November Diary 2009

Saturday 28th November 2009-

The Maserati of Instructors, the Bazzarati aka Barry 'The Shed' Coville is off to Khao Lak tomorrow to join Rick & his team over in the Similans & Surin Islands operating the gorgeous Pawara Liveaboard & the 2 daytrip speedboats! So everyone is off to Vibe tonight to toast the high flying 'Shed' & his daring do's a bon voyage & a see you in 6 months! Cheers Bazza & have a great season.

Here's something new I learnt today! Why do hammerhead sharks have such a famously strange-shaped head? One hypothesis is that having eyes on either side of such a wide 'hammer' allows the sharks to see better. But even this idea divides scientific opinion, as researchers argue over whether the hammerhead design makes it more or less difficult to see. The mystery may now be solved by a study showing that a hammerhead gives sharks outstanding binocular vision and an ability to see through 360 degrees. Binocular vision occurs when the fields of two eyes overlap, allowing the accurate perception of depth and distance. It is especially important for predators which need to judge the distance to their prey. Which explains why you'll see so many drunk boys ogling the ladies at Lotus bar with what appears to be eyes at the side of their heads!

Weather report is absolutely glorious. The sea is flat, there's no wind, no rain, but there is some fantastic visibility & there's mountains of fish... nope sorry oceans of fish... buckets of fish... nope schools of fish. Fish everywhere. So many fish you can shake a stick at them. Not that you'd want to. That'd kind of defeat the purpose of what you're trying to see! Anyway. Flat seas as far as the eye can see. & heaps of fish as far as the visibility will allow!

Wednesday 23rd November 2009-

Call me paranoid but I can't help feeling like I've been deserted! Seems like forever since Canada & Yvonne left for their romp around Thailand. & now Paul left for Canada, Beccy is on her way to the Uk, Jodie is in Chiang Mai, Heather & Andy left for Florida, Duncan is in England, Amanda is in Dubai, Emily went to the Similans, Barry is in Samui, G is in Samui, Pierre is in Samui! Then soon Simo is planning on heading north to see the Missus in Chiang Mai, & Dennis is off to Germany & Spaz is off to Sweden. Then there's our 'newlyweds' Deano & Sonia who are both injured & can't dive, & Erik who has an ear infection, so they're all holidaying too. That leaves me, Andy Hat, Irish Colin, Helen, Kelli & Christos. Perfect. Small round at beer o'clock!

ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas) has FAILED once again to implement a zero quote for bluefin tuna. They had a golden opportunity to save the fish they are supposed to be protecting and they failed to take advatnage of it. Instead of doing the job they are supposed to do (protect Atlantic bluefin tuna), ICCAT have acted as a roadblock to a protection. They appear to be more interested in supporting the fishing industry (which is very powerful in Spain - coincidentally ICCAT are based in Madrid). Write to them at info@iccat.int and tell them to DO THEIR JOB or GET OUT OF THE WAY!

Monsoon is over! Despite the look of fear & gloom on our exciteable Frenchmans face when he saw the weather forecast on Windguru yesterday, the 4 meter waves have dropped to just 1 meter, there is no 40 knot winds but a mere draft, as if someone left the back door open. There is no torrential downpour. Au contraire Monsieur Guillaume. Today is a beautiful Koh Tao day & the forecast for the next week is for even more sunshine, even flatter seas, even less wind & even drier days! Il fait belle jour n'est pas!

Sunday 22nd November 2009-

Dear Big Blue, My wife and I started our open water with you on 23rd october and completed on the 26th, and would like to say how impressed we were at the way in which the course was organized and conducted. This wouldn't have been easy for us unless we hadn't had the support and hard work of our dive instructor 'Deano'. He made it fun and enjoyable yet ensured safety at all times. Since we completed our course we have done other dives and they haven't been a scratch on 'Deano's' professionalism. We would like to thank big blue and especially deano for helping us seenjoy the experience so much, we will be recommending you to everyone we meet. Yours with thanks, Mike and Carley.
Cheers guys. Sure you meant Deano? ; )

So despite President Obama's mission to Asia to rid the world of muppets the Japanese still sent out 5 boats from their whaling fleet to Antarctica yesterday. As we’re all aware, Japan’s research claims are a giant joke. With well over 9,000 minke whales killed in 22 years and no useful data produced, Japan’s so-called research in the Antarctic is an international embarrassment. But don't worry cos this year we have our own ex DMT James out on the Sea Shepherd working to disrupt the murderous plans of the Japanese. Keep your eyes out for him on Animal Planets Whale Wars! Compulsory viewing & probably the best programme on the telly! Whales Good. Japanese whaling Fleet Bad!

SSImon started his second Instructor Training Course for 2 new soon to be SSI Instructors yesterday. Its going to be a couple of weeks of early mornings, late nights, plenty of diving, demonstrating, & doing it all again till it becomes second nature. It takes about 2 weeks to do. Costs half the price of the PADI Instructor Course & there's so much worldwide demand for SSI Instructors now that the qualification now comes with a job offer somewhere in the world. Not a bad thing to train up & become especially in this time of global recession. Beat the economic downturn! Become an SSI Instructor & make the beach your office!

Saturday 21st November 2009-

All hail our new Emergency First Response Instructor Trainers G & Deano. The boys had to spend an afternoon learning how to use, demonstrate & evaluate each other & other members on the course til they were blue in the face! So needless to say our boys with so much experience and training breezed the whole thing. So now we are proud to say that if you want to become an Instructor in First Aid training then come see our boys. Dr. Deano & EFRIT G!

Emily has obviously been working herself too hard. After all, that little break she had lying by the side of the pool in Bangkok at the beginning of the month must have worn her out. So it was a very good job that 2 of her Open Water students insisted they have her as their Advanced Instructor on our Liveaboard in the Similans! So the poor exhausted Emily had to traipse all the way over to Khao Lak to depart last night on the very luxurious MV Pawara for 4 days & nights of diving, eating, reading, sleeping & topless tanning on the sundeck! Poor thing. Hope she doesn't have to work too hard! Licky butch!

Weather report for this weekend ... big waves, strong winds, bugger all rain. Its even sunny! Its just a horrible journey over made all the worse by the seethrough vomit bags that get manually distributed to each passenger as they board the boat. So word of warning to all travellers - take seasickness pills & come by Seatran Discovery rather than the Catamaran. Its still a bouncy trip over but at least you won't feel like you've just come out of a spin cycle in the tumble dryer! Bon voyage!

Wednesday 18th November 2009-

"Hi Jim!!! Missed you when we came over to visit, you were on 3 weeks holidays!!! We had a great time, ended up having Emily as a instructor for our SSI Open Water course and two of us loved it so much (the other one gave up on the early mornings) we did half our Advanced Course as we had to fly out the next day so we couldn't complete it. Emily was great, even though she FAILED to find us the yellow box fish as she had promised haha. We managed to catch up with a Whale Shark at Chumpon on the 3rd dive which was awesome and then took Emily and Deano out to Hippos for a dinner and some boozing afterwards. The rooms were probably the best we had in Thailand, nice and basic but clean, tidy and functioning which is exactly what we needed and wanted. Overall we got great service, great accommodation and you have some great staff! I would recommend anyone to come see you and I never have anything nice to say about anything so take it as a really big compliment. Anyway, enough ass kissing... The reason for the email is that I loved it so much I'M COMING BACK!!!" Cheers Simon, & this time I'll be here! See you soon!

Congratulations Donna on getting that dream job. Donna is off to sun herself & dive & rock climb & just generally lead a dream lifestyle on the idyllic Kadidiri Island, part of the Togean Islands in Indonesia. If you dreamt of an Indonesia with a riot of blue, gold and green, blissful beaches, plentiful coral and a place to live the life of a lotus eater then this archipelago of beautiful coral and volcanic isles in the middle of Teluk Tomini, could be just what the Doctor ordered! The undisturbed jungle shelters a variety of wildlife. The islands’ reefs support a rich diversity of marine life, and the people of the seven or so ethnic groups sharing this place are hospitable. Although the islands are difficult to reach, and the facilities are basic, many travellers fall in love with the Togeans and their lifestyle – and often end up staying a lot longer than they anticipated. Donna, it sounds amazing. Good luck have a great time & hippy daving!

Quick weather report! We were forecast heaps of rain & some strong winds today but its been a little slow coming. We have had a couple of solid downpours which lasted less than an hour each but its certainly not windy or wavey so its still all good for the diving. Don't mind the downpours either. Its actually quite refreshing!

Tuesday 17th November 2009-

Due to an unfortunate event with one of our charters on our Liveaboard MV Pawara departing from Khao Lak, the November 20th trip is open for bookings and is undersold. So we are going to offer a last-minute price of 20% off. The Pawara is adequately booked throughout the season, so we expect this to be a rare opportunity for customers to enjoy the Pawara at a discounted rate.
Master Cabin - Normally 33800, now 27040,
Deluxe Cabin - Normally 31800, now 25440
Standard Cabin - Normally 29800, now 23840
Please call 077 456 772 for bookings, or check our website www.bigbluediving.com for up to date availability. Be quick there's only 3 days left!

A super-fast, space-age powerboat which scythes through waves and smashed the round-the-world record is set to be unleashed on Japanese whalers next month, activists said on Friday. The tri-hulled, kevlar-and-carbon vessel, which can manage speeds up to 50 knots (57 miles/93 kilometres per hour), will chase the controversial boats during their annual hunt in seas south of Australia. The futuristic "Ady Gil", formerly known as "Earthrace", jetted round the world in just under 61 days last year, two weeks faster than the previous record circumnavigation. Campaign spokesman Paul Watson said the boat will pursue the Japanese harpoon boats and stop them spearing whales killed in their hundreds in waters off Antarctica each year. The Ady Gil will be our interceptor. It will be able to latch on to a harpoon boat and prevent it killing any whales. It should be able to run rings around them." Watson said the boat, bankrolled to the tune of one million dollars by Hollywood businessman Ady Gil, will accompany the "Steve Irwin" ship during the three-month campaign from early December. Excellent. Sounds like compulsory viewing of the next season of Whale Wars!

4 very big Bull Sharks at Chumphon again this morning. All our divers got very excited! Well you would do I guess. After all you are less than 20 meters away from 4 of the biggest Bull sharks you will ever see in your life! And you survive to tell the story. I'd be pretty excited too. Just after I'd wet myself. Chumphon Pinnacle! Diving it every morning still!

Monday 16th November 2009-

What a pleasant surprise! Rick is back! He's managed to tear himself away from his office in Khao Lak to come over here & take care of a little business but he's only here for about 24 hours! Sounds like the little sleepy village just north of Phuket, known as has completely exploded this year. Its become so famous people only refer to it as KL now! The Liveaboard is proving a massive success with lots of bookings coming in regularly & the trips are filling up very fast. The speedboat too is becoming extremely popular for our daytrippers to the Similans, so busy that we are getting another one to reduce the amount of divers per boat! Busy busy busy! I don't think Rick has come over to do some business at all! I reckon he's escaped!

Newly certified DM Curt is off to France today to teach skiing. Not bad! DMing in the Summer in Thailand, skiing in the winter in the French Alps. Obviously its not all bikinis & steam showers. There's a lot of suntanned bodies & apres skiing to take care of too. Then there's all that nature. The marine life, & all those European birds! Poor Curt. Remember when it all gets on top of you, just lie back & think of England! Congratulations Curt & see you next summer!

Its been amazing how many bookings we have been getting in the last few days for accommodation around Christmas & New Year. Its now becoming so full up that I know for sure that there will be people sleeping on the beaches, in the bar, or in the classrooms. If you want to avoid being one of those sleeping under a starry starry night, a bar stool or a classroom chair then I suggest you book your accommodation before you get here & if I was you I'd do it pretty damn quick! Koh Tao is going to be a very lively place this Festivus!

Sunday 15th November 2009-

Absolutely nothing to do with diving, Koh Tao or the marine world but...New Zealand have reached the World Cup finals for the second time in their history with victory over Bahrain in their qualifying play-off second leg. The All Whites have booked their place in next year's football extravaganza in South Africa & the country is pumped with pride & emotion! & a little bit of fear! Roll on South Africa 2010! New Zealand win the World Cup!

Congratulations to Rick & his team at Big Blue Khao Lak who saw off their first full Liveaboard boat of the season. 20 very lucky divers all off for a jolly around the Similan & Surin Islands in pursuit of Manta Rays, Whalesharks, turtles, ghostpipefish, seahorses, & maybe the odd guitar shark or two! Such a fantastic holiday we are all sitting here in Koh Tao being extremely jealous & envious of Rick, Fanette, Panos, Kayleigh & next week when Barry gets back from India he will be going to work over there too. Lacky Bustards!

The weather here in Koh Tao is still gorgeous! No monsoon conditions for ages, (though I immediately regret saying that!). Still no wind, no rain. The viz is still quite good & its still pretty busy here. We are having to put our monsoon movie collection & the board games back in the box & guess we'll get them all back out again when the weather does kick in! But for now its diving diving, diving. And a couple of beers to wash it all down with! Why don't you come & join us!

Saturday 14th November 2009-

So slowly & surely & very very steadily my wandering troops are returning. Last week Sonia & Emily came back though their ailments have prevented them from going diving so they've been a fat lot of good! But now both Helen is back from a month in the UK & Kelli has come all the way back from Taiwan. Both look pasty white, quite ill, & a little podgy! Must have a good holiday ladies & thanks for bringing me back my crumpets Helen even if they were beaten & battered bits of bread by the time you delivered them to me. Very thoughtful! Welcome home!

