31st December 2007- Big Party tonight... obviously! But not just here at BB but in KT... also pretty obvious! Seems like the place to be bringing in the New Year if you are here on Koh Tao is anywhere between Lotus Bar & Simple Life, which of course means we are going to be in the heart of the party zone tonight. Going to put on my best frock! Happy New Year to you all. or as they say in Thailand..Sawadee Pii Mai!
30th December 2007-
'Word' is if you want to do your DM Course in Koh Tao & then get work after then you should be at Big Blue! Logic behind it is that in the last year alone Steffi, Hiro, Ernst, Yvonne, Hanna, Becky, Laura, Oscar, Oskar, Richard,Churchie, Anna, Brad, Adam, ( I know there's more) have all found gainful employment after doing their DMT with us. Cool! I like that kind of 'word'! So we have 6 dogs here at Big Blue which we feed & actually do call Big Blue mutts- There's Ugly, Sausage, Major, Panda, Uri & Seesaw. Over monsoon we suddenly found ourselves with another 5 or so dogs! I dunno. There seems to be hundreds of them! Haven't fed them watered them or walked them but they are still here. & now one of them has gone & dropped her litter right by the whiteboards. 7 of the cute little mutts! So in addition to the 6 we normally have we have an additional 10 more! Thats 18 dogs! So for today only we are giving a free puppy with every Open Water Course! We started 8 today so thats only another 11 to go... I think!
There's a storm coming! Usually that would piss me off but not this time. That's because the storm is coming in on the 1st which means noone will want to go diving on the 1st especially if there's a storm! Storm better have buggered off by the 2nd tho!
29th December 2007-
So we've placed our long thin slender wooden poles across the Poonama Canal now. & we've also planted our vines & creepers to grow & wrap themselves around the wooden poles. Shouldn't be too long now till its a small field of beautiful vines & blossoming flowers delicately perched over a river of shit!
How's the weather? Very nice thanks. Its cloudless sunny skies, crimson red sunsets, mirror flat seas, crystal clear waters & ice cold Changs!
Got our last Full Day Trip of the year tomorrow & I believe we're sold out! That'll be breakfast, 2 dives at Sail Rock where the viz is allegedly 20+ meters, lunch & 1 dive at Samran Pinnacle where last time we went we saw 2 whalesharks on the same divesite. Now just in case all the images of a full day trip to Sail Rock has reared the little green monster in you, please relax. It's not all a bed of roses. The water temperature is only a chilly full wetsuit wearing 28 degrees C!
28th December 2007-
Well I for one am very excited. That doesn't necessarily mean that I have a banana in my pocket tho! What is getting my blood pumping & my juices flowing is that I have now seen the finished version of our website & yeah baby! I like it! Can't wait to put it out there in to the big wide world of internet drivvel, sandwiched somewhere between beanbags.com & www.bootiebabes.org.We're going to kick some arse with this site I can tell. Eyes out for the 1st of Jan. Watch this space for the hype!
Lovely Christmas greeting from Darren & Ally. They've actually made a vdo message to everyone for Chrimbo & New Year. Very sweet. Lovely couple our Darren & Ally. Big hearts, loyal, honest, hard working & always on the piste! Obviously filthy rich too cos they keep jetting off around the world! Lucky $#!%&$!!
If everyone could stand up & raise their glasses I'd like to propose a toast. To Canadia & Frankfurt. Congratulations on making it to your 1st year anniversary James & Yvonne. Especially Yvonne!
27th December 2007-
How's that for a nice Christmas present. Eric our Big Blue Khao Lak Manager rang me last night pleading with me to send him a couple of our staff from Koh Tao over to help him in Khao Lak. He needs 2 Instructors & the only requirement they must meet is to speak English. Well seeing as 50% of our staff speak nothing but English I thought we might be able to help him out. So English speakers! Who wants to go to Khao Lak for a month & dive the Similan & Surin Islands & get paid for it?
There's been a few familiar faces arriving over the last few days. Like to say pip pip & howdo to Robin, Jake, Richard & Janne, Hellas & today Lyn & Hanna are back aswell. Nice to see you all back guys. You all look great. How about us? Who's fatter? who's thinner? Who's lost the most hair? Who's left? & Where the hells' our Christmas presents?
Call me a 'daft gallah' if you like but I really like the holiday season. I like working in the hospitality business. I like making peoples hard earnt & expensive holidays a happy & memorable occasion & I really like the sun the sea & the sand. And I am a huge fan of the Brazilian bikini. What I'm not too keen on is our manly Bavarian buddies prancing around the beach in their tight little budgie smugglers! To me that is just wrong, & I don't even mind if you call me a 'daft gallah' for saying so!
26th December 2007-
Emotional day for some of us today. Would like to dedicate todays editorial to all those who were effected by what happened 3 years ago today.If you log into our Blogpage I have written a very personal account of what happened to me on 26th December 2004.
Would also like to take this opportunity to say thanks. To all those who helped to make things better, to all those who survived & to all those who died.A toast!
Our thoughts & loving memories to you all.
25th December 2007-
A very Big Blue Merry Christmas to all of you from all of us.
Here's a Christmas Cracker joke for you!'What's red & white & gives prezzies to good little fish at Christmas?''Sandy Claws!'Boom boom! ( Sorry!)
Last nights brussel sprouts are really kicking now! Can't spend too long in the office today! Not much of a christmas present I'm leaving my office colleagues with! Sorry Koki, Ari & Kate! Did make me laugh out loud when I asked Koki to pull my finger though! Think I might have offended him. He's off to Khao Lak now! Not sure he found it as funny as I did!
24th December 2007-
Koh Phangan Full Moon Party is tonight! Apparently there are 30,000 people descending on to the beaches of The Phangan tonight. I admire your courage. All 30,000 of you. I however shall be supping on Changs on a beach with a belly full of Turkey, Roast potatoes & brussel Sprouts.
Santa will be making a very special guest appearance tonight at our Secret Santa Bash in the Restaurant. Hoping he won't scare the scores of kids we have staying with us at the moment. Never seen Tor with a big white shaggy beard & a paunch before! Could be kinda scary.
