2014 soon over

Today is the last day of 2014 at work. Celebrating this with a new haircut which was done at By Barda and the magical Sofia, she's the best!

My 2014 looks as it has been pretty awesome when I watch this, and it was pretty cool. It was also a year with disappointments, learning, challenging myself and so much love and friendships (new and old).
I think that 2015 will be filled with even more awesomeness, hope to see the friends I miss so much, especially Felicity, the strongest, fiercest, coolest and bravest person I know!

Here's my 2014 on Koh Tao where I met old and new friends, learnt so much about myself and marine conservation!
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10203415371325012&l=1092723724153650272

Want a different kind of vacation?

Want to have the best holiday you've ever had?

Go and volunteer with the fantastic dedicated team at New Heaven Reef Conservation Program! 

I promise you it'll be the best time ever, and who knows it might even change your life!

http://www.newheavendiveschool.com/marine-conservation-thailand/marine-conservation-courses/

One of the beautiful bays on Koh Tao

Here's a great article about the past, present and future of one of the bays on Koh Tao. I have snorkelled and dived there and it is a pretty amazing place.
This is the bay where I for the first time in my life had the fantastic privilege to see the majestic and wonderful creatures, the sharks.

http://www.newheavendiveschool.com/articles/present-future-koh-taos-shark-bay/

New beginning, new adventures

February 1st it's time for take-off again.
This time I don't have much planned except going further with my diving and learning much more about our oceans.
I will start on Koh Tao and then I will go where ever I want to go.
I won't be going back to my old job, I'm working my last day January 31st! This time I am really quitting :)
My apartment is rented out until last January 2016, and I'm staying with my parents until I leave.
Before leaving I'm gonna spend as much time as possible with my family, especially my sister, and friends.
It's gonna be an adventure!

Been home for 5 weeks

I've now been home for 5,5 weeks and working for 4 weeks.
It feels like I've been home for over a year, can't believe how boring it is to do office work.
It's been wonderful to see family and friends, enjoy good food and drink and just being around people you love.
The problem is the Monday-Friday part, when I have to sit in the office doing my job. Of course I still do my job to the best of my ability but I feel stronger and stronger that this is not for me, at least not now.
I want to travel, dive, learn more about marine conservation etc. I want to be outdoors in the wonderful nature, I want to move around, try a different life style.

I have some thoughts, and depending on what the answers will be I might be off again not to far ahead.

I just hope I can find my place in this world, find my happiness and something to do that feels meaningful.

Of course I also want to return to New Heaven Dive School on Koh Tao, at least spend a few weeks/months there with the wonderful people there.
I also want to go back to TRACC Borneo, by the looks of it they have made such amazing progress in the hands of Professor Steve Oakley and his team.

I do realize that finding a paid job diving and doing marine conservation won't be easy for me since I don't have any higher education in this field. But I think I'm willing to take that chance.
Finding a job when coming back to Stockholm will be real hard but I don't think I should let that scare me out of doing what I believe is what I want.

Hmmm...

Dengue

Yes, I got it! I got the fever on the 19th and then had three days with 41, day 4 it went down to 38,5, that's when I went to the clinic to have the blood sample. And yes it was confirmed Dengue, day 5 and 6 the fever went up to 39,5 and then it was gone.
When the fever went away I got the rash all over my body and when that disappeared after a few days I started the road to recovery.
I've lost quite some weight and have been very weak, but slowly slowly I'm building up my strength again.
I haven't been diving yet, but I think I will go out tomorrow and give it a try.
We're doing EMP tomorrow so then I can do a shallow dive and see that everything feels alright.
Today the team went to the Sattakutt wreck and I thought that diving to down to 26 meters might be a bit dangerous after feeling weak.
Tomorrow hopefully I'm back diving and can get some more photos posted :)

Tomorrow it's only one week until I leave for home :( It feels really strange and sad to go home but I already know that I will go back here soon again.

Apart from having Dengue and being weak I haven't done much at all for the last couple of weeks, I'll have to make up for that my last week.

I'll leave Koh Tao on the 11th and then stay in Novotel in Bangkok for a few days before boarding the flight back home.
I do look forward to seing my parents, my sister and Terry though and have barbecue with beef, garlic, onions, corn and new potatoes! And also a seafood platter at Oyster Bar! And a steak tartar!!! Yummy!!

12 days outside the water

Today is my twelfth day without diving, and 6 days to go, not that I'm counting or anything :)

Today and tomorrow is the Save Koh Tao Festival:
http://www.newheavendiveschool.com/koh-tao-news/koh-tao-festival/

I'd love to go over to Sairee and participate but after a 14 hour shift yesterday I'm feeling pretty tired. Maybe I'll go there tomorrow instead.