Our friend Claire at Responsible Travel has asked us if we can help ARKive (www.arkive.org) who are calling on divers and underwater photographers for their help in gathering images of all the world’s threatened marine animals and plants. ARKive promotes conservation and builds environmental awareness through wildlife photographs, films and sound clips. The aim is to produce a global, centralized record of all 16,928 species on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. This will provide an invaluable conservation tool - a quick, easy and free online source of information for anyone keen to learn more or to help with conservation efforts. Threatened marine species make up just ten percent of the current material held in ARKive, reflecting just how hard these films and photographs are to collect, so the divers underwater images are urgently needed to help fill the watery gaps in the rapidly growing library. (There you go Claire, how was that?)

DMT challenge last night for Christy & Curt who participated in a Battle of the Sexs. Christy won by beating Curt in the best chat up line category. With the "Im not wearing any panties. Can I get into your line!" Always a winner a line like that coming from a pretty girl! So sorry Curt. You didn't stand a chance! Congratulations guys on successfully completing your Divemaster Training, we hope you dived heaps, you loved every minute of it & then you learnt alot. Now go out there Divemaster!

Thursday 12th November 2009-

Well the weather outside is completely unbelievable. Especially for this time of the year when it is supposed to be howling winds & buckets of rain! Right now the sea is mirror still. You can see the reflection of the clouds on the surface of the water. Visibility especially here on Sairee Reef is 10-15 meters, & there's fish everywhere. & word is spreading that the weather is good here & the island is getting busier & busier everyday. Must suck for all those who thought they were leaving us for the monsoon. The weather hasn't been this good since the summer!

A very big congratulations to the team at ACE Marine Videos, the same team that produce our daily videos. We are delighted to announce that on Saturday night, 7 November 2009, the documentary, "Lost and Found", about the submarine USS Lagarto was awarded three Emmys. It picked up up 5 nominations, including one for outstanding cinematography, and went home with 3 awards. "We are proud to have been involved in such a spectacular and significant film and could not even have imagined that our underwater footage could have helped to bring about such acclaim." says a very proud Chris Clarke the owner of ACE Marine Images. Well done guys. First the Emmy's & next it will be the Oscars!

"Its an Amazing boat!" "I've only done 4 Liveaboards but this was by far the best trip I've ever had." " The food was amazing. Both the Thai & the western. It was as good as any restaurant & there was so much of it." "The dive deck is huge! Easily enough space for 25 divers & there was only 14 on this trip so it really felt like spacious & so comfortable to kit up." "Rick the trip leader, as opposed to Rick the Manager, has been working on Liveaboards a long time & knows exactly what sites to dive & when to avoid the crowds so we had most of our dives to ourselves."- Just a few of the comments Christos had to say when he got back this morning from his trip on our Liveaboard boat the MV Pawara. 4 days & 4 nights of gratuitous Dive porn! Send your enquiries to info@bigbluediving.com for the trip of your life!

Wednesday 11th November 2009-

So with the opening of the Surat Thani airport on the mainland the Seatran Ferry company with boats to Koh Tao daily is moving from their present departure point at Chumphon to a departure point nearer to the airport so that they can now take customers from Chumphon & from Surat Thani, which is great news! So now the Seatran Discovery will be departing from pretty much half way between Surat & Chumphon and at the closest point to Koh Tao. So ferry times to Koh Tao will only take an hour now which cuts down the journey time in half! Great for all those who get a little queezy on the journey over!

Time to mention & help out 2 old Big Blue staff who went their own way & created for themselves their perfect dream by opening up their own diveshop in Samoa. Vanessa Machadinho-Cooper & her husband Ian Cooper both old Big Blue Staff recently had their dreams shattered when the tsunami came through Samoa last month. Their whole dive shop has been completely destroyed. So if anyone remembers Vanessa or Ian or feels like giving to help 2 people going through some hard times out then please log into http://www.facebook.com/l/15995;www.liquidmotion.ws & give a small donation. Every little helps! Good luck guys!

A pregnant shark at a New Zealand aquarium was bitten by another shark, unexpectedly releasing four baby sharks. Stunned visitors saw the injured shark and alerted staff that they had also seen things float from the gaping wound. The babies were removed from the tank to prevent stingrays and other sharks from eating them. When staff also moved the mother they found a further four sharks inside her. The mother's wound was stitched by a vet at Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World in Auckland. All eight baby sharks survived.It is common for sharks to take chunks out of each other, even in the wild, but noone has ever heard of anything like this. The unusual delivery had probably saved the baby sharks' lives. If the mother had given birth naturally, most likely at night, the babies would have been eaten by adult sharks and stingrays before staff could rescue them!

Tuesday 10th November 2009-

Well last weeks atrocious weather has obviously put off the majority of people coming to Koh Tao. The Ferries & catamarans are now so empty that most companies are actually only running one boat a day from Chumphon. So if any of you are planning on coming over in the next few days you might just want to check with your ferry companies to see when they are running their boats. Or even better tell everyone how very quiet & completely beautiful Koh Tao is & bring them over & ask them to tell their mates so we can start filling the ferries back up again & running back on normal schedules!

Khao Sok National Park is slowly becoming a popular diving destination for those who want an escape form the hustle and bustle of popular destinations and would like to experience something completely unique with fresh water diving with the options of caves and caverns.
Additionally, Khao Sok is the opposite of Koh Tao with respect to weather. When it’s terrible on Koh Tao it’s perfect in Khao Sok. This means we have more options now for training and completing courses with the added benefit of giving our customers more of what they want; diving options! The recent launch of Big Blue Khao Sok and future developments for a permanent facility, blending station boat and accommodation shows this recent push and interest in the region. Although Big Blue is not the only dive operator traveling to the region, we’re pretty sure we’ll be the only one setting up shop!

Since DM Andy Hat, as the Thais affectionately call him, has re structured our retail section in our dive shop he has sold heaps of equipment! I don't know how he does it! But if you buy a mask you need a snorkel & if you are going to spend a couple thousand Baht on a mask & snorkel you should seriously consider a defogger so your mask doesn't steam up underwater & if you've gone to that much trouble you should really purchase a decent pair of fins & booties so you can go snorkelling when you want & hey if we've got the right colour Big Blue mask strap then buy that too! Aah so thats how he does it! Just talk a lot of bollocks!

Monday 9th November 2009-

Unbeleivable! Its like a complete about face. After the last few days you wouldn't beleive what the weather is like now! Its absolutely gorgeous! Its completely flat seas. There's over 10 meter clarity on Sairee Reef & at Chumphon Pinnacle this morning the viz has also increased which means we can see the sharks again! & the best part about diving at Chumpon Pinnacle right now is that it is completley deserted! Apart form us & the sharks there aint no one there! Just another reason to choose to dive with Big Blue- definitely the best dive shop on Koh Tao!

Nice to see after I'd put the Instructor SOS call out that they've started to come back in their dribs & drabs! Well Sonia & Emily did at least which is a start though ladies it would be more helpful if you could do some diving. Unfortunately both ladies are out of action having injured themselves sunbathing by the swimming pool in Bangkok. Its a hard life. So today we've had Jodie doing her first German Course & brilliantly I might add, & it looks like Beccy is going to get herself a course today as well. Good. Well deserved! Nice to see our reserve staff coming off the bench & playing a bit for the first team!

Learning something new about our staff every day! Heather Keeler, longtime movie maker, holder of the longest running DM course, & now fresh faced PADI Instructor & soon to be SSI Instructor, is also a highly qualified Swimming Instructor & has taught adults to swim in just 1 day before, & is fluent in Sign language which means she can teach her Open Water courses in Sign Language. How cool is that! I once took a couple of deaf people diving a few years ago. Absolute nightmare. Typical females! They just wouldn't shut up Even underwater! Find out more about our Open Water courses for the deaf by writing to info@bigbluediving.com

Sunday 8th November 2009-

A Russian armoured-car builder is boasting that its latest vehicle has seats covered with “whale-penis leather”. The $1 million Dartz Prombron Monaco Red Diamond Edition armoured car has been developed by the same company that built armoured vehicles for Tsar Nicholas, Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky.The company says the whale-penis leather is the same as that used by Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis on the yacht Christina O which was rumoured to have had some of the barstools on the yacht, the world’s most expensive at the time, covered in the controversial leather. The leather is not the only tacky accessory on the world’s most expensive SUV. The bulletproof windows are gold-plated, the exhaust is made of tungsten, the gauges are encrusted with diamonds and rubies and the exterior has a Kevlar coating, which makes it “rocket grenade-proof”. And for those wondering just how may whales may need to be harvested to outfit this ridiculous contraption, the answer is not many. The penis of the Blue Whale, for example, can grow up to 2.4 metres! Lucky bugger!

Where the hell is everyone? Not guests but staff! There hardly seems to be anyone around. Well I guess Bazza is excused after all he's in India! Helen has gone to the Uk so she won't be here in time to start todays course! Kelli is in Taiwan on a Visa run. Canada & Yvonne are galavanting around Chiang Mai. Sonia & Emily are sunbathing topless by some hotel pool, G is off staffing another IDC, Simo is doing an SSI Instructor crossover & Deano is off injured after another motorbike stunt went wrong! So Paul, Heather. I guess its just the 3 of us! & the 17 freelance Instructors we are using right now!

Well the wind has died down completely today but unfortunately has been replaced with buckets of rain! Still the rain sinks the sediments in the water that have been stirred up by the wind & the huge waves we've had recently, which means the visibility should open up again. Though its pretty dark with all this rain & cloud cover so we might need torches to see if the viz is better! Oh the joys of diving in a Thai monsoon!

Friday 6th November 2009-

Time to welcome a couple new staff or 3! After all DM Andy has left us for what could be quite a while to go back to Britains sunny climes, Amanda is over in Khao Lak till Christmas probably & DM Paul is now pretty much a full time Instructor! So to fill the gaps we are very happy to welcome DJ Andy Luckman to the team & Irish man DM Colin Farrell pinched from another Koh Tao Diveshop rather than a famous Hollywood studio! Nice to have you both on board Andy & Colin & congratulations Paul on the Instructortoriall promotion!

As of Oct. 25th, low-cost airline Nokair will start has been flying between Bangkok and Suratthani. For the first three months, the fare is only Bt555 one-way or Bt1,000 roundtrip. The new air route, aimed at increasing tourist traffic to Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao, will have two roundtrip flights daily. The flight from Bangkok will come from the Don Muang airport. The new air route will provide tourists bound for Samui or Koh Phangan a chance to make a side trip to some of the province’s many other attractions & instead of a long ten-hour bus ride from Bangkok, budget travelers can get to Samui or Phangan in just a few hours.

Its all getting very exciting as we await the grand opening of the Big Blue bar which has been under renovation for the last few weeks. Spaz is off on a European vacation shortly which leaves an opening for a new bar staff & I believe I know just the person to run the place! It might surprise many of you but I think you will all agree the new person who is going to run that bar is going to be just what the doctor ordered! & their name is... oops sorry I better wait till Ari tells you all. You'll never guess but you all know them! Watch this space!

Thursday 5th November 2009-

Its just a few days before the maiden voyage of our brand new Liveaboard the MV Prawara, which heads out on the 7th November for 4 days & 4 nights, 14 dives, 17 meals & heaps of memories! Rick & his team at Big Blue Diving in Khao Lak are organising a launch party tomorrow night on board the newest & best managed boat in the Similans. All the VIP's from the world of Scuba diving in Thailand will be there. All the Big Blue Khao Lak staff will be there & there will be a press & people there! In fact you'll find it pretty hard to find anyone who won't be there! After all its a Big Blue party & we all know how Rick likes to party!

With the Alpha UWCP, talk with someone 15,000 miles away while diving a tropical reef or in your pool! This complete and sophisticated communication diving system can do it. This new underwater communication unit is integrated with a speaker and microphone and comes installed on the Neptune Space full face mask. This unit is wired with a 40 meter cable and can be modified to most any request. A quick release waterproof rubber connection allows the diver to separate from the cable at any given moment. The cable ends with a quick water resistance bayonet connection, plugged into an impact and water resistant compact box. This compact box is placed in a special custom made buoy with a unique top pocket to provide a firm attachment to the box. The water resistant surface box contains an electronic interface which can be connected by Bluetooth to a cellular phone. The device works with a 9v alkaline battery, & at 1790USD is a complete waste of money!

Weather forecast for the next few days is muuuch better than it has been for the past few days. Two days ago it was 3 meter waves & everyone was seasick, yesterday it was 2 meter waves & only half the people were seasick & today we are predicted for only 1 meter waves so our Chucker Charlies should be down to a minimum & then by Sunday the forecast tells us the wave height is only going to be a half meter maximum! Just in time for the ferries & catamarans to stock up on there see through vomit bags.

Latest News October 2009

Saturday October 31st 2009-

"Dear Jim, I hope that you are the right person to write to. I recently returned from a week's diving trip to Koh Tao, during which we stayed at Big Blue and we took the Open Water and Advanced Open Water courses. We are all teachers at an international school in Bangkok and I can safely say it was one of the best holidays that we have ever had! I am mainly writing to compliment you on your excellent staff - Simon and Jodie who looked after us so well during the trip and taught us with ease, confidence and pragmatism. They really went way beyond the call of duty and we all became good divers in a short period of time. It is definitely due to their confidence and ability that we all felt sure we wanted to embark on the Advanced course the day after we finished OW. During my life I have been in receipt of many, many services and courses and workshops and teaching and whatever, and I can safely say that this is one of the best experiences I have had in a long time and certiainly in Thailand. I will recommend them highly to anyone who wants to learn to dive! Thanks again. Craig L."
You are welcome Craig- glad you had such a great time! Same again next holidays?