We built a snowman yesterday! When I say snow of course I mean sand! We built a Sandman yesterday. He's at least 3 foot tall extremely rotund & not very snowmanlike at all... he's a sandman! Very sweaty effort getting the bugger to stay up & not collapse! Not sure we're going to try that again next year- way too much effort! Oh yeah,& sand ball fights are crap!
23rd December 2007-
Well it kinda looks like everyone has recovered from a big night out. I feel a lot better at least.
Great night had by all. Good food, heaps of drinks, a very well recieved video & a superb awards ceremony ( if I dare say so myself). It was a shame not everyone made it to the party to receive their awards but I've been told their shots of tequilla have been mailed out to them.
Congratulations Richard. Another one of our extremely well trained DMT's, now DM's, who has gone & got themselves a job working in diving at another Dive shop in Koh Tao. Good job mate. Well deserved.
Big benchmark today in the history of Koh Tao. Aukotan has moved! And not only has it moved its reopened as a real Bangkok like department store with security guard at the door & everything on shelves in relatively understanding order as opposed to the chaotic assemblage that once was Aukotan. Locals are walking around with big big smiles on their faces. Now we can all do our Christmas shopping all under one roof. Christmas has come early this year.
22nd December 2007-
Here are the results of last nights staff party! Forgive my abruptness! Not feeling the best today.
BEST HAIR- Nominees MO & SCOBBY, Winner P'NEN
BEST BOYBAND LOOKALIKE- Nominees ASUKA & CANADA, Winner- P' TEA
BEST FEMALE ARSE- Nominees CELINE & LEE. Winner P'JOY
BEST MALE ARSE- Nominees ARI & MASARU. Winner- P'PIAK
BEST LOOKING MALE- Nominees PANOS & DAM. Winner-TORU
BEST LOOKING FEMALE- Nominees DIDI & NA. Winner ANNA
MOST AMOUNT OF FLESH SQUEEZED INTO A WETSUIT- Nominees- P'DUM & VDO ANDY. Winner- CANADA
BEST TART- Nominees DEANO & P'NEN. Winner- KATE
BEST BAR TOP DANCER- Nominees CELINE, SAGA, & G
NOISIEST FEMALE- Nominees HEATHER & YVONNE. Winner- LUCY
MOST IN TOUCH WITH THEIR FEMININE SIDE- Nominees PUN & CHIN & Winner KOKI
BEST JIM LOOKALIKE- Nominees DARREN & DAN. Winner RICKY
WOMAN OF THE YEAR- Nominees DIDI & P'JOY. Winner- SONIA
MAN OF THE YEAR-Nominees ALEX, & P'NEN. Winner- CHIN
Thanks for coming everyone. Hope you had a good night!
21st December 2007-
Inst Ricky has been teaching his first course this week to 2 lovely Danish ladies who seem to be very well trained cos they are laughing in all the right places! That's good instructin' Ricky! Well trained.
Everyone is getting all excited for tonite! Staff Party. There's gonna be beer, wine, whiskey, a banquet buffet & a BB movie. Our friends at ACE Marine Images especially the super marvellous, (though recently slightly accident prone!) Heather have put together a compilation of the years fun & games on vdo for us. I actually got a sneak preview yesterday & it is absolutely ACE! Heather you done a fantastic job. Hope to be able to release the 2007 Christmas VDO on Facebook soon! There's loads of all of you in it!
Got a wonderful text from Darren & Ally yesterday from some piste in Austria! Seem to be having a lovely time whizzing down slopes, drinking large beers & wearing thick woolies! Sounds similar to the sort of fun Alex & Lucy had while in Samui. They went to a villa time share meeting & pretended they were a married couple! Guys you really have to get out more!
20th December 2007-
Christmas came early for us this year! Well sort of. The Samui kit that we are nicking from our Samui operation arrived today! Its great there's another 20 odd tanks & half a dozen or so full sets of kit! I'm amazed at the state in which it is in! Going to have to give it all a damn good service eh Ricky- nudge, nudge wink wink!
Started a new project today! We are going to seal the river! Hoorah! About time! As I've always said I haven't been mad keen to cover it up before cos I wanted the people of KT to see the mess they were creating. Now that we have achieved that & some & the businesses of KT have agreed to find other solutions to treat their waste water we can now cover it up. By the laundry we are going to put concrete & on the other side we're going to make a nice pergoda with creepers & vines. Should look better! Well lets face it... couldn't look any worse!
Staff Party tomorrow! Thanks everyone for all your input for nominations! I shall select the best of them & will give you the saucy outcomes in a couple of days time! I found some nominations absolute genius & can't wait to share them with the world but don't want to spoil the surprise. Watch this space!
19th December 2007-
Big night last night by all accounts. Rich & Ian's DM Challenge & they had to do a bit of hip hop to the beat, don't stop! They jammed, they rapped, they break danced, did the loco & then enticed the rest of the party to get on the bar & do some dirty dancing! Celine won the peoples choice award for best pelvic gyrating but Ian won the award for best fish impression when he was found asleep in the dumptanks with his mask & snorkel on just after midnight! Sounds truely Canadian!
Our humblest apologies Nyko for our romantic Garlic Crunching Frenchman. Rumour has it he became quite smitten with you last night & started feeding you all his best chat up lines. God I hope he didn't put on that outrageous french accent for you!
Meanwhile Ricky's first day back at work, Scobby's too, the resort has no more empty rooms, everywhere is full & the island is truely packed to the rafters! There's 8 Instructors working, 4 on holiday, 4 DM's working 11 OW students yesterday & so far 13 for today! Merry Christmas everyone!
18th December 2007-
Got to give a big shout out to Mr Tim who came running to my assistance in my hour of need! Thanks Tim- (who BTW runs a very succesful punting company in Cambridge should any of you be that way). AS you saw we got a rather uncomplimentary write up in Lonely Planet's Travel Forum, and Tim came in to our defense- stout fellow! Well the story continues! The guy who posted the question ignored all the bad press & came to us anyway! Phew- Thanks Rob! & he says he'll write in & let the world know how happy he is he came here after all! So LP forum writers who wrote all those untruths about us...nah nah!