Working at the dive shop is going alright, only one day was really a pain in the ass, but otherwise things has run ok. Things are a bit disorganized, bookings not put in the hotel-booking-schedule (bookings made that I'm not involved in), misunderstandings with pick-ups etc, luckily I've managed to fix things so that the customers seems to be happy. I love to have it organized around me, and I try my best to do the same while working in the dive shop. I see a lot of things that would improve with a bit more planning and organisation, but since I'm only there for a short time there's nothing I can do except telling Dev when he comes back about my thoughts.

A few days ago I had the most warming words from one of our hotel customers "Without you, my experience here wouldn't have been as great as it was, you made my visit to Koh Tao fantastic"

The stormy weather we had recently has finally died down, so it was a really hot day at the dive school today. I got to close earlier today due to the festival and the boat guys and Zo (the jack of all trades who keep everything running when it comes to the dive school) have had the whole day of.

One of our three boats are broken and can't leave the bay where it's moored up, my experience in logistics will be helpful for the next couple of days until the boat is repaired I think. I also have Zo to help me out.
Even though I loved the windy and stormy weather we've had for a few days, I hope it will stay sunny and calm cause with one boat less we really need good weather so that both our conservation team and our other customers can get a great experience.

I've moved my office in the dive school outside, cause there are like a billion mutaded mosquitoes living under the desk and shelf where I'm supposed to sit. I've tried mosquito repellant, curls and everything and they still attack, that's why I think they must be mutants. Stand there for 2 minutes and you have 10 new bites. Before this work at the dive school I had a total of less than 10 bites :)

That's all for now and Happy midsummer to my friends and family in Sweden!

"working"

Well...since the 10th of June I've been stranded on land, and will be that until the 24th. Really, really, really longing for the 25th to come so I can get back in the water with my conservation team!
I'm currently in the dive shop taking hotel bookings, arranging pick-ups, payments, check-in, check-out and also planning the dives for the next day, book in divers and new Open Water students etc.
Devrim, the owner, needed to go to England for a wedding and asked me if I could help him out since he didn't have anyone managing everything when he was away.
It is quite interesting and I do learn a lot about all things involved to run a smooth and organized dive shop.
Especially now when the dive boats can't go out from Chalok, instead the are taken by car to a drop-off point where the longtail take them out to the dive boats.
Luckily I have people around me who can help me out with the dive planning. Planning fun dives and dive courses are very different from the conservation dives I normally do.
It's busy in the morning before the divers go out, then it is a bit slower during the day untill the divers come back.
I will be here 15 days straight from 7.30 til 19 every day :) If it is a night dive I don't leave the dive shop until 21 :)
I have realized how hot and sticky you get when you can't go into the water anything during the days.

So you will all have to wait for new under water photos :)

The weather has been a bit on the windy, rainy and cooler side for a few days, it was really nice. But today it's hot and sunny again. But according to the weather forecast the wind and rain will be back shortly.
Cloudy, rain and strong winds are just what we need for the corals that are already showing strong signs of bleaching. Hopefully the ocean will cool down a bit if the strong winds, rain and clouds continue for a while.

Can't belive I'll be going home soon, it feels so strange. I'm happy that I'll get to end my stay here with 3 more weeks of conservation.

All is very well here and so far I've managed not to blow the dive shop up :) And customers, co-workers etc seems to be happy with how I manage everything :)

Fun dive yesterday

Yesterday I went for 2 fun dives together with New Heaven.
First we went to Chumpon in the hope that the whale shark spotted the day before was still there, but of course it wasn't.
I dove with a few from the conservation team, it was a nice dive. After Chumpon we went to White Rock where only me and Rahul was diving together. It was so nice, relaxing and wonderful. Of course, being conservationists and all, we also did the secco-disc in three different depths :) Secci-disk is a black and white disc that you use to check the visibility in the water.
It was absolutely fantastic and it was a real joy just doing a fun dive.
I also got to practice on my underwater photographing, I still need to take loads more pictures, but at least I'm slowly slowly improving :)

In the evening I went to Bizarro and enjoyed Tapas and  glass of red wine.While I was there thunder, lightning and heavy rain come in over Koh Tao, it was amazing!