Officially its Open Season in Khao Lak tomorrow which means Rick & his team are going to be having their hair & make up put on tonight in readiness for the next 6 months ahead. Early mornings, late nights, busy days, no holiday, world class diving, highclass liveaboard, 2 posh speedboats, & very important Japanese customers! If anyone can handle it, Rick can! Happy Open Season Khao Lak!

Well the Whaleshark is still at Chumphon Pinnacle today. Only one of them which is only half as exciting as it was yesterday but way more exciting than 2 days ago. Having said that 2 days ago Chumphon was also pretty exciting because of all the Bullsharks swimming around. Though not as exciting as this morning because this morning we had a whaleshark & lots of Bullsharks swimming around, which makes this morning officially better than 2 days ago which was only half as good as yesterday!

Friday October 30th 2009-

Well despite the heavy downpour a few days ago now the weather has really brightened up & now its glorious sunny days, bright red sunsets, calm flat seas & crystal clear waters! In fact the conditions are so good right now even the whalesharks have come out to enjoy themselves! Thats right. I said Whalesharks! 2 of them a 3 meter baby & a 6 meter sibling. What a wonderful way to start the day today 2 dives 2 whalesharks Too right!

Took a while but it seems at last that the people in the position to do something about the plight of the Blue Fin Tuna are finally paying attention to the problem. The body charged with regulating catches of the southern bluefin, a closely related species, has just approved 20% quota cuts across the board. Now of course this is nowhere near good enough but it is a start & movies like 'The End of the Line' help to spread the message. 'Save the world! Save the Cheerleader!' (Oops sorry wrong movie!) Save the Tuna!

Canada is back from Khao Lak! He had to go over there to install the brand new shiney Nitrox Panel we have on our West Coast Liveaboard, the Pawara - she really is a beauty. A 35 meter long gleaming erection! This Liveaboard is so hot it makes other previosly sexy liveaboards burst pipes in inferiority! First trip leaves on the 2nd November & there's only a few spaces left. So if you want to ride the Sexiest beast in the Similans you better give me a call ;)

Tuesday October 27th 2009-

And the the heavens opened & the gods did unleash an ocean of rain upon a small little island in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand, that we all know so well & love. Its definitely a good thing to have the wildlife & local fauna watered as heavily as they are getting right now. & for sure its a good thing for the Koh Tao water table, & the Koh Tao Reservoir, but I am not looking forward to the time the Poonama Canal bursts its banks again. Got to love monsoon rains.

The prospects of saving the world's coral reefs now appear so bleak that plans are being made to freeze samples to preserve them for the future. Researchers believe that most coral reefs will not survive even if tough regulations on greenhouse gases are put in place. So Scientists proposed storing samples of coral species in liquid nitrogen. That will allow them to be reintroduced to the seas in the future if global temperatures can be stabilised. And that could take a while so if you haven't seen a real live reef before then don't you think its about time you did, before the only chance you get will be looking through a test tube!

Well the sharks are bigger, more inquisitve & more numerous than they have been in years! They are everywhere as well so this mornings double dive at Chumphon Pinnacle went down a treat with a full boat of very happy & excited individuals all looking for a morning of fun & adventure with sharks & by the sounds of it, it was mission accomplished! A sharktastic morning!

Sunday October 25th 2009-

Its almost Christmas so we've started to fix & do up our boats. In fact any day now we'll have old faithful Big Blue boat back after its last month in the boat boutique over on the mainland. When she comes back with Captain Dum & Boatboy Lek proudly steering her home she will be put to work pretty much straight away as the next boat in our fleet Navakid will be taken off for a short back & sides & then a month later it'll be a brush up & a bikini wax for Banzai. All in time for Christmas! & if you are surprised to see just how much we do for our boats at Christmas, you should see what we do for our boats at Valentines!

A man was stopped by a game warden in Northern Michigan recently with two buckets of fish leaving a lake well known for its fishing. The game warden asked the man, "Do you have a license to catch those fish?"
The man replied to the game warden, "No, sir. These are my pet fish."
"Pet fish?" the warden replied.
"Yes, sir. Every night I take these here fish down to the lake and let them swim around for a while. I whistle and they jump back into their buckets, and I take em home."
"That's a bunch of hooey! Fish can't do that!"
The man looked at the game warden for a moment, and then said, "Here, I'll show you. It really works."
"O.K. I've GOT to see this!" The game warden was curious now.
The man poured the fish in to the lake and stood and waited. After several minutes, the game warden turned to the man and said: "Well?"
"Well, What?" the man responded.
"When are you going to call them back?" the game warden prompted.
"Call who back?" the man asked.
"The FISH."
"What fish?" the man asked.

There looks like there might be a change in wind direction tomorrow followed by what looks like a very heavy overnight downpour. If you are planning on coming over in the next few days might not be a bad idea to pack stuff you don't want getting wet, getting wet! But don't let a few raindrops put you off the diving. Its still 20 meters + & there's sharks all over Chumphon Pinnacle.

Friday October 23rd 2009-

Canada & his team of techies are off to Khao Sok again tonight for another 3 or 4 days of underwater exploration in search of Red Rackhams Treasure & the Temple of Doom! The team have been preparing themselves all week with some practise runs at our local sites getting their kit prepped, trying out the rebreathers & getting used to diving with the twin tanks on again. Pretty exhausting work if you aren't used to it so Canada is delighted to have a couple of hands Christos & Ash along to help out with some of those more demanding favours that quality customer service demands! No sense going out half cocked! You got to give your all if you work at Big Blue Tech!

Not that I've seen it yet but apparently the new in thing to be watching if you haven't already seen Shark Water, The End of the Line or The Cove, (3 of this years most memorable documentaries on the state of our oceans), is Whale Wars. A documentary charting the legendary Sea Shephard as it tries to stop a Japanese Whaling Fleet in the Antarctic Sea. Its real arousing viewing according to Sonia & Paul... if fat hairy Canadian tattooed whale warriors is what arouses you! Yvonne can't wait to watch it!

Its a big thankyou, good bye & see you again soon for Panos & Kayleigh today as they head off the Rock for a little town we all know so well, situated over on the West Cost of Thailand called Khao Lak. They are both hyper excited at the prospect of having to work for Rick & his team operating Big Blue Khao Lak with one very nice Pawara Liveabaord & 2 very nice 15 meter speedboats departing daily to the Similan & Surin Islands. What a Be-ach! Leaving one sun soaked tropical island for another. I can think of worse ways to while away the years! Good luck guys & cheers for all your help.

Thursday, October 22nd 2009-

Who stole the monsoon? This is the time of the year when usually beach bars and restaurants shut down for a month or two, instructors go on holiday, the winds blow harder than ever and the heavens open at least once a day, leaving all of us soaked. The bungalows are damp, our clothes never dry and our motorbikes won’t start. Well, not this year: the weather is amazing, the beach is still rocking in the evening, the sea is crystal clear (have we mentioned the sharks recently?) and the only way we get soaked is by diving, playing volleyball on the beach or attending a DM challenge. Paul’s bike wouldn’t start last night but that’s his problem!

Tomorrow, the Save Koh Tao group will be transplanting out 50 of the largest giant clams from the nursery area in Ao Leuk. Giant clams are one of the most ecologically important organisms in a coral reef, known as a keystone species. Like hard corals, Giant clams produce a shell that adds to the reef structure. In addition to this, they clean nutrients from the water that could otherwise smother and kill corals. A single Giant clam can filter 100s of liters of water in a single day, and the presence of Giant clams on a dive site is the usually the sign of high coral abundance and biodiversity. In the evening there will be a buffet dinner at Dirty Nellie’s starting at 7:30pm to celebrate the end of another productive year of community run marine conservation. The dinner is only 100 baht per person, and 100% of that goes to Save Koh Tao Marine Branch.

Kayleigh is on her way to becoming a Rescue Diver under the guidance of Instructor Paul, just before she and Panos head off to the other side for a season in the Similans tomorrow. It’s been great having them both back here and we will miss them for sure. See you next year!Wednesday,


21st October 2009-

Sharks, sharks and more sharks! By now, everybody knows that we’re diving with our long lost bullshark friends again at Chumphon Pinnacle every single day. So today, we thought we’d try out Southwest in the morning for a change. Guess what? There was a whaleshark there. It’s always a special moment for people when they see their first whaleshark and if you missed it, you still have a few minutes to sign up for the afternoon dives because we are going back there! Actually, it’s always a special moment diving with the biggest fish in the ocean, even if you’ve already seen more than 30. Ask some of our divemasters. Video tonight at 6!

Last night, we had a multilingual DM challenge for Daisuke and Erika, hosted by G and Mayuko. The challengees were both thoroughly congratulated with a lot of iced water, talc powder, shots, beers, buckets and a nice Vaseline shampoo. What more could you ask for? Daisuke performed a “Japanese Dance” with all the other DMTs and then tried to stop time by blinking. Yatta!!! Didn’t work so well, maybe he should try the dancing the “Time Warp” next time. It was also Christie’s birthday and she got to join in the “fun”. Happy 19th birthday Christie! Yuta also “volunteered” to help Daisuke and was the victim of what some might call collateral damage…



Staff gossip: Barry’s gone to India for a well-deserved holiday and Helen has gone home to do nothing for a few weeks, that lazy girl! And G got back yesterday and is already at work but who really cares?






Monday 19th October 2009-

Our divers were treated to 2 dives at Chumphon Pinnacle this morning and it was a sharktastic! 2 metre bull sharks, grey reef sharks, masses of barracuda and crystal clear water and it was just us on the second dive. Lovely!

A brightly-coloured fish which bounces along the seabed has been hailed as a new species by scientists - who have dubbed it "psychedelica". Research published in the US scientific journal Copeia says the fish was spotted by scuba divers off the island of Ambon in eastern Indonesia.

The new psychedelica frogfish is completely covered in swirling concentric stripes - white and blue on a peach background - radiating out from its aqua-coloured eyes. It has a broad flat face, thick fleshy cheeks and chin, and eyes that look forward like a human's.

The divers described it moving away from them in a series of short hops, its pelvic fins pushing it off the sea bed with each bounce. "The overall impression" says the Copeia research paper, was of "an inflated rubber ball bouncing along the bottom".

New instructors are getting their water wings out and notebooks at the ready, PADI instructor Jodie is teaching Open Water along side Simon today. SSI instructor Becky is off tomorrow resort diving with some beginners. Apples for the teachers or bottles of beer, mmm you decide!

Thursday 15th October 2009-

More congratulations are in order to some brand new PADI Instructors today. Koh Tao’s dog whispering DM Andy, along with Mickey and Jodie passed the last of their instructor exams and presentations today. By the time the morning boats came back this morning they were already sinking some well deserved beers and glasses of wine. After celebrating some more in the bar here, they have their I.E Party tonight down at Dirty Nelly’s, well done to all the candidates who passed today. See you in the pub later!!!

Something wasn’t quite right this morning when I drove in to work! The smell was normal, the sleepy eyed DMTs was normal. Hmmm, could it have been that there was a big red truck with only 3 of its wheels left on the bridge over our Poo-nama Canal? The 4th wheel was kind of hanging over the side of our walkway! Woops, some silly-billy misjudged the turn resulting in one of its wheels slipping off. Anyone know any driving schools on Koh Tao?…. How 'bout Master Drivers ?! ;-)

Sharks, sharks and more sharks, we're surrounded by our pelagic friends! Bull sharks at Chumpon in the mornings, and this afternoon a whale shark at White Rock! Always good to see the longtails coming back to shore with a load of excited people after seeing their first whale shark, the excitement's contagious! Chumpon and White Rock seems like a good combination of dive sites for some big spotted fish spotting!

Wednesday 14th October 2009-

Shark Safari! At last, sharks were seen all over Chumphon Pinnacle this morning! The other day DM Duncan reckons he saw 2 Bull sharks. Today Commander Bond reckons she saw at least 5! Now all we need to do is make sure the fisherman leave them alive catwalking the pinnacles for all our divers to see. They are worth way more alive than dead & just the excitement from this mornings fun divers has generated a surge in divers for tomorrow mornings little outing! Shark- Safari... So goody!

Meanwhile in the deeply technical world of Deep Tech diving, Canada & his tattooed team of black hooded twin tank techie boys have been taking Navakid off for a jolly with a fish finder & a depth reader to see if they can find somewhere deep & dark to go diving. Ideally chancing upon a wreck would be a fine thing, but we'll suffice with a ridge or a wall or a series of pinnacles. As long as its deep & its dark & its technical & it involves carrying around lots of tanks & a gimps hat it doesn't really matter!

Amazing weather today & the diving is fantastic. It's got to be 30+ meters at most sites & here on Sairee Reef you can practically see the mainland through the water it is so clear. There isn't even a waft of wind & its really quiet on the dive front as well with very few people arriving on the island at the moment. Mark this month down in your diary for next year if you want a good dive holiday!