You'll be pleased to know Rick had a very pleasant nights sleep lastnight as his naughty neighbours Alex & Lucy have jetted off to Samui to rest their vocal cords. They've both had a busy time of it lately & have decided to pig out at McDonalds & Burger King, shop at Tesco's & catch the latest release at the flicks before coming home to Koh Tao for more boisterous bonking!
If you could have seen Sonia's face when she crept down from the AC rooms thismorning having just spent the night in there with her new toy, his name is Steven! It was absolutley priceless. Even better was the way she tried to sneak down without anyone noticing her & then the very 1st person she bumped into was Deano! None of us would have had a clue what you'd been upto except that you just burst out laughing. A grin from ear to ear & an embarrassed schoolgirl stance- rumbled my dear truly rumbled! High five!
16th December 2007-
Did you realize that during the month of December the population of Scandanavia drops by half because they have all gone off on holiday! That means that right now we have 9 million Swedish, Danish, Norwegian & Finnish guests staying in Koh Tao! And 4.5 million of them are ladies! Hmmm. Put that in your pipe & smoke it boys!
Poor old Celia. Her first week of work & she's only gone & sprained an ankle! Doh! When Deano hurt himself last June on a motorbike he was seen racing around Tesco's in Samui in a wheelchair. Word is Celine was last seen tearing up the aisles at Aukotan in hers!
Meanwhile Ricky & Deano have gone off to Koh Phangan for a few days of drunken debauchery round at Spaz's Last Resort. Which by the way boys & girls is the only place to go in Koh Phangan if you want to get away for a few days of drunken debauchery. 0835950085 is the number to dial to make a reservation. Ask for The Spaz!
15th December 2007-
So Simon rang last night & is having such a good time in the Similans that he has decided to stay for another month! Lucky barsteward! Hope it snows with you over Christmas!
So we've made great headway in renovating our Air Conditioned Rooms now. They all look completely spic & span now & everything works & looks great. All we need now is a minibar, satellite tv & the Adult Channel!
Kate, our beautiful Thai shopgirl has gone off for her holiday now. Time to go home & visit the folks! Excellent timing I might add. Coincides very well with the enforced Thai law this week of no drinking for 3 days during the Thai Elections! So Kates gone home to neck a bottle of Sangserm & have a bucket or 2 with her folks in the luxury of her own gaf! Well planned!
14th December 2007-
Time to welcome another member to the team. The very experienced Celine from France! Not only is Celine a PADI Staff Instructor who has been working in diving in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Dubai & Thailand she is also fluent in English, French, Spanish & Italian & is gorgeous. Welcome Celine, very happy to have you join the team.
So Deano is off to Samui for us today. AS you know we have opted to shut down our Samui operation & Deano has gone over to grab for us in Koh Tao the good stuff! That's dive kit Deano not Big Mac's, KFC's & Double Whoppers! Actually... well yeah alright I'll have a Big Mac meal please mate!
Funny thermocline activity at Chumphon at the moment. Its crystal clear down to 12 meters & then you descend thru a fog all the down to the bottom. Can't see anything! Haven't even seen any sharks for a few days. Probably gone on holiday- guess they've had a pretty shitty monsoon too!
13th December 2007-
I mean really... who wouldn't want to be a guy working on a tropical island beach resort! Today we had 8 very loverly Finnish ladies arrive. They are all drop dead stunning & right now lying at the front of Big Blue Bar sunbaking. They've been there about 25 minutes & already I have 6 lads all come in off the beach & sign up for diving! How's that for good marketing!
Hey Hey Ricky! Congratulations on joining the Wonderful world of a PADI Instructor! Its always been a very good idea as a newly trained PADI Instructor to go out straight away & get absolutley hammered, meet people, go places & do things! Wouldn't expect any less of you!
ACE Marine are going to be making a Koh Tao Babes Calendar & our Luscious Lucy, rather Alex's Lucy, has been asked to pose in her skimpies for the issue. Rick is delighted. After the endless nights of disturbed sleep he's been getting living as their neighbour, he can now have something to look at next time he is rudely awoken by their intense passionate bursts of bedroom bonking!
12th December 2007-
Da da da with bells of holly! Tra-la-la-la-la de la-la-la! Dee de dee its all so jolly Tra-la-la-la-la de la-la-la!Festive seasons everyone! I bring that up because now is the time when the guests arrive for their 2 week Christmas holidays- which means less than 2 weeks left till Chrimbo! Everyone got me a prezzie?
I'm very excited! Today is the first day of work for our new Swedish Instructor. Her name is Saga & she is beautiful, & speaks Sverge, Dansk & Norge. Her English aint bad either. She starts her first course today after she gets back from her weekend bikini modelling excursion in Samui.
The Bar has had a bit of a facelift! Done away with the stage now and its all at one level now which makes the whole place look heaps bigger. Did the whole thing in a day aswell! Very thoughtful as it had to be ready for the party... 'The New Big Blue Bar Floor Party!' party.
11th December 2007-
Instructor Exam time for Ricky today. This is it mate. The day you spread your wings & fly! The day you become a real bird! Good luck mate! Use your Irish Charms!
Massive difference in the weather today. The sea is totally flat calm & crystal clear. If you look over the side of the boat you can see the bottom really clearly. SO thats it guys! The monsoon is over the sea is pancake flat the viz is great there are heaps of fish out & we are running out of masks, weights & XS BCD's! Must be high season!
Phew! We've heard from Scobby at last. AS you know last we had word was when him & Jolien were galavanting around Laos & Cambodia somewhere. Then we lost then in Nam & now we've found them in some dodgy dentists in Bangkok playing Russian Roulette! ( Actually the Russian Roulette isn't strictly true I just said it for effect! I thought saying he had a toothache was a little poncey!) Welcome back guys & see you soon!
10th December 2007-
I would just like to give a Big Blue Celebratory congratulations to a couple of our old Big Blue Instructors Paul Landgraver & Karin Sundelius who both worked here about 4 years ago. They met, fell in love, moved to Khao Lak, survived the tsunami, & got pregnant! & now have just had their first baby & she was born on her mothers Birthday! Its so emotional I have a tear in my throat & a lump in my eye. Congrats guys & a special hug to mummy!
Nice to see Oskar back from his trip to the Similans. Says he had a wonderful time & the visibility there was 40+ meters. And we had 40 meter viz today aswell! Chumphon this morning was almost 20 meter viz & we dived there twice which means if my maths is right that we had 40 meter vis today too!