Today I've spent the entire day at the dive shop uploading photos and my blog, internet is pretty slow today so it's taken most of the day.
Tonight I'll make myself a feta cheese sallad and watch Sons of anarchy

Redbreasted wrasse

Emperor fish

Longfin bannerfish

Kuala Lumpur

The Sama-Sama hotel Kuala Lumpur was pretty fantastic.
I had a haircut, a facial, went to the gym, was lazy by the swimming pool and enjoyed really good lamb chops and sirloin steak! I also had the best breakfast buffe I've ever had.
Sama-Sama was a really nice place to stay for a few days, the staff were really helpful and service minded.
The room was nice and the bed was amazingly comfortable.

I got back on Koh Tao Monday afternoon and on Tuesday I was back with conservation again, it was wonderful to get back into "work".

It's been a nice busy week with both diving and land work.

From the 10th of June until the 24th of June I will be handling the dive shop and administratiion with the different places to rent that are connected to the diveshop. I'll also handle all the money in and out, dive planning etc etc. Luckily I have some great people around me in the dive instructors, DMs and the other staff, people I think will help me out with the stuff that I'm new to.
It's a big trust Dev has given me and I will do my very best to do an excellent job even if this is something completely new for me.
Dev asked for my help since he needed to go to England for a wedding, and of course I wanted to help him out. But I will miss "my" conservation team and diving loads!!

I'm getting closer and closer to my 100th dive. Tradition is that you do that one naked but since I don't want to kill of all the marine life by giving them a heart attack I'll keep clothes on :)

I'm also posting a few photos from when I was on Koh Samui to see my sister. These restaurants serve sharks, and I hope people will not support their business. Sharks are not only very rare their meat is also filled with toxins and urea!

Kuala Lumpur on Friday

Friday morning I leave Koh Tao for getting my next 60 days. Also this time I'm going to Kuala Lumpur, but to another hotel which looks really nice.
http://www.samasamahotels.com/home

I going to enjoy their swimming pool, the fitness center and I think I will go to the beauty salon (I really need to get scrubbed and my skin is in desperate need for a facial :)) and of course their food, which by the looks of it will be pretty amazing.
With a little luck I might even be able to get my hair cut, it is really really in need of that. I'm starting to look like a scarecrow.
I am also going to enjoy things we normally take for granted, like hot water, clean sheets, fast internet and a nice bed and a TV :)

I'll post my review of the things I try out there, and you'll probably gonna get lots of food pictures :)

It's going to be nice just to be by myself for a few days, relaxing.

I'm most of you already know, but the Thai military has taken over power. They got tired of the fights that's been going on in Bangkok for quite some time.
There are no restrictions for tourists or anything, and of course here on Koh Tao everything is peaceful and lovely as always. I didn't even know about the Military siezing power (haven't watched the news for ages) until someone told me about it.

Two sea snakes!!!

Today we had a day off from work and did a fun dive at the Satakutt wreck and Pee Wee Rock. At Pee Wee we saw not only one sea snake but two!!
It was amazing!

Wohooo!! It's Monday!!

Mondays are EMP (Ecological Monitoring Program) day!!

After a relaxing weekend where I spent most of my time in the diveshop doing some touching up on the slates, data entering and also learning a little about how to run the dive shop and hotels, it is finally Monday!
Friday we also had a good bye dinner for Michelle, and she and I + a couple of the guys went for a drink after. She's a lovely lady and I will miss having her around, even though she was only here for a short time.

Today I did fish EMP and also a photo transect in Chalok Bay, after that I entered the data in our database.
Sadly the corals are not looking great, it is a lot of bleaching in them, it is really heartbreaking to see.
After my job was done I swam around and actually managed to take two of my best photos so far, one is of a Bluespotted Ribbontail Ray and the other of a beautful marbled Seacucmber feeding. Maybe my photoskills underwater is improving, guess you'll be the judge of that. :)

I'm looking forward to my trip to Kuala Lumpur this weekend, I'll be staying for 3 nights at Sama Sama hotel. Their reviews are really good and I can't wait to have a hot shower, sleep in crispy sheets, go to the gym and enjoy the absolutely wonderful Malaysian cuisine. For me, Malay food is the best in the world.

Yesterday I also had a call from my mum and dad, it always lifts my spirits talking to them. They are the best parents anyone could ask for, and I look forward seeing them in a few months.