Tuesday 13th October 2009-

Internship programmes. That seemed to get a lot of people talking, well emailing at least. I posted it up on our website only yesterday & already have 1 booking & another 2 additional enquiries into the Open Water to Instructor Programme, including the training to become a professional videographer, with 7 months accommodation, & a guaranteed job placement. I better ring around some old work colleagues & start calling in a few favours! Only joking! Study to become a Dive professional. Live life at the beach!

Going to give a big shout out to DM Andy, CGD Mickey, & Vidiot Jodie who all start their PADI Instructor exams today. Over the next 2 & half days they will be made to lecture on the importance of mask clearing, demonstrate phenomenal Buoyancy control, prevent possible accidents from occurring & multiple guess their way through 8 exams. Then its trousers down & beers till dawn. Pretty much the same as every other night! Good luck guys!

In the high end world of Fashion a new bikini has been unleashed upon the unsuspecting public. Its being labelled as the womens equivalent to Borat's lime green Mankini. In fact it is very hard to imagine anything worse than Borats Mankini but lo & behold it has been achieved. Ladies & gentlemen it is with complete horror I present to you the Nimbus 2000 Bikini.

Monday 12th October 2009-

For those of you who are interested in coming out here to do your Divemaster or Instructor Courses it is definitely worth checking out a new page on our website called Internship programmes where we are offering all sorts of great course offers to become a Diving professional. We have some great packages from Open Water all the way thru to Instructor including your own brand new set of kit & 6 months accommodation a guaranteed job at the end of your training. Not a bad offer in this world of high unemployment. Not bad at all. A guaranteed job offer as either a Divemaster, an Instructor or a Professional Underwater Videographer in one of many exotic locations around the world. Tempted? Then drop us a line at info@bigbluediving.com & change your life!

Seems to be some rather exciting news coming from Chumphon Pinnacle over the last few days. Bull Sharks! They're back. Well we hope so at least. They've been spotted over the last couple of days so it looks fairly promising. Chumphon Pinnacle used to be wall to wall with sharks so it will be very exciting if they are back. Fingers crossed & watch this space.

Ex DM/ brand new SSI Instructor Big Paul has his first course today! Paul will be taking out a very sweet but totally unsuspecting Israeli couple for their first experience of breathing underwater. Paul is obviously very excited & has been jumping up & down in eager anticipation which could account for the recent earth tremors the world has been experiencing in this region over the last few days. Good luck Paul! Mazel Toff Israeli couple!

Friday 9th October 2009-

Congratulations to our very own Dive master Paul and videographer Becky who passed their SSI Instructor Exam this afternoon, these guys have been studying for weeks and impressing the examiners with high scores on the their exams and presentations.Well done both of you-HIGH 5.

Even bigger congratulations and well done to SSImon Garrity Big Blue’s first SSI Instructor Trainer, as this was his first instructor training course. The evil little pair didn’t even tell him they’d past until they’d drunk at least 2 or 3 beers while sitting giggling waiting with there phones! Simon is bursting with pride right now and will be bursting with beer and shots later on after celebrating tonight with his two new SSI instructors. Venues for tonights festivities are starting at Vibe and then heading down to the Airport Party!! Well Done to all of you.

Technical Divemaster Andy Holdaway is off back to the UK again probably to beat people up or blow them up or maybe just walk around wearing two tanks and shouting at people for pointing at his handlebar moustache. Canada’s marine bum chum came to do his technical divemaster trainee internship a few months ago and is now a certified technical diver and dive master. see you in a few months...

Thursday 8th October 2009-

The place is like a ghost town at the moment. What with the mass exodus over to Khao Lak, we are saying “see you in 6 months” to Rick, Ricky, Anna, and Keith; Simon is teaching the SSI ITC with DM Paul and Becky; Deano is staffing the PADI IDC with DM Andy, Mickey and Jodie and then there is G who is off having a wine and cheese party up the Eiffel Tower!

Good news though, Yvonne is finally back teaching again after getting the all clear from the Doctors, and about time too - a bored Yvonne is a very annoying Yvonne. I’m sure Canada can vouch for that!

Like in many places of the world, marine litter on the Kenyan coast has become part of the landscape. Last summer as part of their Ocean Project, Camp International, volunteer organisations running trips to Africa and Asia, coordinated 7 beach clean-ups involving gap year students from the UK to clean-up the Kenyan coastline. Over 200 bags of litter were collected which included over 7000 flip-flops. The Camp Kenya School Team Expedition then worked with local artists to create a life size whale shark made entirely from the recycled flip-flops picked up from the beach.

The flip-flop Whale Shark project not only raises awareness about the importance of gaining protection for Whale Sharks but also reminds us that humans have created the marine litter problem and that it is our responsibility to take action to tackle it.

Monday 5th October 2009-

So many career recreational divers & technical divers & now welcome back to Big Jan from the Nethernetherlands who trained with us over a year ago & is now working as a commercial diver in the exotic part of Australia- that's New Zealand isn't it? So welcome back Massive Jan. & now I'm hearing rumours that James Brooks another ex DM in training of ours has got himself a job on board the legendary & controversial Sea Shephard ship on their next mission to Antarctica. That's wicked news James. Congratulations!

In an attempt to improve the view, Spaz has set up our beach volleyball court right outside the Big Blue bar here on Sairee beach! Its about time too! After all what view could be better while sitting at the bar with a free beer at the end of a busy day than watching a bevvy of bouncing beauties banging their balls down before a setting sun? Did someone say free beer?

Some confusion today as to whether the Full Moon Party in Koh Phangan was last night or tonight! Its a very important religious holiday for Buddhists today so there is no alcohol served till noon today so obviously that could cause a wee bit of a problem for the FMP organisers! Any how judging by the amount of revellers who haven't shown up today I think its a safe enough bet to assume the party is now on tonight! Best Fishes & a Happy Full Moon to you all.

Friday 2nd October 2009-

Boss man Jim, who after pulling a sickie yesterday claiming to be ‘jet lagged’ is now back in the driving seat once again. While he was away it was kept warm by Sonia when she wasn’t in the hospital, Kayleigh when she wasn’t emailing, running around organising rooms and our PR guys on the ferries, and Bazza when he wasn’t teaching or mixing cement. Welcome back boss, and thank you for the litre of Oktober Fest beer in its huge 1litre Masse-Krug (glass).

Tonight we will be celebrating the birthday our Geordie DMT Ash, so hay way man, lets gaan doon toon for a canny drink alreet!! Er ok, a night down at the bowling alley is planned followed by a few/ many cheeky drinks somewhere I’m sure. Happy Birthday Ash!

A rare sight was captured last week by tourists on a cruise along the coast near the Island of Mull in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland. Witnesses watched in awe a three-metre Basking shark leapt out of the water and breached three times. The basking shark is a harmless, toothless species and feeds only on microscopic plankton.

Basking sharks can grow up to several metres long and is one of the only sharks to visit the shores of Britain. It eats by swimming with its mouth wide open and sucks in as much of its tiny prey as it can get.

Now that’s something you don’t see everyday!

Thursday 1st October 2009-

More leaving parties and farewell drinks, this time we say goodbye and safe travels to our arty farty Lara, thanks to this little missy we have beautifully painted artwork scattered around the resort including signs, white board displays and even the Grease car which has pride of place in the restaurant. Have a great time back home and we’ll see you again soon.

After searching for some weird and wonderful news articles we came across this little gem.

On September 5th over 60 members of the Stowe Sub Aqua Club in Buckingham UK, had the ingenious idea of a 24hr underwater Twister competition. They raised over 2,000 GBP for CANCERactive, a charity which helps people increase their odds of beating cancer by laying out all the very latest research information from around the world whether this is regarding orthodox, complimentary or alternative therapies. Well done you guys over the pond, all for a good cause and what a great idea!

With the Buoyancy World soon to be deployed near Twins, how quick do you think it would take to knock up a Big Blue Twister game? Or a new underwater challenge for the Koh Tao Festival next year?! Oh the mind is boggling now!!

September Daily Diary

Wednesday 30th September 2009-

Back from his European tour with his lovely wife, the big boss man (Jim) has returned, and we are all blaming you for bringing the weather back with you. We woke up this morning to a windsurfer’s wet dream. We are picking up the dying tail end of the Typhoon Ketsana, resulting in a bit of wind and 2 metre waves breaking on the beach.

Canada couldn’t have timed the arrival of his new tech hoodies any better, as we are all wearing our cosy new sweatshirts today.Having said that don’t let a bit of wind put you off, we had 2 beautiful dives his morning around the sheltered west side of Koh Tao with nice flat seas.

In the news today, the Bohol Standard which is based in the Philippines reported that a Whaleshark was freed after being accidently caught in a net:

“Children swim near a 22-foot young male butanding (whale shark) accidentally netted in Ubay shore before local authorities freed the marine mammal after documentation.

Barangay Councilor Eustaquio Amolat of Juagdan in Ubay town and his accompanying fishermen had the surprise of their lives when at around 2:00 AM Thursday, they noticed a large fish snagging its tail on their gill net.

Witnesses said some children jumped in and swam with the whaleshark which showed apparent playfulness and gentle friendly behavior towards the children.

Ubay Mayor Eutiquio Bernales personally led the responding team composed of the CRM coordinator Alpios Delima and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources representative Roselle Hilot came to the whale-shark’s rescue.

Specifically trained to respond to incidents involving distressed marine mammals, the responding team immediately went to work and proceeded to gather information regarding the trapped whale shark before it could be released back to sea. “

Tuesday 29th September 2009-

It was good to see the return of our resident German instructor Yvonne, who has been in hospital sick for the least few days. We have kidnapped her motorbike so she can’t leave the house and try to work until she is 100% better!! Sonia also returned back to work with her bad shoulder. Keeping up with her stupidity she learnt the hard way last night that drinking even the smallest amount of alcohol whilst on very strong painkillers is not a very good idea, Muppet!

And now with some very impressive news, one of our old DMT’s James has been selected to be crew with the famous Paul Watson’s conservation warriors Sea Shepherd to the Antarctic.

‘The 6th voyage to defend endangered whales in the Antarctic Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary will depart from Australia in less than 90 days – on December 7, 2009.Starting in December, the illegal whaling fleet will be targeting 935 piked (Minke) whales and another 50 fin whales, and has threatened to add humpbacks to their quota as well. We intend to once again negate their illicit profits.

Because of Sea Shepherd interventions, the illegal whalers have suffered losses for three years. We are making steady progress towards our objective of sinking the entire whaling fleet – economically.

Thanks to our supporters, every year we get stronger and every year we are able to escalate and improve our tactics of intervention.’ www.seashepherd.org (photo credit Adam Lau/Eric Cheng/Sea Shepherd)

Nice one James, our oceans need as much help as possible to protect our marine life. Go make us proud.

Monday 28th September 2009-

Today at Big Blue our 2 new recruits arrived! Anders and Alicia are students from Sweden here for 2 weeks of work experience. Lucky them hey? We have all sorts of weird and wonderful things for them to be doing whilst there here; but most importantly we hope they learn a great deal and have an amazing unforgettable experience. Welcome to Big Blue Anders and Alicia!!

Here’s what they had to say about their first day…

“Today was the first day here at Big Blue for us. As Marine Biology students from Sweden we are here to gain work experience in the diving industry and its associated marine branch. We will be here for about 2 weeks and we hope to learn a lot about diving and also get a view of how the company runs. When we first came this morning we met Kayleigh who will be looking after us during our stay here. Today we have met almost everyone at Big Blue and all of them are really nice and welcoming. We were shown around and now have more understanding of how things work around here. The coolest thing so far must have been when Christos showed us all the equipment that is needed for technical diving and we learned about how to make sure you get the best air combination in the tanks depending on the depth of the dive planned. To sum up, we had a great day here at Big Blue! Everyone we met has been really friendly, happy and they are all very professional! We can hardly express how grateful we are to Big Blue for letting us come here and learn. We can’t wait for tomorrow!”

Thank you ever so much guys! It’s an absolute pleasure having you here!

Sunday 27th September 2009-

Just another day in paradise! It looks like we’re holding off monsoon for just a little bit longer. The diving was great today, there’s been a bit of a breeze and cloud but generally it’s been a nice day!

Here’s some staff news in brief… Amanda has been child minding and building not just a sand castle, but a whole settlement, with the twins. SSImon is busy getting ready for his first ITC and Deano is preparing to Staff another IDC. Heather has finished her first Open Water and Advanced course and still loves being an Instructor. Andy, Paul, Jodie, Beccy and Mickey are busy doing their last minute cramming for their Instructor courses starting tomorrow - good luck boys and girls!

Unfortunately for us, Rich and his girlfriend Hayley left the rock today, they’ve gone for a quick holiday in sunny old England and are then off to another paradise island. We wish you all the luck in the world guys. Don’t forget to come back and visit!

For those of you that have been following ‘Samui watch’ – Yvonne is doing really well; she managed to get out of bed and is slowly rebuilding her strength. Canada is being her Knight in Shining Armour and staying with her by her bedside the whole time. Sonia is having some physio after a check up on her shoulder. Unfortunately Helen might have to join them soon as she has been mysteriously and violently sick this morning – although this might be a false alarm as the symptoms magically disappeared as soon as she stopped looking at Paul’s face.