9th December 2007-
What is it with the Boat Captains & their Viagra??? Why is it whenever we go on a visa run the captains always ask you to bring them back a box of Viagra! Some of these guys get thru a few boxes a month! Thats a lot of stiffies!!
Darren & Ally left us today. They are off for a few days to Dubai for a bit of Sand boarding & Camel trekking & then off to Austria for a few weeks for a bit of snow boarding & Yodelling. Have a great break guys & don't forget my Haribo's from Austria & my Mercedes SLR from Dubai!
& a final congratulations to Deano at last who is now a fully fledged PADI IDC Staff Instructor. As a PIS Instructor Deano can now be a piece of the team that teach Divemasters how to become Instructors. Its good to be a piece of PIS eh Deano?
8th December 2007-
Another round of Professional Partying last night in Kelli's honor who is now a fully fledged Girly Bar Dancer aswell as Divemaster! Her Divemaster Challenge consisted of invading countries & locating weapons of Mass Destruction. Extremely appropriate for an American we felt. The Saucy Bar Dancing was a voluntary extra!
And Sonia has gone & got herself her 1st Open Water Course. Today Sonia has 4 lovely Swedish girls- much to the BB lads dismay! Can you remember what Deano taught you? No_______ before certification!
Today Navakid returned! She looks all spic & span & ready for another year of fun & games! We've gone & painted the hull blue to fall in line with the same colors as our other boats Baby Blue & Banzai! So we are back to a fleet of three again. Nice!
7th December 2007-
So I got to give a big Shout out to our man Andy & his better half the limping Heather from ACE Marine Images our underwater moviemakers for adding the vid to the group. Nice to see some old faces in there! Are you one of them???
Ventured out around the corner yesterday on Banzai to see what the visibility is like around at Saithong. We dived & came back to Sairee. Well at least we are trying! Still big winds & high seas. But the sun is still out!
Noticeable increase of people arriving on Koh Tao today. Hurrah! I wouldn't want to speak too soon but could that actually mean the end of low season!??? God I hope so. Do you realize how hard its been to come up with stuff to write here everyday when nothing happens!
6th December 2007-
Cor bit windy today! Feel sorry for those of you who didn't listen to me & took the Lomprayah as opposed to the Seatran. Poor old Hampus yesterday looked positively green after his DM Challenge & then booked himself aboard the Lomprayah back to Chumpers. Bet that must have been fun for you mate! Thanks for coming & see you again in a few months!
And because we have had such bad waves & a lot of rain last month rumour is going around BKK to avoid Samui & Koh Tao which is why we are so quiet. So if any of you are coming back soon & I hear thru my trusty sources that there will be a few surprises then please spread the word- KT is sunny, & the diving is around 10meter viz. Just make sure you take the Seatran over!
Anyone know why Sonia is walking funny today?
5th December 2007-
Well wouldn't you know it... mention the devil & the devil walks through the door! Hah, only kidding- welcome back Bar manager Patrick! Pat's Back! He heard Mr Melissa was in charge & caught the next plane out!
But quite a job Canada has done in just a couple of nights in charge! Its the busiest the bar has been since Mathias left to go bandage his banjo!
And last night was also very busy as it was Hampus & Anu's DM Challenge. (BTW Anu- did your parents speak English when they named you? Where does the apostrophe go? Is it Anu's DM Challenge or Anus' DM Challenge!?) Theme last night was Sweden V's Finland in hockey! Congratulations guys. & I hear Anu already has a job lined up at another Diveshop here in Koh Tao. That's another Big Blue Trained DM who's now getting paid to go diving & live on the beach! You go girl! Double Anu's/ Anus' celebrations!!
4th December 2007-
Its Christmas time at Big Blue today. Well the first day of it... we got the Christmas Tree out...Unfortunatley it looks a little battle worn & naked. But its out & it holds pride of place outside the diveshop. Next step is sending Anna up to Aukotan, the Aladins cave of tacky Christmas decorations, to spunk up our rather limp looking Festive twig!
Weather, by the way, has been glorious of late. No rain, hours of sunshine, no clouds, & gorgeous sunsets. Sea has been reasonably choppy but even that has calmed down now & there aint so many barrels of vomit being unloaded at the end of each Lomprayah trip anymore. Which is nice!
And its congratulations to Mr Melissa ( formerly known as Canada) for his short term promotion to Caretaker Bar Manager untill either one of the previous bar managers Patrick or Mathias returns. Rumour has it Patrick will be back here within a week so. Rumour also has it Mathias is in Hull!? What the Hull is a Swede doing in hell? Mathias answers on a Postcard please!
3rd December 2007-
Its quiet. Its very quiet here in Koh Tao at the moment. Its so quiet infact that if you listen really really carefully you can actually hear the gentle hissing of Jade letting off steam all the way over in England!
Poor old Heather. ACE Marine Heather, from the US, has gone & cut her foot open & needed stitches. She was, as normal, doing such a great job getting the students to buy the video she had so excellently executed that she failed to notice the broken glass she so excellently stepped on! Sorry Heather hope you get better soon!
SO its big celebrations here in Thailand at the moment for the Kings 80th Birthday in a couple of days. Congratulations your Majesty & the people of Thailand. We salute you!
2nd December 2007-
We all had a very exciting day yesterday. Especially the divemasters who organised a thrilling game of stock check, whereby we get as many DMT's as we can to give us a hand counting kit! Dan won. He counted 63 wetsuits to Danielles 39. But then Danielle won back when she beat Dan on the BCD count. Gosh it was exciting!
So in case you have forgotten Ricky is in mid stroke in his IDC & Deano too looks a little taller these days as he is about to be made an IDC Staff Instructor. As expected by this stage of an IDC both guys have become thoroughly brainwashed and can be heard mumbling the word PADI while sleeping. Its really very sweet!
Rumour has it Canada is looking to change his name. Most of us were of course truely shocked to find out Canada wasn't his real name but even more shocked to find out that James was. Now as we already have a James called Rick another James called Jim we thought we'd call Canada James, Susan! Anyone got a problem with that. Anyone mind if we start calling Canada ,Susan now?