Between June 10 until 23rd I wont do any diving unfortunately. Dev (he's the owner of the dive shop, Kopee cafe and hotel and Ban Talay resort) asked me to help him out. He'll be going to England and asked me to handle everything when he's away. He's giving me a big show of confidence in my ability to handle all the dive planning, hotel planning etc, and I am a bit nervous. I really don't want to let him down. I will do the best I can and hopefully that will be enough, I will now in about 1 month time. The good thing is that I will have a great team if dive instructors, Dive Master and the local staff to help me out.
This job is not something I want to do, I'm doing it to gain a new experience but mostly to help Dev out. Of course I will also do my very best to make things easier for Chad in the conservation by entering data, cleaning up and fixing stuff.
It's good that I get my 3 days in KL before, so I am rested :)
Biggest bummer is that my 100 dive would have been on the 10th but then I will be on land, perhaps I will have to squeeze in an extra dive before that :)
100 dive is a naked dive, hahaha, don't think I will do it naked though, wouldn't want to give the fish a heart attack.

I've been doing my conservation internship for about 3,5 months now and I'm loving it. Every day you learn something new or see something new or just manage to get a good photo. Chad is the heart and soul of the New Heaven Reef Conservation Program, he's not only a brilliant teacher who knows so much about the marine environment around Koh Tao, he is also an amazing teacher and on top of that a great guy. He's also got a fantastic team working for him, Play, Pau and Rahul who are just as keen on teaching you and answering all your questions.
The thing that still bugs me is tying knots :) I've been practicing and practicing but it is something with tying knots and my brain that just don't seem to be compatible, but I will keep on training.

Last night I watched Sherlock Holmes 2 and had a wonderful pizza from Fishies, with half of it left and still loads of movies and the hard drive Dave (DMT in New Heaven) lent to me, tonight will be cold pizza and movie :)

Bluespotted ribbontails ray, my best fish photo so far

Marbles seacucumber feeding. To me it is beautiful!

Monday!!

When the weekend comes I always long for Mondays!

Had a wonderful EMP-Monday today. Before I started my fish survey I saw a seasnake! They are absolutely beautiful, so graceful and amazing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banded_sea_krait

I did the fish survey and also the photo transect where you take a photo every meter of the 100 m line. I hope the pictures will work, I'll get feed-back tomorrow.

Now I'm sitting on my balcony enjoying the breeze, it might actually be a storm coming, the wind is picking up!! Really really hope I will finally have my first real tropical storm since I got here.

It is nice and cool this evening, can't be more than 26 degrees.

I just hope the storm will come, it's already getting a bit more calm....

Sitting here on my balcony after an amazing day with New Heaven Reef Conservation Program, I can't think of anything I'd rather do! It's not just the diving it's the planning, logistics etc... I get to use the skills I've gathered during all my years of working and at the same time learn so much more things.

Sea snake

Porquipine fish

Parrot fish

heavy lifting

It's been a wonderful week of diving with surveys, artificial reef maintenance and building two concrete mooring blocks in Chalok.
Concrete is heavy in the water, let me tell you it's even more heavy on land. Yesterday we moved 25 pieces of concrete with an average weight of 70 kg's. After moving them on land we also had to install them in the water (that was the easy part :))
After we had fisnied installing the first longtail boat come and we watched it use one of our newly created moorings, that felt pretty good.
During May loads more of these will be installed around the island, This is a collaboration between the DMCR (Department of Marine and Coastal Resources), longtail captains and us.
The negative from ysterday was that when I packed my gear my regulator was missing from the dive school. After all dive boats were back from the dive we all checked through everything again, but no sign of my reg.
I mentioned that I was going to the police today to file a report for insurance purposes, and two hours after that it mysteriuosly re-appeared.... Don't know who had it or who brought it to the shop.
I'm happy to have my reg back put unfortunately whoever took it has scratched and made a crack and the glass on the pressure gauge, the dust cap wasn't screwed in properly either. Monday I go back diving so then I will see if the crack in the glass is to deep and if there is something else that person has done with my reg.
I'm very disappointed in whoever took it, from now on I will keep my reg and BCD with me, even if that means that I have to carry it back and forth from my home every day.
The good thing is that I also discovered that it is some great people out there. One person here on Koh Tao contacted me when she heard the news and offered to lend me an old reg that was newly serviced for my rest of my stay here. That was so very kind of her.

News flash! I now know who took my reg and will have a word with him about the scratched glass! It was one of the freelance dive instructors who took mine instead of his own, how he can make that mistake I have no idea since me reg is very different and weigh much less than the other private regs here.

Here's some more pictures for you.

Storm over Koh Phangnan and Koh Samui, blue skys over Koh Tao

One of the turtles we saw at Hing Nam pinnacle

A marbled seacucumber feeding, they are so cool

Isn't it beautiful?

A young coral fighting for survival amongst all the algae

A young and an old boring clam