And in random-marine-life-facts-of-the-world news, another new fish has been found scientists in Brazil – the wonderfully named ‘deep-sea jellynose fish’! The fish are bottom-feeders, sucking whatever they can off the sea floor, living at depths between 400 and 700 metres, and like many deep-sea fish, they have gelatinous, scale-free bodies consisting of very little muscle, as there isn’t enough oxygen to feed muscle tissue at those depths. I think with a name and appearance like that, I’d stay as deep in the ocean as I could!


Saturday 26th September 2009-

Bit of a windy day here on Sairee, but the diving’s still lovely, big schools of barracuda at Shark Island this morning, and all kinds of weird and wonderful marine life (octopus, yellow boxfish, flatworms and pipefish to name a few) were found by the divers at Nang Yuan Pinnacle this morning; and there’s a boatload of people currently exploring Japanese Gardens by torchlight to see what nightlife they can find!

Amongst all the dismal news of sharks being threatened, there’s something a bit more positive and interesting come to light – a new species of shark has been found off the coasts of California and Mexico! It’s been around for a while, apparently, but only just been named as the Eastern Pacific Black Ghostshark. It is a bit of an unusual shark, preferring to stay out of the sun and using winglike fins to ‘fly’ thousands of feet deep in the ocean. Also pretty strange about them is that they have retractable clublike sex organs sprouting from their foreheads! Odd place to keep your bits!

Back to Big Blue news…Keith’s celebrating his 44th birthday today – congratulations! You don’t look a day older than 35! He’s celebrating with a night dive; no doubt he’ll be getting the beers in once they’re back! Sonia and Yvonne are still in Samui getting some fast food and hanging out in the hospital. Get better soon girls!

Deano is still heading up Buoyancy World with his hard working team of DMTs, Deano’s missing G terribly, but we’re not sure if he’s missing him more for the late night company than the Save Koh Tao pearls of wisdom. The Khao Lak crew’s getting ready to make their way back out west, and everywhere you turn there’s DMs frantically cramming for the PADI IDC and the SSI ITC. Lara is still waiting for paint to dry, the techies are back from Khao Lak and are busy being techies, and everyone else is pretending to look busy while Jim is still away on holidays. Everything plain sailing really! Now, if only the sun would come out for a few days…

Friday 25^th September 2009–

It was a little stormy last night, you’ve got to love a good thunder storm! The lightning looked stunning out over the sea, but thankfully it’d calmed down enough this morning for us to head out to Chumpon for a lovely dive, loads of big tuna and mackerel, schools of batfish and fusiliers and great visibility.

We’ve sent the boats out for some East coast diving this afternoon, the fundivers are looking for turtles at King Kong Rock, and the courses are off to Aow Leuk to practice their scuba skills. Brand sparkly new instructor Heather is out as well, finishing her first Open Water course, and she’s being filmed by proud husband ACE Andy, that’ll be a video to keep and show the grandkids!

The party last night at Vibe was a resounding success, DJ Luckman on the decks, everyone had a great night. Some people even combined the party time with a bit of education, one of our Welsh instructors decided to get all multilingual and practice his German! One of our other resident Germans is unfortunately not well - poor Yvonne is in hospital in Samui - we’re all thinking of you Yvonne, hope you’re feeling better soon!

Outside of our little Koh Tao bubble, it’s fantastic news to hear that the island of Palau is going to create the world’s first sanctuary for sharks – they’ll be banning all commercial shark fishing in a 600,000sq km protected area of water around Palau. It’s estimated that as many as 100 million sharks are killed globally each year, and this has led to 21% of the world’s shark species being classified as a threatened species under the extinction assessment. Many countries have implemented catch limits, quotas and restrictions on fishing and finning, but with this shark sanctuary being set up, it’s hoped that other countries will follow suit and help to enforce the rules. Save our seas!

Thursday 24th September 2009-

We’re getting a bit of a sense of déjà-vu at Big Blue today – everywhere you look there’s people wearing Big Blue Tech hoodies! Canada’s batch of techie casual wear arrived this morning and everyone’s sporting this monsoon season’s new look, come and get yours while there’s still some left!

We’re all heading down to Vibe tonight as it’s a big farewell shindig for Rick, Fanette and Rich! Rick and Fannette will be leaving us to go and look after Khao Lak, here’s hoping they enjoy the mantas and the liveaboard (jealous, us?!) whilst Rich is off to pastures new with his girlie to explore dive instructing around Egypt – we’ll be sending him off with lots of good luck wishes - not that he needs them because he’s fantastic!

Congratulations to Kim, our American freelance Instructor who just completed her SSI Crossover with SSImon, welcome to the SSI team! Big DM Paul and Little Video Beccy are starting their SSI training on 28th, whilst video Jodie and DM Andy are biting their fingernails and furiously completing their Candidate Workbooks as their PADI IDC date (also the 28th September) approaches, we're sure you're going to do us proud, guys! All the cool kids are becoming Instructors, so why aren't you?!

Monday 21st September 2009-

Apologies for the few days of absence but the muppet of a stand-in manager was in hospital for 3 days after a drinking accident, but don’t worry she is back and catching up!! So whats been happening?

Big Blue Tech leave Koh Tao island for the main land for 5 days of deep technical diving in Khao Sok National Park. In Khao Sok National Park resides a sunken village and buddhist temple which has become a popular attraction for technical divers since it’s discovery by Big Blue Tech in February of 2009.

One diver alone will be equiped with the following.
3 torches, 2 reels, 2 lift bags, 1 o2 at 200 bar, 1 nitrox and 1 twin set. Double bladder wing, spare mask, cutting tools, gloves and pockets. so for 6 of them that’s a lot of stuff!!!

Tonight we see 2 more of our DMT’s lose their T at our infamous Dive Master Challenge, good luck to Jen and Keera, and to the one armed Sonia who is celebrating her 21st birthday again, but this time sporting a sling!!! Happy Birthday Sonwan and congrats to the new DMs.

Friday 18th September 2009-

Once again the weather is great, seas are calm and the diving is stunning. So now’s a great time to book your diving course, upgrade your certification or come along and join us for a few fun dives… It’s still busy around the island these days so we recommend that you book your accommodations ahead of time with us. See you soon!!! info@bigbluediving.com

Another night on the Rock, another great party!! SSI hosted a big party and BBQ at Vibe Bar last night and it was a smashing success!! There was free food and free drinks to celebrate the graduation of three new SSI Course Directors, one of them being our Simon. Congratulations again SSImo!

Our resident Instructor/Ballerina appeared to have a little too much fun last night as she injured herself in a demonstration of Ballerina Skills on Sairee Beach last night. Any witnesses are asked to speak directly to Sonia as all memories of said event have escaped her! She can generally be reached at Big Blue, but for tonight you can reach her in Samui International Hospital where she will be getting treated for a slight shoulder injury…. Get Well Soon!!

Tomorrow is International Coastal Clean Up day (ICC) and as always Big Blue is getting very much involved. The ICC started in Texas since 1986 with 1,800 volunteers to clean 122 miles and collect 124 tons of garbage along the shore. Today it becomes the largest volunteer network worldwide. Last year the total of 3,090 tons of debris were collected from 390,881 people from 102 country members! Captain Koh Tao G is off to France today so he has left Deano in charge of our underwater clean up and Ashley in charge of our beach clean up with a bit of help from Kayleigh. Joining in with this clean up will make a huge difference and change the behaviors that cause marine debris in the first place; So please come down to Big Blue tomorrow morning at 10am and lend a hand!!

Thursday 17th September 2009-

One of our Divemasters woke up with quiet a shock this morning after a mystery sleep walker wandered into his room and climbed into bed with him, we believe the excuse the big fella used was a few too many sambucas, tequila and other nasty shots!! He who must not be named (a fellow DM) has no recollection at all, but poor Duncan has been walking funny all day!!!

Another amazing dive at Chumpon this morning, 30 meter visibility lots of fish and the 1st boat there, after all the big waves we have had recently its nice to see the sea is as flat as Yvonne’s chest and our boats are busy (sorry Yvonne).

Big congratulations to Big Blues new SSI Instructor Trainer Mr Simon Garrity. He has been a book worm the last few weeks studying hard, we are very proud of you Simo from now on we will call you SSImo. We will be celebrating at Vibe tonight with a free BBQ everyone is welcome.

Wednesday 16^th September 2009 –

As everyone trooped down to the longtail boats this morning they were greeted with a bizarre sight – hundreds of centipede-like creatures washed up on the beach, burrowing their way back into the sand and towards the sea. Monsters from the deep? Aliens trying to take over Koh Tao? Not quite!

After a bit of detective work, we’ve established that the poor little critters are sea worms. This weird phenomenon of the sea worm is uncommon, and is due to the dilution of freshwater into the ocean after rainfall. The worms (which are rarely seen as they spend most of their lives buried in the sand eating algae deep at the bottom of the ocean) are sometimes unable to adjust to the changes in the water conditions and so end up relocating like mini refugees to the confines of Sairee beach – thankfully they didn’t have to scramble too far, the tide came in again and took them all back to their old living quarters.

What with all the whale shark sightings at Chumpon, we can get a bit carried away with raving about the biggest fish in the sea! It’s hard not to really, it doesn’t get too much better than diving with a whale shark! But fear not, we still appreciate the smaller things in life! Isn’t that right Sonia?! It would appear that the seahorses at Mango Bay are breeding like rabbits! Sonia had to search a bit harder than usual to find a spot in the sand at Mango Bay to do her skills on the Open Water course – there were baby seahorses everywhere!

Another successful day for one of our hardworking DMTs – Lucy finished off her Divemaster course today, getting everything ready for a full day trip, prepping the boats, and running the whole shebang smoothly from start to finish! Now of course there’s only one way to end such a good day – with a DM Challenge of course! All down to the Big Blue Bar for a congratulatory pint…

Tuesday 15th September 2009 -

It was a balmy September morning, the sun was shining, waves lapping at the shore, everyone hard at work…then we heard Captain P’Piak’s voice over the radio “whale shark at Chumpon!” ☺ Good thing both Banzai and Navakid were there again so that our divers could have 2 fantastic dives with this majestic creature!

Bit of a mass exodus to the dark side of the island today – well, Mae Haad at least! A handful of the instructors headed down to SSS to refresh their DAN O2 skills – the course, run in association with Divers Alert Network, provides comprehensive training in the use of oxygen equipment in a safe and effective way at the scene of a dive accident. Rarely needed, but invaluable nonetheless.

Another full day trip heading out tomorrow, we just can’t get enough of Sail Rock! The divemasters played rock-paper-scissors for the chance to accompany a plethora of fundivers and Emily’s lucky Advanced Open Water divers for the day, here’s wishing them calm seas, gorgeous vis, yummy massaman and big fish!

Monday 14th September 2009-

Sairee was introduced to a different type of exercise class this morning when Nick our DMT from California begun Capoeira lessons on the beach. Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian art formed by African slaves and Brazilian Natives combining martial arts with dance. The sparring is marked by fluid acrobatic play, and extensive use of sweeps, kicks, and headbutts. Less frequently used techniques include elbow strikes, slaps, punches, and body throws. So far Nick has recruited Helen, Kelli, Jodie, Lara and Erica. These are soon to be girls not to mess with! Or Ugly for that matter as even he had a go!

Looks like it’s that time of year again, Whaleshark time!! Two sightings at Chumphon in one week plus yesterday both MV Banzai and MV Navakid brought some very happy divers back to land after two dives with the giant friendly creature; very happy is kind of an understatement though really. Congratulations must also go to the Open Water students who on dive number three were lucky enough to see one and especially their instructor Dennis as this was also his first time.

A swarm of 150,000,000 crabs invaded an island in Northwestern Australia to mate. Each female crab lays around 100,000 eggs in the sand. They hatch at around the same time, so very soon there might be as many as 75 trillion crabs on that island at once! Mmmm that’s a lot of crabs!!

Update on Buoyancy World; it is coming together well, G, Deano and Barry along with the DMTs are hammering, welding, sawing, bending, cement mixing, singing and sweating enough to fill a swimming pool- eurgh! If all goes well on the 22nd, all the structures will be lowered into a designated spot near Koh Nang Yuan. Anyone around wanting to help fill our swimming pool of sweat, we need you!

Friday 11th September 2009-

Two of our DMT’s have finished their course in record time, Harry and George got here 4 weeks ago and have sailed through the training programme. One of the last things we train our divemaster trainees to do is to be in charge of a whole trip (with the eager eye of an instructor). The boys successfully completed this task today, and tonight we celebrate again in the bar with our famous Divemaster Challenges.

These challenges proving very popular with our current and not so current DMTs, who are continuing with extra-curricular activities, it seems a lot of them like exploring the wet deep, dark and dirty places!!

Congratulations to ACE Marine Heather on becoming a brand new PADI instructor, time to hang up the camera for a while and pick up the white board markers. Happy Hangover!

The count down is on until Big Blue Khao Lak will be re-opening its doors to the Similan and Surin Islands. Rick is busy with his head in the laptop answering emails and finalizing the last bits and bobs. This year, we'll increase the number of trips to Richelieu, Koh Bon and Koh Tachai! But theres one small problem - we can’t think of a name for this second boat. So we're asking you, our customers, to submit your best ideas to www.bigbluekhaolak.com we'll pick a winning name on October 1. If we pick yours, you win a free diving day trip to any of our destinations! Sounds like a challenge.