1st December 2007-
So Hiro has left us & ventured with her boys in tow- Simon, Oskar & Goodstuff, to the west coast for a few days of sunsoaked marine happiness. They will spend 4 glorious days & nights cruising the Similan Islands gliding with Manta's, dancing with Giant Morays, feasting on banquets of food & spinning yarns over a tipple under a star soaked sky. Still bet the night boat over last night made you puke, eh guys?!
First day of work for our newest team member- Anna. She will be joining Ricky & Sonia in the DM pool. Anna has done a lot of her courses with us last year & has since DM'd at other KT shops & in Khao Lak & the Similans & recently returned from a trip to Australia cos there were too many Australians there!
Speaking of Australines- where's Scobby? Last we heard him & Jolien were paddling down some river in Laos in true Rambo & Jane style. They've gone MIA somewhere near NAM. Anyone heard anything from them?
So we've placed our long thin slender wooden poles across the Poonama Canal now. & we've also planted our vines & creepers to grow & wrap themselves around the wooden poles. Shouldn't be too long now till its a small field of beautiful vines & blossoming flowers delicately perched over a river of shit!
How's the weather? Very nice thanks. Its cloudless sunny skies, crimson red sunsets, mirror flat seas, crystal clear waters & ice cold Changs!Got our last Full Day Trip of the year tomorrow & I believe we're sold out! That'll be breakfast, 2 dives at Sail Rock where the viz is allegedly 20+ meters, lunch & 1 dive at Samran Pinnacle where last time we went we saw 2 whalesharks on the same divesite. Now just in case all the images of a full day trip to Sail Rock has reared the little green monster in you, please relax. It's not all a bed of roses. The water temperature is only a chilly full wetsuit wearing 28 degrees C!
28th December 2007-
Well I for one am very excited. That doesn't necessarily mean that I have a banana in my pocket tho! What is getting my blood pumping & my juices flowing is that I have now seen the finished version of our website & yeah baby! I like it! Can't wait to put it out there in to the big wide world of internet drivvel, sandwiched somewhere between beanbags.com & www.bootiebabes.org.We're going to kick some arse with this site I can tell. Eyes out for the 1st of Jan. Watch this space for the hype!
Lovely Christmas greeting from Darren & Ally. They've actually made a vdo message to everyone for Chrimbo & New Year. Very sweet. Lovely couple our Darren & Ally. Big hearts, loyal, honest, hard working & always on the piste! Obviously filthy rich too cos they keep jetting off around the world! Lucky $#!%&$!!If everyone could stand up & raise their glasses I'd like to propose a toast. To Canadia & Frankfurt. Congratulations on making it to your 1st year anniversary James & Yvonne. Especially Yvonne!
27th December 2007-
How's that for a nice Christmas present. Eric our Big Blue Khao Lak Manager rang me last night pleading with me to send him a couple of our staff from Koh Tao over to help him in Khao Lak. He needs 2 Instructors & the only requirement they must meet is to speak English. Well seeing as 50% of our staff speak nothing but English I thought we might be able to help him out. So English speakers! Who wants to go to Khao Lak for a month & dive the Similan & Surin Islands & get paid for it?There's been a few familiar faces arriving over the last few days. Like to say pip pip & howdo to Robin, Jake, Richard & Janne, Hellas & today Lyn & Hanna are back aswell. Nice to see you all back guys. You all look great. How about us? Who's fatter? who's thinner? Who's lost the most hair? Who's left? & Where the hells' our Christmas presents?
Call me a 'daft gallah' if you like but I really like the holiday season. I like working in the hospitality business. I like making peoples hard earnt & expensive holidays a happy & memorable occasion & I really like the sun the sea & the sand. And I am a huge fan of the Brazilian bikini. What I'm not too keen on is our manly Bavarian buddies prancing around the beach in their tight little budgie smugglers! To me that is just wrong, & I don't even mind if you call me a 'daft gallah' for saying so!
26th December 2007-
Emotional day for some of us today. Would like to dedicate todays editorial to all those who were effected by what happened 3 years ago today.If you log into our Blogpage I have written a very personal account of what happened to me on 26th December 2004.Would also like to take this opportunity to say thanks. To all those who helped to make things better, to all those who survived & to all those who died.A toast!
Our thoughts & loving memories to you all.
25th December 2007-
A very Big Blue Merry Christmas to all of you from all of us.Here's a Christmas Cracker joke for you!'What's red & white & gives prezzies to good little fish at Christmas?''Sandy Claws!'Boom boom! ( Sorry!)
Last nights brussel sprouts are really kicking now! Can't spend too long in the office today! Not much of a christmas present I'm leaving my office colleagues with! Sorry Koki, Ari & Kate! Did make me laugh out loud when I asked Koki to pull my finger though! Think I might have offended him. He's off to Khao Lak now! Not sure he found it as funny as I did!
24th December 2007-
Koh Phangan Full Moon Party is tonight! Apparently there are 30,000 people descending on to the beaches of The Phangan tonight. I admire your courage. All 30,000 of you. I however shall be supping on Changs on a beach with a belly full of Turkey, Roast potatoes & brussel Sprouts.
Santa will be making a very special guest appearance tonight at our Secret Santa Bash in the Restaurant. Hoping he won't scare the scores of kids we have staying with us at the moment. Never seen Tor with a big white shaggy beard & a paunch before! Could be kinda scary.We built a snowman yesterday! When I say snow of course I mean sand! We built a Sandman yesterday. He's at least 3 foot tall extremely rotund & not very snowmanlike at all... he's a sandman! Very sweaty effort getting the bugger to stay up & not collapse! Not sure we're going to try that again next year- way too much effort! Oh yeah,& sand ball fights are crap!
23rd December 2007-
Well it kinda looks like everyone has recovered from a big night out. I feel a lot better at least.
Great night had by all. Good food, heaps of drinks, a very well recieved video & a superb awards ceremony ( if I dare say so myself). It was a shame not everyone made it to the party to receive their awards but I've been told their shots of tequilla have been mailed out to them.Congratulations Richard. Another one of our extremely well trained DMT's, now DM's, who has gone & got themselves a job working in diving at another Dive shop in Koh Tao. Good job mate. Well deserved.
