 14 minutes. 

Once the competitors got back to land and had a few hours rest, it was time to go to the Big Blue bar for a big party and a raffle... in that order. Everyone was buying t-shirts, wristbands and raffle tickets to help raise money for shark conservation projects, and in between boogieing the night away some amazing prizes were given away, including a sharkskin rash vest, two tickets for a luxury hotel in Koh Tao, a Mares dive computer provided by SSI, and a free sidemount course provided by Big Blue Tech. 

For any residents of Koh Tao that may be wondering why there seems to be an outbreak of mohicans today, it's because they all shaved for sharks too! Offering to part with their barnets to raise some more cash. Even Big Blue videographer Barry put his money where his mouth was and forced to see his much-loved blonde locks fall to the floor with each swipe of the razor. Mini Ant, or Tony, as we like to call him seemed to enjoy that a little too much, but it was all for a good cause and Barry (and all the others) were more than happy to look ridiculous for the next few weeks!

Top 10 amazing creatures of the ocean

Completely unrelated to Koh Tao in any way, shape or form, but pretty fascinating nontheless, Big Blue Conservation have been posting facts about the most amazing creatures in the ocean, and some of them are pretty damn grizzly to say the least. Here's one of the oddest ones; the tongue-eating louse. 

This parasitic crustacean latches onto the tongue of its primary victim, the spotted rose snapper, and doesn’t let go. Once it does, the louse sucks the blood out of the tongue, until the organ wastes away. When that happens, the louse essentially becomes the new tongue, attaching its body to the stub of the old organ. It then feeds on the remains of food that the snapper doesn’t completely swallow. 

Amazingly, the snapper isn’t harmed too much by the entire process as it continues to live and feed after the louse makes a permanent residence. Though the spotted rose snapper is the louse’s main target, the crustacean has been found sporadically in several other species.