Thursday 10th September 2009-

The construction of Buoyancy World has started!! We are now in the process of building the structures that we are going to sink underwater in 2 weeks time to make a new artificial dive site. These will include statues with habitats for marine life, hoops and other buoyancy training aids for people to practice, a navigation course and permanent lines for simulated emergency ascents. The objective is to make sure that while in training, students don’t damage our natural reefs and learn more about preserving them. 10 dive schools on the island are involved including Big Blue, our contribution being a huge Gheko! So far Captain Koh Tao G has been bending, cutting and welding metal every day in Mae Haad, please can we have as many people to support him in this worthwhile event, come and help build a giant gheko!!

Our newest DM Kirsty left yesterday and we were all sad to see her go. In true Koh Tao style (before she had even packed her bags) she was making concrete plans to return asap and become a videographer! Good luck Kirsty! Remember to bring back some crumpets! So out with the old and in with the new, our 2 newest DMT’s have arrived and already had their fair share of lectures, laughs and late night loving! Welcome to the Big Blue team Ashley and John!

One of our breastest DM’s Paul is off to pastures greener, to start his ITC! Well, actually he is going to be staying here at Big Blue but we will miss him insulting and drawing on us in the shop! He is going to be Simon’s first candidate for the Instructor Training Course now offered at Big Blue. We wish you all the luck in the world Paul; we know you will be a fantastic instructor. And just for the record, your face makes me sick…

Our boss has gone off on holiday this week to the land of thigh-slapping and sausages! His replacement is one of our best and longest standing instructors here at Big Blue, Sonia. All hail Spongeboss!! Have a great 3 weeks Jim and bring us all back presents! Peanut Flips for me please…

Tuesday 8th September 2009-

It’s a week of parties at Big Blue, we kicked off last night with a joint celebration, 4 brand new divemasters were welcomed into the pro world with buckets, shots and lots of ice cold water, congratulations to Steven, Caroline, Kirsty and Las. Yvonne celebrated her birthday by being the special guest at the challenge. Having shouted and stamped her feet about not getting wet she turned up dressed as NEMO wearing a bright orange rain coat. Needless to say she got soaked; Happy Birthday Yvonne!!

Good luck to our quiet, shy and retiring videographer Heather who is about to begin her Instructor Examination today, 3 days of intense classroom, pool and open water presentations in front of PADI examiners. Heather has been filming at Big Blue for years; it will be great to see her on the big screen with her new students for a change. The IE Party will be on 10th September. All welcome!

Fingers crossed for G who is also going to be in the exam room with Heather completing his exams for his PADI Course Director training. Good Luck G!!

“Thank you to all for being part of this awesome experience. Starting from the first day I met Aom on the ferry, my life changed and I plan to carry on diving and loving this wonderful life in diving!” Emma recently finished her Divemaster training with us and is now turning work down left right and center! Well done Emma, it has been a pleasure!

Monday 7th September 2009-

Its been a weekend of weary wevellers! The Full Moon Party in Koh Phangan was on Friday & we've been welcoming the wandering Wilbury's all weekend! Its a little unfortunate to be arriving in Koh Tao right now as the weather is rubbish on this side but don't worry all yee who threw up on the way here & are wondering how on earth you ever going to learn to dive if you get seasick all the time fear not... The other side of Koh Tao right now is mill pond flat, 20+ meter visibility & sunny!?

Similar to smoke rings, bubble rings can be blown through pursed lips by letting out short air bursts. Taking a breath of air, a normal breath with a regulator, and filling your cheeks so they are puffed, you need to lie down on your back or float horizontally staying still. Tilt just your head back so you are looking up at the surface. The best depth to try this at is 2-6 meters. Any deeper than 6 meters and it becomes more difficult to do. Start with your mouth closed. You basically want to release a pulse of air about the size and shape of a golf ball, opening your mouth with rounded lips. Attempt saying “PUH” with your cheeks filled with air. Do not do anything with your tongue. Abruptly close your mouth soon after so the air really pops out. Just watch your bubble rise to the surface, as your fellow divers applaud you! :)

We have been needing to rent an additional boat in recent days as unfortunately Banzai has been taken ill with a sore propellor! So this week we have mostly been using the big snorkel boat from Blacktip Diving. Its a beauty too. Nice big sturdy boat that rides the big waves well & has a lot of interior space & a nice big dive deck too. It doesn't have a compressor which makes tank pumping a little difficult & its not exactly the fastest boat around Koh Tao but hey its a boat its comfortable & we can still go diving so its A OK in my book! Get better soon Banzai!

Friday 4th September 2009-

It was the fund raiser for Buoyancy World last night at Vibe beach bar. It was one of the largest attendances of the year with what has been estimated at almost 1000 people there all raising cash for the Buoyancy World sculptures that we will be creating later in the month. Buoyancy World is going to be a man made divesite with lots of fun sculptures to swim thru under or over thereby relieving some of Koh Tao's busier divesites. Thanks everyone for your generosity last night especially G & DMT's Harry & Jen who organised all the games!

Soups, stews and pies flavoured with chunks of sea turtle meat will soon be illegal across the 700 islands of the Bahamas! Despite opposition from many fishermen, the Bahamas has amended fisheries laws to give full protection to all sea turtles found in the Atlantic archipelago's waters by banning the harvest, possession, purchase and sale of the endangered reptiles, including their eggs. The new rules took effect yesterday. "Young people here have never tasted turtle, but it had continued to be eaten by the older population in some of the outer islands, so we're really happy our work has paid off with this ban; the turtles couldn't do it themselves."

Quick word on the weather... it's shite! Big waves, restricted visibility, wet, raining, windy & miserable. Sounds like just the right sort of time to be heading off to the sunny climes of Germany for a couple of weeks. 5 days & then 3 weeks of sausages, beers, leather trousers & thigh slapping to go!

Thursday 3rd September 2009-

Be warned the next few days in this part of the world are going to be very busy. Its the Full Moon Party tomorrow night at Koh Phangan so there will be 100's of people all over Samui, Koh Phangan & Koh Tao. Now it won't matter quite so much in Samui or Koh Phangan as they are bigger islands have more choices of accommodation but here in Koh Tao Accommodation can be tight at this time of the month. Plan ahead & book before you get here! Happy Full Mooooon!

Now this might not seem very politically correct & to those I offend I apologise but I need to find someone to fill a gap I have coming soon & I need the person who fills that gap to be female, a team player,an SSI Instructor & a PADI Instructor, multilingual, Scandanavian, planning on staying here a while & extremely hot! Once Soren heads off to Khao Lak we'll need to replace him with someone who can speak Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, German & English. So if you fit the job description & are looking to start work by November send your CV's to info@bigbluediving.com. Send your photos to DM Paul! If you don't speak all those languages please feel free to send your photos anyway!

A dead minke whale washed up on a south Wales beach is to be turned into bone meal to be used as fuel for power stations. The whale carcass is being held at a compound in Cardiff before being transported to Dorset by animal and cattle experts. Its rendering plant usually deals with animal carcasses, putting them through a cooking process to make the fuel. The 33ft (10m) whale was washed up at Cold Knap, Barry, Vale of Glamorgan. How funny is that? A whale carcass power converter, a whale in Wales, & a town called Barry!

Wednesday 2nd September 2009-

-Top ten statements that are Misinterpreted by Non Diver:
10- Gone down lately?
9- Can I see Your Log?
8- I think I may be bent.
7- Seen any giant clams.
6- She's naturally buoyant.
5- I had to inflate orally!
4- the entry was very rough!
3- My buddy grabbed my octopus.
2- I got a lot of bottom time.
1-I blew an O-ring.

Its another Full Day Trip to Sail Rock today with a boat full on Banzai all enjoying a couple of dives at the world famous Hin Bai or Sail Rock, with breakfast en route & then lunch, Big Blue's world famous Massaman Currry, after the second dive & before our 3rd dive at the lesser known, less visited but equally good Samran Pinnacle. A splendid day out & we've managed to squeeze it in just before all the crap weather that is being forecast over the next few days hits us. Well timed Divemasters!

We will be having the last fundraising party for the Buoyancy World Project tomorrow, September 3rd. The party will be at Vibe Bar starting at about 7pm. 100% of all the money raised from food sales will go to purchasing the general bank of materials to be used to construct the structures for the Buoyancy World Project later this month. If you need more informatiion about the Buoyancy world project please go to our website at www.MarineConservationKohT

ao.com, and download the project proposal or powerpoint presentation. Or ask your neighbourly Frenchman! Thank you for your support and we hope to see you there.

Tuesday 1st September 2009-

Today is officially the end of Peak Season. A time when we can all look back & reminisce about the good old days of last month. That day we broke our record amount of divers out in a day. That time the compressor broke down just before the Full Day. & then a day later when the other compressor broke! & then the time when we had the boat problem & that other time we had the other boat problem! & when we slept those girls in the classroom cos there were no rooms left on Sairee Beach. Ah the good old days! Thank frogs thats all over for another year! Time to start planning on my holidays!

'Hello Jim! Maybe you can still the 3 girls from Germany, which stayed at the big blue! It was so exciting and we enjoyed it very much! Thank you for giving us such a nice room! And also thanks to our diving instructor Simon, who was so patient with us and our english knowledge! Maybe we see each other on the "Oktoberfest"! Greetings from Heike (Little miss sunshine),Daniela (Little miss trouble) and Ramona (Little miss scatterbrain) By the way, one of your instructors looks a little bit like Robbie Williams!" Dankeschon Ladies! Don't you mean Duncan looks like Robin Williams not Robbie! Oh yeah & Kisses from Simon!

Amanda is looking and probably feeling a little delicate today after celebrating into the early hours of the morning like only 26 year old ladies know how to celebrate their Birthdays- drunk! It was a big celebratory dinner at Farango's Pizzeria in Sairee followed by some loud music at the Big Blue Bar & finally for all those who were still looking for love, a quick cruise around at Lotus Bar! Happy Birthday Mandy!

August Daily Diary 2009

Monday 31st August 2009-

Project AWARE says an estimated seven billion tons of debris enter the world’s oceans every year. The consequences are devastating, it adds, nearly one million birds are killed by aquatic litter and an estimated 100,000 marine animals, including dolphins, whales and sea turtles, choke or get tangled in debris every year. Sponsored by PADI Asia Pacific, International Cleanup Day will be marked in 23 countries throughout Asia Pacific with over 100,000 volunteers taking the lead. At least 50 of those from Big Blue! Support & celebrate International Clean up day this September 17th!

We have another 4 new Divemasters in Training starting with us today. Welcome to the next 2 months of unlimited diving! You are going to see so much marine life, you're going to get to dive with Whalesharks, & turtles, you'll watch Barracuda's feeding at night, you'll learn all about Pressure, Henry's Law, Boyle's Law & PADI standards. You'll see the human body in all its varying shapes & sizes & by the time you finish you will have lost weight, gained a great tan & earned yourselves a qualification that permits you to work on the beach anywhere in the world! So how come there was only 4 signed up? Sounds awesome. I'd have thought there'd be 100's of people signing upto do something like this!

It was brought to my attention ( just a few minutes before I realised it was my 1 year wedding anniversary- Whoops!) that we are about to have our yearly mass exodus! Its in the next couple of weeks a lot of our guys are going to start making preparations for their return to the Dark Side- Khao Lak, the portal to the Similan & Surin Islands. Of course we knew already that Rick is leaving to steer the Big Blue Khao Lak operation. & Fanette of course. & most of team Japan & Ricky & Anna & Keith are all returning to their previous Westside posse. But unfortunatley we are going to lose Panos & Kayleigh, Rich, & Soren & Koen as well! Bugger! Good staff is hard to find! : (

Saturday 29th August 2009-

POLICE raided the Takuapa bus station in Phang Nga on Friday and found protected coral reef fish in transit to Bangkok. About 180 coral blooms were rescued and are being brought back to Phuket. A man who was accompanying the blooms ran off. And in Bangkok a man has been arrested and accused of being the mastermind behind a 100 million baht-a-year coral reef fish poaching ring. Police were taken to a house in the sea gypsy village at Rawai where they found 150 protected fish of 18 species in aquarium tanks. More than 100 living coral blooms were also found in the house by officers. The man accused of organising the poaching, had between 100,000 baht and 500,000 baht moving into his bank account each week. The bulk of orders came from Chiang Mai. The fish and the blooms would be sent to buyers by air transport, once sufficient orders had been filled. Police are now tracing the sources of his bank-book income of 100 million in the past year.

Big thanks to none other than Mr John Williams the author of Lonely Planets Diving & Snorkelling Guide to Thailand & the 'go to' guy if you ever want to know anything especially about Liveaboard boats. Here's what he says about our recent Liveaboard acquisiton! - " Looks like our buddies at Big Blue Diving Koh Tao & Khao Lak will be taking over management operations for the MV Pawara. While always a well run boat, we know that Michael, Takeshi, Rick and the rest of the team will make it even better and more... fun than ever. Bent and John look forward to working with them!" -Nice one John! There's our first seal of approval from the Dam Nam man from Siam!

Thanks again to G our Big Blue Representative who has put soo much into Koh Tao & the Save Koh Tao Group. He goes to every meeting, every workshop, every coordinated get together & today he is organising the Sairee Reef & Beach clean up. We got 3 diveboats ready 5 kayaks, & 2 longtails. G is managing events underwater & Deano is managing the boats & the rubbish collection! Its not as easy as you think organising a beach & underwater clean up. It requires organisation, preparation, coordination, a baguette, a beret & an outrageous French accent! C'est bon trevally! Merci Monsieur Guillaume.