Big benchmark today in the history of Koh Tao. Aukotan has moved! And not only has it moved its reopened as a real Bangkok like department store with security guard at the door & everything on shelves in relatively understanding order as opposed to the chaotic assemblage that once was Aukotan. Locals are walking around with big big smiles on their faces. Now we can all do our Christmas shopping all under one roof. Christmas has come early this year.
22nd December 2007-
Here are the results of last nights staff party! Forgive my abruptness! Not feeling the best today.
BEST HAIR- Nominees MO & SCOBBY, Winner P'NENBEST BOYBAND LOOKALIKE- Nominees ASUKA & CANADA, Winner- P' TEA
BEST FEMALE ARSE- Nominees CELINE & LEE. Winner P'JOY
BEST MALE ARSE- Nominees ARI & MASARU. Winner- P'PIAK
BEST LOOKING MALE- Nominees PANOS & DAM. Winner-TORU
BEST LOOKING FEMALE- Nominees DIDI & NA. Winner ANNA
MOST AMOUNT OF FLESH SQUEEZED INTO A WETSUIT- Nominees- P'DUM & VDO ANDY. Winner- CANADA
BEST TART- Nominees DEANO & P'NEN. Winner- KATE
BEST BAR TOP DANCER- Nominees CELINE, SAGA, & G
NOISIEST FEMALE- Nominees HEATHER & YVONNE. Winner- LUCY
MOST IN TOUCH WITH THEIR FEMININE SIDE- Nominees PUN & CHIN & Winner KOKI
BEST JIM LOOKALIKE- Nominees DARREN & DAN. Winner RICKY
WOMAN OF THE YEAR- Nominees DIDI & P'JOY. Winner- SONIA
MAN OF THE YEAR-Nominees ALEX, & P'NEN. Winner- CHIN
Thanks for coming everyone. Hope you had a good night!
21st December 2007-
Inst Ricky has been teaching his first course this week to 2 lovely Danish ladies who seem to be very well trained cos they are laughing in all the right places! That's good instructin' Ricky! Well trained.
Everyone is getting all excited for tonite! Staff Party. There's gonna be beer, wine, whiskey, a banquet buffet & a BB movie. Our friends at ACE Marine Images especially the super marvellous, (though recently slightly accident prone!) Heather have put together a compilation of the years fun & games on vdo for us. I actually got a sneak preview yesterday & it is absolutely ACE! Heather you done a fantastic job. Hope to be able to release the 2007 Christmas VDO on Facebook soon! There's loads of all of you in it!Got a wonderful text from Darren & Ally yesterday from some piste in Austria! Seem to be having a lovely time whizzing down slopes, drinking large beers & wearing thick woolies! Sounds similar to the sort of fun Alex & Lucy had while in Samui. They went to a villa time share meeting & pretended they were a married couple! Guys you really have to get out more!
20th December 2007-
Christmas came early for us this year! Well sort of. The Samui kit that we are nicking from our Samui operation arrived today! Its great there's another 20 odd tanks & half a dozen or so full sets of kit! I'm amazed at the state in which it is in! Going to have to give it all a damn good service eh Ricky- nudge, nudge wink wink!
Started a new project today! We are going to seal the river! Hoorah! About time! As I've always said I haven't been mad keen to cover it up before cos I wanted the people of KT to see the mess they were creating. Now that we have achieved that & some & the businesses of KT have agreed to find other solutions to treat their waste water we can now cover it up. By the laundry we are going to put concrete & on the other side we're going to make a nice pergoda with creepers & vines. Should look better! Well lets face it... couldn't look any worse!Staff Party tomorrow! Thanks everyone for all your input for nominations! I shall select the best of them & will give you the saucy outcomes in a couple of days time! I found some nominations absolute genius & can't wait to share them with the world but don't want to spoil the surprise. Watch this space!
19th December 2007-
Big night last night by all accounts. Rich & Ian's DM Challenge & they had to do a bit of hip hop to the beat, don't stop! They jammed, they rapped, they break danced, did the loco & then enticed the rest of the party to get on the bar & do some dirty dancing! Celine won the peoples choice award for best pelvic gyrating but Ian won the award for best fish impression when he was found asleep in the dumptanks with his mask & snorkel on just after midnight! Sounds truely Canadian!Our humblest apologies Nyko for our romantic Garlic Crunching Frenchman. Rumour has it he became quite smitten with you last night & started feeding you all his best chat up lines. God I hope he didn't put on that outrageous french accent for you!
Meanwhile Ricky's first day back at work, Scobby's too, the resort has no more empty rooms, everywhere is full & the island is truely packed to the rafters! There's 8 Instructors working, 4 on holiday, 4 DM's working 11 OW students yesterday & so far 13 for today! Merry Christmas everyone!
18th December 2007-
Got to give a big shout out to Mr Tim who came running to my assistance in my hour of need! Thanks Tim- (who BTW runs a very succesful punting company in Cambridge should any of you be that way). AS you saw we got a rather uncomplimentary write up in Lonely Planet's Travel Forum, and Tim came in to our defense- stout fellow! Well the story continues! The guy who posted the question ignored all the bad press & came to us anyway! Phew- Thanks Rob! & he says he'll write in & let the world know how happy he is he came here after all! So LP forum writers who wrote all those untruths about us...nah nah!
You'll be pleased to know Rick had a very pleasant nights sleep lastnight as his naughty neighbours Alex & Lucy have jetted off to Samui to rest their vocal cords. They've both had a busy time of it lately & have decided to pig out at McDonalds & Burger King, shop at Tesco's & catch the latest release at the flicks before coming home to Koh Tao for more boisterous bonking!If you could have seen Sonia's face when she crept down from the AC rooms thismorning having just spent the night in there with her new toy, his name is Steven! It was absolutley priceless. Even better was the way she tried to sneak down without anyone noticing her & then the very 1st person she bumped into was Deano! None of us would have had a clue what you'd been upto except that you just burst out laughing. A grin from ear to ear & an embarrassed schoolgirl stance- rumbled my dear truly rumbled! High five!
16th December 2007-
Did you realize that during the month of December the population of Scandanavia drops by half because they have all gone off on holiday! That means that right now we have 9 million Swedish, Danish, Norwegian & Finnish guests staying in Koh Tao! And 4.5 million of them are ladies! Hmmm. Put that in your pipe & smoke it boys!Poor old Celia. Her first week of work & she's only gone & sprained an ankle! Doh! When Deano hurt himself last June on a motorbike he was seen racing around Tesco's in Samui in a wheelchair. Word is Celine was last seen tearing up the aisles at Aukotan in hers!
Meanwhile Ricky & Deano have gone off to Koh Phangan for a few days of drunken debauchery round at Spaz's Last Resort. Which by the way boys & girls is the only place to go in Koh Phangan if you want to get away for a few days of drunken debauchery. 0835950085 is the number to dial to make a reservation. Ask for The Spaz!
15th December 2007-
So Simon rang last night & is having such a good time in the Similans that he has decided to stay for another month! Lucky barsteward! Hope it snows with you over Christmas!
So we've made great headway in renovating our Air Conditioned Rooms now. They all look completely spic & span now & everything works & looks great. All we need now is a minibar, satellite tv & the Adult Channel!Kate, our beautiful Thai shopgirl has gone off for her holiday now. Time to go home & visit the folks! Excellent timing I might add. Coincides very well with the enforced Thai law this week of no drinking for 3 days during the Thai Elections! So Kates gone home to neck a bottle of Sangserm & have a bucket or 2 with her folks in the luxury of her own gaf! Well planned!
14th December 2007-
Time to welcome another member to the team. The very experienced Celine from France! Not only is Celine a PADI Staff Instructor who has been working in diving in the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Dubai & Thailand she is also fluent in English, French, Spanish & Italian & is gorgeous. Welcome Celine, very happy to have you join the team.
So Deano is off to Samui for us today. AS you know we have opted to shut down our Samui operation & Deano has gone over to grab for us in Koh Tao the good stuff! That's dive kit Deano not Big Mac's, KFC's & Double Whoppers! Actually... well yeah alright I'll have a Big Mac meal please mate!Funny thermocline activity at Chumphon at the moment. Its crystal clear down to 12 meters & then you descend thru a fog all the down to the bottom. Can't see anything! Haven't even seen any sharks for a few days. Probably gone on holiday- guess they've had a pretty shitty monsoon too!
13th December 2007-
I mean really... who wouldn't want to be a guy working on a tropical island beach resort! Today we had 8 very loverly Finnish ladies arrive. They are all drop dead stunning & right now lying at the front of Big Blue Bar sunbaking. They've been there about 25 minutes & already I have 6 lads all come in off the beach & sign up for diving! How's that for good marketing!
Hey Hey Ricky! Congratulations on joining the Wonderful world of a PADI Instructor! Its always been a very good idea as a newly trained PADI Instructor to go out straight away & get absolutley hammered, meet people, go places & do things! Wouldn't expect any less of you!ACE Marine are going to be making a Koh Tao Babes Calendar & our Luscious Lucy, rather Alex's Lucy, has been asked to pose in her skimpies for the issue. Rick is delighted. After the endless nights of disturbed sleep he's been getting living as their neighbour, he can now have something to look at next time he is rudely awoken by their intense passionate bursts of bedroom bonking!
12th December 2007-
Da da da with bells of holly! Tra-la-la-la-la de la-la-la! Dee de dee its all so jolly Tra-la-la-la-la de la-la-la!Festive seasons everyone! I bring that up because now is the time when the guests arrive for their 2 week Christmas holidays- which means less than 2 weeks left till Chrimbo! Everyone got me a prezzie?
I'm very excited! Today is the first day of work for our new Swedish Instructor. Her name is Saga & she is beautiful, & speaks Sverge, Dansk & Norge. Her English aint bad either. She starts her first course today after she gets back from her weekend bikini modelling excursion in Samui.The Bar has had a bit of a facelift! Done away with the stage now and its all at one level now which makes the whole place look heaps bigger. Did the whole thing in a day aswell! Very thoughtful as it had to be ready for the party... 'The New Big Blue Bar Floor Party!' party.
11th December 2007-
Instructor Exam time for Ricky today. This is it mate. The day you spread your wings & fly! The day you become a real bird! Good luck mate! Use your Irish Charms!
Massive difference in the weather today. The sea is totally flat calm & crystal clear. If you look over the side of the boat you can see the bottom really clearly. SO thats it guys! The monsoon is over the sea is pancake flat the viz is great there are heaps of fish out & we are running out of masks, weights & XS BCD's! Must be high season!Phew! We've heard from Scobby at last. AS you know last we had word was when him & Jolien were galavanting around Laos & Cambodia somewhere. Then we lost then in Nam & now we've found them in some dodgy dentists in Bangkok playing Russian Roulette! ( Actually the Russian Roulette isn't strictly true I just said it for effect! I thought saying he had a toothache was a little poncey!) Welcome back guys & see you soon!
10th December 2007-
I would just like to give a Big Blue Celebratory congratulations to a couple of our old Big Blue Instructors Paul Landgraver & Karin Sundelius who both worked here about 4 years ago. They met, fell in love, moved to Khao Lak, survived the tsunami, & got pregnant! & now have just had their first baby & she was born on her mothers Birthday! Its so emotional I have a tear in my throat & a lump in my eye. Congrats guys & a special hug to mummy!Nice to see Oskar back from his trip to the Similans. Says he had a wonderful time & the visibility there was 40+ meters. And we had 40 meter viz today aswell! Chumphon this morning was almost 20 meter viz & we dived there twice which means if my maths is right that we had 40 meter vis today too!
9th December 2007-
What is it with the Boat Captains & their Viagra??? Why is it whenever we go on a visa run the captains always ask you to bring them back a box of Viagra! Some of these guys get thru a few boxes a month! Thats a lot of stiffies!!Darren & Ally left us today. They are off for a few days to Dubai for a bit of Sand boarding & Camel trekking & then off to Austria for a few weeks for a bit of snow boarding & Yodelling. Have a great break guys & don't forget my Haribo's from Austria & my Mercedes SLR from Dubai!
& a final congratulations to Deano at last who is now a fully fledged PADI IDC Staff Instructor. As a PIS Instructor Deano can now be a piece of the team that teach Divemasters how to become Instructors. Its good to be a piece of PIS eh Deano?