Thursday 27th August 2009-

Well first off I think we should all bow down with our hats off to Dale who organised last nights premiere showing of the movie The end of the Line a documentary on over fishing. It is a rare movie that will change your life. I am going to stop buying or eating from this day forth Atlantic Cod, halibut, sea bass, tuna, hake & scallops! It not only made me feel sick it made me feel ashamed, despondent & anxious, increasingly disenchanted with our politicians & above all, guilty! Great job Dale. There must have been over 100 people show up! Imagine if all of them choose not to eat fish anymore! & they tell 100 people. And so on. And so on. Till we got no cows left cos we've eaten them all! Oh dear. Mankind. We're so screwed! We are slowly killing ourselves! Time for a happy movie! Anyone want to watch Top Gun next?

Its that time of the month- the Koh Tao underwater clean up. This Saturday our save the world from Rubbish representative Guillaume with his trusty side kick Kayleigh will be tackling the beach in the morning with a big Beach clean up & then in the afternoon we will have about another 30 divers all coming out with us to pick up the rubbish that we can find on Sairee Reef. Everyone welcome & then there'll be another free Barbecue at Vibe Beach bar after, for all participants. Be green. Drink Beer & Eat Sausages!

So while some of us are toiling away on the beaches & in the water, socialising at night, educating by day, Canada & his team of Hill Billies are in the deepest darkest densest part of the Khao Sok National Marine Park strumming on their banjo's (tech diving) & delving through their nether regions (Cave Diving). They've been gone 4 days now & we've not heard a squeak from any of them which obviously means they are having an absolute blast or... they're on a new Reality Thai TV equivalent of the Blair Witch Project!

Wednesday 26th August 2009-

M.V. Pawara is going to be one of the nicest Liveaboards operating on the west coast of Thailand next season. I know this to be true because our favourite Hawaiian Rick will be at the helm leading the Big Blue Diving Khao Lak team. It's going to be a little daunting operating 2 speedboats & a luxury liveaboard but hey, if anyone can do it it's going to be our man Rick! So remember people if you are looking for something a little different on your next holiday then book yourselves a Liveaboard aboard MV Pawara & tuck in to 4 meals a day, 12 dives, 9 Similan Islands, a couple of Surin Islands & more Manta Rays than you can shake a stick at!

It's the Movie Premiere of the 'The End of The Line' an award winning documentary in the style of Shark water explaining how overfishing is changing the world & what we eat. Anyone with the slightest interest in where our fish come from & the devastating effects of our voracious appetite for it should watch this. We have reached a pivotal moment for fishing, with 75% of the worlds fish stocks either fully exploited or overfished. If nothing is done to stop the squandering of fish stocks the life of the oceans will face collapse & millions of people could starve!. The End of the Line looks at the problem & proves that we, as consumers, have to change if the situation is to improve!

Despite looking like boys, sounding like boys, & swearing like boys, the boys at Crystal sent out the ladies team to last night's Crystal Diving Vs Big Blue Diving Sports night at Crystals Sairee Beach Bar Vibe run by the legendary Massive Dave!. Well we think it was the Crystal Diving Ladies team. They certainly drank like a bunch of girls & they were pretty easy to pull over in the Tug of war & they didn't know any answers to the sports questions so it certainly felt a little one sided! Cheers Dave & Matt! Apart from the cricket you boys just aren't having a very good week for sport!


Tuesday 25th August 2009-

Not sure what happened there but quite literally overnight our email inquiries have quadrupled. Many thanks one & all for writing in with your questions & such & I will try & get to them as quick as I can but wow looking at some of them this might take a while. So if you happen to be one of those waiting here's a couple of answers to some of the same questions. Monsoon starts mid November & finishes by Christmas. Yes it's still good up till then. Yes you can still go diving during monsoon. Yes we have our own Liveaboard in the Similans next season. Yes we are open on Christmas Day & New Years Day for afternoon diving. And 'No'. Simon isn't enjoying the football right now after his teams dreadful start to the beginning of the season! But Barry & Jim are!

Whaleshark at Southwest Pinnacle was spotted yesterday afternoon so we sent Banzai out this morning to see if we could treat our customers to something really special- spending the morning diving with them. Unfortunatley we failed as the Whale Shark was obviously hiding under a rock somewhere cos we didn't see it. We did however see a large school or 2 of Fusiliers & Barracuda's & a couple of Cuttlefish & an ink squirting octopii! Would have seen a few sharks in years gone by if Mankind hadn't brought them to the brink of extinction!

Rumour has it the staff at Crystal Dive have been working out, pumping iron & then going home early to study in preparation for tonight's big match between ourselves & the guys at Crystal. Its competition night at Vibe Bar & Massive Dave has laid on a tug of war, a potato sack race, a general knowledge quiz, an egg & spoon race, a muscle man competition & an all you can eat Barbecue. Should be a breeze for us. Big Paul just got back off his visa run so we'll win the All you can eat, the muscle man, the general knowledge, & the tug of war. Not sure there's a potato sack big enough for Paul but we've got the rest covered!

Monday 24th August 2009-

Bluefin tuna are a pelagic species: they live in the open waters, far beyond the reach (and governance) of individual nations. They are also one of those predators at the top of the ocean's food chain, preyed upon mostly by man. They grow up to four metres (12 feet) in length, weigh as much as 250kg (550lb) and, when chasing prey—mostly sardines—can swim at a speed of 70kph (45mph). They also range widely, traversing the Atlantic Ocean to reach breeding grounds in the Mediterranean Sea. But what was once known as the common tunny has, over the past few decades, come to be at serious risk of extinction, thanks to overfishing driven by demand from Japan, where bluefin tuna are considered a delicacy and are used in sushi and sashimi.To find out more come to the Thailand premiere of the movie The End of the Line at Big Blue Bar & Restaurant this Wednesday. The first 100 tickets are free!

Its Monday night 'New Restaurant night' Last week Lara chose a Burmese Restaurant which was delicious. Apparently the sauteed Catfish with roast leeches is apparently devine though not sure anyone had that particular dish, well not on purpose at least! & tonight it is Emily's choice. Last week Burma, this week India! We're so Continental here in Koh Tao! Tune in to see which corner of the world we shall be visiting next week when its Barry's choice! If you haven't got anything better to do!

Canada & his team at Big Blue Tech are off tonight for another 4 days & nights of adventure in the Khao Sok National Park. Descending through the murky depths of the lake, delvng into unexplored cavern systems – The Final Frontier. These are the voyages of Big Blue Tech, its continuing mission to explore a strange new world, to seek out new life and new civilizations and to boldly go where no one has gone before.

Sunday 23rd August 2009-

Thats sad. 3 dead turtles found in the last 3 weeks. The one we found today has been dead for a few days already. We sent a long tail out to go pick it up & bring it back to land & then the vet came round & measured her took a few photos & then did an autopsy on it to see how it died. And surprise surprise we have the results from Hawksbill Turtle CSI! This poor little fellow choked on a plastic bag. Not an uncommon way for a turtle to die but a very unpleasant one. Save the turtles & say no to plastic bags!

One of Koh Tao's biggest problems is that we run out of fresh water quite regularly. Alot of businesses have actually been importing water from the mainland for the past few weeks already. So if you are coming to Koh Tao or if you are even here already please be careful with the amount of water you use. Save water. Drink beer! When you wash shower with your partner! And keep your laundry wash to a minimum wear the same pair of pants for four days. The correct way, then back to front, then inside out and then inside out and back to front!

"Hey Jim. I am off to Australia today. Really excited to see my sister, although I have to admit I am a bit worried it is way to cold over there...Once again thank you so much for letting me have such a fabulous time on Koh Tao. Nora x" You are more than welcome Nora. It was great to see you again & Caz is missing you dearly! Enjoy Australia & Happy diving!

Saturday 22nd August 2009-

Hats off to DMT Dale who has done an outstanding job & has got himself a copy of the movie 'The end of the line' sent to him directly from the film distributors themselves! Which means this Tuesday at the Big Blue Cinemaplex we shall be screening the Thailand Premiere of this amazing documentary portraying the plight of the Blue Fin Tuna in our oceans due to over fishing & deep sea trawling. Nice one Dale. Now Dale, would you mind writing a letter to James Cameron as I'd really like to see the new Sci fi movie Avatar next!

Just beautiful! Our new Big Blue Brochures have been printed & we have a few thousand in stock ready to be handed out & distributed around the place. The touts are all armed & ready for action. So are the Instructors & Divemasters. In fact we are all very excited. The brochures really look great. Thanks Canada for the design & layout, thanks Tetsu & Lia for the photos & thanks Sanna, Dan & Oskar for the posing. You all look great. Except you Dan. Your mask makes your bum look big!

Hot on the heals of Simon & his bid to become our SSI Instructor Trainer is everyone's favourite Frenchman G who will be launching his bid to become our very own Big Blue PADI Course Director. Simo will be able to start his SSI ITC within the next couple of weeks & G can get cracking on his PADI CDC at the beginning of next year. So its the SSI ITC ASAP & G's PADI CDC TBA! TTFN!

Friday 21st August 2009-

Congratulations to 3 of our new Advanced Nitrox divers, Andy, Panos & Jean Louis. The course is designed to train the divers in the benefits, hazards and proper procedures for utilizing Enriched air nitrox through to 100% oxygen for dives not requiring decompression. It's exciting stuff & both Panos & Andy will be continuing this Advanced technical diving when they set off for the depths of the Khao Sok National Park next week to complete their TDI Cavern Course. Technical diving. Not for the faint of heart this tech & cave diving thing but thats alright for these boys. After all Andy was trained by the Royal Marines & served a stint or 2 in Afghanistan. & Panos Iosifoglo is... from... SPARTA! Hoo!

How's this for a free dive- coming face to face with a 50ft female humpback whale. Imagine diving along side one of these great giants of our seas. As we know whales come in all shapes & sizes & one photographed recently measured over 50 feet & is estimated to weigh about 50 tonnes. It is allegedly the smallest man a whale has ever been photographed next to. Or is that the largest whale a man has ever been photographed next to?

Well Simo has his nose in the books right now as he is studying for the big exam! Simon is soon going to be our SSI Instructor Certifier which is the PADI equivalent of the Course Director. So before too long we will be able to train all those interested in becomming SSI Instructors. Which is becomming increasingly more popular. & of course because Big Blue Diving is one of the largest SSI Dive centers in the world old Simo could find himself pretty busy over the next few weeks, months & years! Good luck Simo. Hope you pass the Fizzix Eggsam!

Thursday 20th August 2009-

A few months ago one of the islands dive boats actually sank here on Sairee Reef. It was I believe a case of schoolboy error when the Captain forgot to turn on the bilge pump one stormy night & came to work the next morning to find his boat 6 feet under...water! Anyway its since been delicately lifted & towed to the deeper depths of Japanese Gardens to become for the moment a Koh Tao Wreck Dive! Not quite the type of wreck Canada & his Team at Big Blue Tech are used to diving but Yvonne & her group of Advanced Divers they all thought it was pretty cool! Deep Dive at Chumphon followed by a wreck Dive at Japanese! Sounds pretty cool to me too!

Thai fishermen have been issued a warning against dropping broken trawl nets in the sea, saying the net could kill marine animals, particularly the Ridley's turtle. Swallowing a small piece of net could be very dangerous for marine animals, while larger pieces could trap them & cause drowning. The warning came after a 2 year old Ridley's turtle was found stranded on a beach in Phuket with severe injuries caused by being trapped in a large broken piece of trawl net. The turtle was believed to have been trapped in the net for several days & its front leg was missing presumably cut off as it struggled to free itself. Wounds were also detected on its front right leg & head! Save the turtle! Stop trawling!

"Hi Jim, as I've recently ran out of log space in the little yellow logbook I got doing my OW/AOW/Nitrox with you guys in 2008, I thought I should send you guys a little thank you note for a great introduction to the world of diving. The classes were fun, yet efficient (managed to transition to no-vis and cold water easily), the diving was great and I certainly left Big Blue with a strong urge to dive more and the skills to do it. So send my thanks to Rick, Panos & Celine if they're still around.- Dominic Couture" You're the man Dominic! & Rick & Panos. & yes Celine you are the gal! Cheers for writing in Dominic & see you next year for another logbook!

Wednesday 19th August 2009-

Its been a while since we had any new ones & then 4 come along all at once! I'd like to welcome Nick & Taylor from Californ-I-A & Harry & Guy from Witshi-R-E! The boys have all signed up for their Divemaster Courses so will be swimming & sweating & studying & partying & demonstrating & correcting & listening & lecturing & diving & drinking till the cows come home! Which at Big Blue is an average of about 8 weeks! Welcome to your Divemaster Courses boys! These are going to be the best days of your lives!

"Hi Jim, I left Koh Tao today and Im already up in Bangkok. Sorry I didn't say goodbye, couldn't find you this morning. Just to say thanks for everything, I've had a wonderful time on Koh Tao and at Big Blue. A very warm reception coming back after 4 months and its been great seeing everyone again. Also, thanks for helping me out last week with accommodation and diving, had an excellent week! :) Hopefully will drop into Big Blue next Summer! Cheers, Simon" You're welcome mate it was nice to see you again & appreciate you dropping me a line. See you next year!

K-I-S-S-I-N-G... Thats what we like a woman who knows what she wants & aint afraid to go out & get it! Latest news on the on again off again relationship of the year is that they are on again! Well they were a couple of nights ago but apparently things have changed since then & now they are off again untill the next time she has a drink. So this time tomorrow they're bound to be back together! Must be true love! Congratulations Lara & Deano you make a beautiful couple... yesterday... & in another couple of days time... probably!

Tuesday 18th August 2009-


Another gloriously hot and sunny day on Koh Tao! The full day trip yesterday was very successful, Sail Rock and Southwest were crystal clear, huge schools of barracuda, batfish and fusiliers about, Banzai dropped a load of sunburned but happy fundivers back to Sairee!




Everyone’s working their socks off (hypothetically of course, bare feet and flipflops are the way forward in life!), G’s off out to the Biorock in the morning with a gaggle of enthusiastic DMTs, Jeroen’s got people signing up left right and centre to go freediving, Canada’s starting another techie course tomorrow, and there’s fundivers and open water students aplenty to keep us all busy!


The Big Blue girls have come up with a new idea for our Monday nights – the aptly named ‘Monday Club’ – each week an incredibly fussy and critical team of instructors, dms, dmts and anyone else they pick up along the way head to a different restaurant for fine wine and dining, watch out dining establishments of Koh Tao!




Shopgirl Kate treated herself to a well-deserved day of relaxation at the Jamakhiri spa, and who should she see up there also but DM Duncan, revelling in his femininity whilst getting his nails done! He’s obviously trying to spruce himself up for Mickey’s return in a few weeks…he’s got a long way to go, some say he’s fighting a losing battle, the rest would be more mean!




Preparations are underway for the up and coming cave trip to Khao Sok, compressed are prepped, reels are being reeled, longtails getting booked, P’Tea’s got a holiday...who's up for some cavern diving?!




Sunday August 16th 2009-




What an enormous success our Free dorm rooms are proving to be! 3 bunk beds or 6 beds all with their own individual light, Air conditioning, hot water shower, fridge & individual lockers & all of which is for FREE on the days you dive or 200 Bt per bed on the days you don't dive. What a bargain! Especially for the single travellers who are looking to meet people, go places & do things! PADI loves these rooms!


Well Rick has been a busy little chap organising the new Liveaboard Big Blue will be operating in the Similan Islands next season. & the bookings are already starting to pour in as the season advances. Come November the 1st Rick will be standing on the end of the pier as he waves goodbye to his first Liveaboard voyage of the season to the Similans & Koh Bon, Koh Tachai, & Richelieu Rock. Waving with 1 hand & wiping away an emotional tear with the other. Its like sending your baby off for the 1st day of school.






Simon is back & he's brought more hair back with him than he had when he left. Hippy Simon! & he's also brought his better half Jodie back with him as well. & other better half , Hairless Keith! & as soon as Hippy & Hairless are back they are working! Simon is straight into an SSI Stress & Rescue Course & Keith is taking a posse of excited Open Water Divers off for their first Advanced Dives this afternoon. Welcome back boys. Time to get you working again & lose some of the pies you've been eating while you've been away!







Friday August 14th 2009-




Not a bad day for marine life yesterday. 1 of our boats got to dive with the whale shark at White Rock. 1 of our boats managed to squeeze in a snorkel with a pod of pilot whales just off Sairee Reef beleive it or not! & Our Full Day Trip managed to spend a bit of time with another mobular ray! Not a bad day! Not as good as being able to find a guitar shark, a dolphin & a manta ray but not bad!








'Imagine what people would say if a band of hunters strung a mile of net between 2 immense all-terrain vehicles & dragged it at speed across the plains of Africa. This fantastical assemblage, like something from a Mad Max movie, would scoop up everything in its way: predators, such as lions & cheetahs, lumbering endangered herbivores, such as rhinos & elephants, herds of impala & wildebeest, family groups of warthog & wild dog. Pregnant females would be swept up & carried along, with only the smallest juveniles able to wriggle through the mesh. Picture how the net is constructed, with a huge metal roller attached to the leading edge. This rolling beam smashes & flattens obstructions, flushing creatures into the approaching filaments. The effect of dragging a huge iron bar across the Savannah is to break off every outcrop, uproot every tree bush & flowering plant, stirring columns of birds into the air. Left behind is a strangely bedraggled landscape resembling a harrowed field. The industrial hunter gatherers now stop to examine the tangled mess of writhing or dead creatures behind them. There are no markets for about a third of the animals they have caught because they don't taste too good, or because they are simply too small or too squashed. This pile of corpses is dumped on the plain to be consumed by carrion. This efficient but highly unselective way of killing animals is known as trawling!" Taken from the Book "The End of the Line" by Charles Clover.








Well the manic rush has subsided alot now. Word is that there are no more rooms left on Koh Tao & though that may well have been true a couple of days ago it just aint so now! We got bungalows by the beach budget & luxurious. We got rooms with fan or AC, we got cold water or hot water. I got dorms, singles, doubles, triples & with the boss away I even have the keys for his house & we can squeeze a whole posse of people in there! So now there's no excuse to not come & visit the best island in Thailand! (as voted by the Koh Tao Tourism Authority!)








Thursday August 13th 2009-





Right on time! Whaleshark at White Rock! Perfect timing for all our Full Moon Party people who were diving this morning with it! Not bad is it. Only 2 dives out in the open ocean & then wham dive 3 with a Whaleshark! Jacques Cousteau would be turning in his grave after he spent 20 years searching for what was then the elusive whaleshark. Still Jacques never dived with Big Blue though I bet he wished he had! Could have saved himself a few years of wrinkled skin!

It is known as the ultimate 80s fashion piece for men and has graced many an embarrassing holiday snap, but it could be the end of an era for the humble Speedo 'Hurrah!' The Alton Towers Resort in the UK has declared a war on the minute swimwear, in a bid to maintain Britain's modesty and prevent embarrassment among fellow members of the public. 'We feel this small brief style is not appropriate for a family venue so we are advising male bathers to wear more protective swimwear such as shorts.' The decision is somewhat contrary to the stance taken by many resorts, particularly in France, & funnily enough at the Andaman Club in Burma when you do your visa runs here, because Speedos are considered more sanitary than their more modern counterparts, the boardshort!

Well despite the madness of the last few days (congratulations on handling all that Amanda), we are still able to organise a Full Day Trip to Sail Rock today. & the weather is gorgeous at the moment & so is the diving so it should be a fantastic day out. Fried Breakfast followed by 3 dives in the Gulf of Thailands best dive sites & then the worlds best Massaman Chicken Curry! Don't give the leftovers to Rick tho! Last time we did that he put it in an empty water bottle but after a couple of hours the curry exploded in his bag! Messy Massaman!

Monday, August 10th 2009

Well, the Full Moon rush is actually happening. People are flocking from Koh Phangan every day, Kayleigh is running around Sairee Beach every morning to find some more rooms to accommodate all our customers, Jim and the DMs are hunting for any extra piece of diving equipment they can get their hands on, the restaurant and bar are packed all day (and night) long. And all our customers get a room to sleep in, dive gear to swim underwater and they can even order food and drinks when not on the boat, all served with a smile. Well done everyone, let’s keep up the good work!

Congratulations Toby! After 5 weeks of hard work assisting, leading, passing exams and other extra-curricular activities, he is a now a professional Divemaster. Now, as you know, this always ends with a challenge. Toby proved to us last night that he was not only a great diver by performing a boozy check or doing press ups with a tank, he also reminded the crowd that he was a great German by giving us a great demonstration on how to dance to David Hasselhoff hits!

Now Emily, let’s watch what we say to our students, shall we? This morning, when getting off the longtail after the dives, one of Emily’s students felt disappointed that everybody else had picked up a bag, any bag, two if they felt strong (you know the story…) and he had nothing to carry. So Emily cleverly suggested that he picked her up, without hesitation, the young lad hastily grabbed his instructor and carried her on his shoulder. At this time, we are still trying to find out with rinse tank he dropped her in!

Saturday 8th August 2009-
Whaleshark! About time too! Must be something to do with the moon, the tide change, the fact that everyone else is coming to Koh Tao so why not Whalesharks aswell? And the visibility at Southwest Pinnacle this morning is wide open so anyone who went diving saw the Whaleshark this morning poncing around at Southwest. Well anyone who didn't dive with Big Blue saw it! We were at Chumphon! Doh!

Andy Griggs! What a nice surprise. & then Alex Daluisio! Not 1 but 2 of our olde Instructors from days of yesteryear or 2 ago has popped back to say hi & whats cooking? In fact there are a few old faces hanging around at the moment. We got Graphic Designer Caz & China Nora, Hoang from Holland, & then there's Keith Blues Bros Angles on his way too. Just one big happy magnet around here! See you all at beer o'clock!

In an effort to help the world last a little bit longer & decrease our own demand for water & its consequential plastic waste we are proud to present you with a water 'Cooler Jacket'. These ingenius environmental contraptions have a thermal sheet in side which keeps your ice cold bottle of water ice cold all day! & if you buy one of these then you can fill up your water everyday you stay with us for free! Free Water! Save money!Reduce plastic bottle waste! & keep your water cold all day even when you are on the boat! Go green! Save Water! Yours now for only 400 Bt!

Friday 7th August 2009-

Ok guys & gals, its the busiest week of the year! All action stations at the ready. Kate & Por our shopgirls are ready to show you your rooms. Today Soren is at the ready to answer your questions. Amanda has the boats ready. Kayleigh has the keys ready & Sonia & Yvonne are on standby in case we need back up! The beds are made, the rooms are clean. The classrooms have been chilled, the toilet seats warmed, our taxi's are on the pier, & we're all just waiting... waiting... for the Full Moon Party rush. I know its coming I can feel the ground move!

Well the Big Blue chicks are back after their night of debauchery & misdemeanours & look ridiculous with their neon face paint. Apparently the party was packed to the rafters with over 20000 revellers partying like its two thousand zero zero nine! Anyway it was all a great success & Sonia said she can't wait to do it all again next month! And the month after that, and the month after that!

Nice one Kayleigh. Yesterday afternoon Kayleigh got her hands dirty along with another 100 volunteer conservationists who all got together at the Tanote Bay Water Reservoir which is a Koh Tao initiative to help solve our water shortage issues that effect us every summer. Kayleigh spent the afternoon planting trees & vetiver grass to harden up the soil to make it firmer, stronger & less resistant to erosion & mudslides, thereby ensuring a successful sturdy reservoir! Nice one Kayleigh.Go Green!


Thursday 6th August 2009-



Its now official! As of today Big Blue Diving now has their very own luxury Liveaboard boat in the Similan Islands! Welcome to MV Pawara - 32m in length, and built of steel making her one of the largest liveaboards plying the western Indian Ocean. She takes a total of 20 divers in 10 air conditioned cabins on regular departures. She has two types of cabins deluxe and standard, and both types are air conditioned, have twin beds and en suite bathrooms. The huge interior saloon seats everyone comfortably and is completely air-conditioned & she has a 'breakfast nook' and briefing room right next to the dive deck so you can duck in for a quick bite or a cup of tea without having to walk upstairs to another deck. And she also has a huge dive deck and dive platform making getting in and out of the water a breeze. One of the finest boats cruising the Similan & Surin Islands & its ours! How exciting!



The Big Blue Ladies are all off to the Full Moon Party tonight in Koh Phangan so are spending the afternoon putting on their make up, fixing the stilettos on their high heels & ironing their bikinis in preparation for their all night Full Moon Bikini party! Yvonne has managed to bully Sonia, Emily, Kelli, & Lara & about 15 of their recent dive students to all come along for the night as well! Actually they have been extremely cunning in getting Jim to allow them the time off work to go by making Emily sunbathe topless outside the dive shop all afternoon! What a nice boss! Have a great party ladies! Remember don't take anything to Koh Phangan you don't want to lose! May as well leave your top here Emily!



Congratulations Jim ( If I dare say so myself) for having completed his beginner Freediving Course with Jeroen our Big Blue Free Diving Instructor. He has successfully descended, & more importantly ascended from a maximum depth of 23 meters with just a single breath of air! Lungs the size of melons! Next step is the Advanced Free Diver Course where he shall attempt to descend down to a maximum depth of 30 meters though he might have to wait a few days till he has a go at that depth. For that you need balls the size of melons!





Monday August 3rd- 2009-

Should I tell? Should I spill the secret? Should I? Could I? No I mustn't! Bringing attention to it will just make the whole thing fall flat on on its arse! But it is very exciting & when word gets out its going to make some people very aroused & others very jealous! So what is it then? Well I can't really tell you all I can say is it involves 5 days 4 nights 3 men 2 fat ladies & a boat! & no I'm not just talking Bingo! Can you guess what it is yet? Answers on a postcard & watch this space for more news! Clickety click & Buckle my shoe!


What is it with a divers fascination for doing their 100th dive in their Birthday Suit? Congratulations Tobi for turning 100 on your night dive last night. & so kind of you to share your kleiner weiner with the nocturnal undersea world! Lucky you didn't bump into a Hermit crab though isn't it. They like small cockles & limpbits!


Congratulations G & his team of very clever friends who won last nights Island Pub Quiz at Dirty Nellies. G, Barry, Emily, Helen, & Kelli, marched away with the winnings after competing in a gruelling sweatsoaked blood stained bout of who knows more useless information than you do competition. It was decided that G & Barry know more crap than the chicks! But hey we all knew that already eh boys! Congratulations all of you on your 179 bt winnings!