8th December 2007-
Another round of Professional Partying last night in Kelli's honor who is now a fully fledged Girly Bar Dancer aswell as Divemaster! Her Divemaster Challenge consisted of invading countries & locating weapons of Mass Destruction. Extremely appropriate for an American we felt. The Saucy Bar Dancing was a voluntary extra!And Sonia has gone & got herself her 1st Open Water Course. Today Sonia has 4 lovely Swedish girls- much to the BB lads dismay! Can you remember what Deano taught you? No_______ before certification!
Today Navakid returned! She looks all spic & span & ready for another year of fun & games! We've gone & painted the hull blue to fall in line with the same colors as our other boats Baby Blue & Banzai! So we are back to a fleet of three again. Nice!
7th December 2007-
So I got to give a big Shout out to our man Andy & his better half the limping Heather from ACE Marine Images our underwater moviemakers for adding the vid to the group. Nice to see some old faces in there! Are you one of them???Ventured out around the corner yesterday on Banzai to see what the visibility is like around at Saithong. We dived & came back to Sairee. Well at least we are trying! Still big winds & high seas. But the sun is still out!
Noticeable increase of people arriving on Koh Tao today. Hurrah! I wouldn't want to speak too soon but could that actually mean the end of low season!??? God I hope so. Do you realize how hard its been to come up with stuff to write here everyday when nothing happens!
6th December 2007-
Cor bit windy today! Feel sorry for those of you who didn't listen to me & took the Lomprayah as opposed to the Seatran. Poor old Hampus yesterday looked positively green after his DM Challenge & then booked himself aboard the Lomprayah back to Chumpers. Bet that must have been fun for you mate! Thanks for coming & see you again in a few months!And because we have had such bad waves & a lot of rain last month rumour is going around BKK to avoid Samui & Koh Tao which is why we are so quiet. So if any of you are coming back soon & I hear thru my trusty sources that there will be a few surprises then please spread the word- KT is sunny, & the diving is around 10meter viz. Just make sure you take the Seatran over!
Anyone know why Sonia is walking funny today?
5th December 2007-
Well wouldn't you know it... mention the devil & the devil walks through the door! Hah, only kidding- welcome back Bar manager Patrick! Pat's Back! He heard Mr Melissa was in charge & caught the next plane out!But quite a job Canada has done in just a couple of nights in charge! Its the busiest the bar has been since Mathias left to go bandage his banjo!
And last night was also very busy as it was Hampus & Anu's DM Challenge. (BTW Anu- did your parents speak English when they named you? Where does the apostrophe go? Is it Anu's DM Challenge or Anus' DM Challenge!?) Theme last night was Sweden V's Finland in hockey! Congratulations guys. & I hear Anu already has a job lined up at another Diveshop here in Koh Tao. That's another Big Blue Trained DM who's now getting paid to go diving & live on the beach! You go girl! Double Anu's/ Anus' celebrations!!
4th December 2007-
Its Christmas time at Big Blue today. Well the first day of it... we got the Christmas Tree out...Unfortunatley it looks a little battle worn & naked. But its out & it holds pride of place outside the diveshop. Next step is sending Anna up to Aukotan, the Aladins cave of tacky Christmas decorations, to spunk up our rather limp looking Festive twig!
Weather, by the way, has been glorious of late. No rain, hours of sunshine, no clouds, & gorgeous sunsets. Sea has been reasonably choppy but even that has calmed down now & there aint so many barrels of vomit being unloaded at the end of each Lomprayah trip anymore. Which is nice!And its congratulations to Mr Melissa ( formerly known as Canada) for his short term promotion to Caretaker Bar Manager untill either one of the previous bar managers Patrick or Mathias returns. Rumour has it Patrick will be back here within a week so. Rumour also has it Mathias is in Hull!? What the Hull is a Swede doing in hell? Mathias answers on a Postcard please!
3rd December 2007-
Its quiet. Its very quiet here in Koh Tao at the moment. Its so quiet infact that if you listen really really carefully you can actually hear the gentle hissing of Jade letting off steam all the way over in England!Poor old Heather. ACE Marine Heather, from the US, has gone & cut her foot open & needed stitches. She was, as normal, doing such a great job getting the students to buy the video she had so excellently executed that she failed to notice the broken glass she so excellently stepped on! Sorry Heather hope you get better soon!
SO its big celebrations here in Thailand at the moment for the Kings 80th Birthday in a couple of days. Congratulations your Majesty & the people of Thailand. We salute you!
2nd December 2007-
We all had a very exciting day yesterday. Especially the divemasters who organised a thrilling game of stock check, whereby we get as many DMT's as we can to give us a hand counting kit! Dan won. He counted 63 wetsuits to Danielles 39. But then Danielle won back when she beat Dan on the BCD count. Gosh it was exciting!
So in case you have forgotten Ricky is in mid stroke in his IDC & Deano too looks a little taller these days as he is about to be made an IDC Staff Instructor. As expected by this stage of an IDC both guys have become thoroughly brainwashed and can be heard mumbling the word PADI while sleeping. Its really very sweet!Rumour has it Canada is looking to change his name. Most of us were of course truely shocked to find out Canada wasn't his real name but even more shocked to find out that James was. Now as we already have a James called Rick another James called Jim we thought we'd call Canada James, Susan! Anyone got a problem with that. Anyone mind if we start calling Canada ,Susan now?
1st December 2007-
So Hiro has left us & ventured with her boys in tow- Simon, Oskar & Goodstuff, to the west coast for a few days of sunsoaked marine happiness. They will spend 4 glorious days & nights cruising the Similan Islands gliding with Manta's, dancing with Giant Morays, feasting on banquets of food & spinning yarns over a tipple under a star soaked sky. Still bet the night boat over last night made you puke, eh guys?!
First day of work for our newest team member- Anna. She will be joining Ricky & Sonia in the DM pool. Anna has done a lot of her courses with us last year & has since DM'd at other KT shops & in Khao Lak & the Similans & recently returned from a trip to Australia cos there were too many Australians there!Speaking of Australines- where's Scobby? Last we heard him & Jolien were paddling down some river in Laos in true Rambo & Jane style. They've gone MIA somewhere near NAM. Anyone heard anything from them?
