I don’t
have any underwater pictures to share with you yet, I want to get better on
diving before bringing my camera down with me.
On the 7th
we went to Tanote Bay to maintain the reef-balls.
The reef balls are made of cement and half a sphere, there are holes in them to provide a place for fish and other organisms to seek protection and shelter from predators.
On top of the balls corals are either put in tubes already on the balls or glued on with epoxy. Imagine a glue working in water J
We started out by collecting coral fragments which was then added to the corals already on the reef balls.
The reef balls are made of cement and half a sphere, there are holes in them to provide a place for fish and other organisms to seek protection and shelter from predators.
On top of the balls corals are either put in tubes already on the balls or glued on with epoxy. Imagine a glue working in water J
We started out by collecting coral fragments which was then added to the corals already on the reef balls.
Then we had
the weekend off
Monday the
10th of February we went to Aow Leuk to practice EMP (Ecological
Monitoring Program). I first had a lecture on fish and what kind of species we
were sampling data on and how to do the EMP survey.
After the lecture we went off to Aow Leuk.
It was a very nice dive, with good visibility and I managed to recognize some of the species we were looking for.
After the lecture we went off to Aow Leuk.
It was a very nice dive, with good visibility and I managed to recognize some of the species we were looking for.
Feb 11th
First we had a lecture in BioRock technology, how it works and why corals on a BioRock is more resilient and grows faster.
After the lecture we went off to BioRock. I was assigned to do my favorite duty, cleaning up. Which in this case meant cutting of old strings from corals that had attached to the steel substrate by secreting calcium carbonate.
It was fantastic to see the growth on these structures.
First we had a lecture in BioRock technology, how it works and why corals on a BioRock is more resilient and grows faster.
After the lecture we went off to BioRock. I was assigned to do my favorite duty, cleaning up. Which in this case meant cutting of old strings from corals that had attached to the steel substrate by secreting calcium carbonate.
It was fantastic to see the growth on these structures.
Feb 12th
Today we prepared for a school class from an international school in Bangkok which is arriving this weekend.
They will learn about artificial reefs and marine conservation. They will also get to put corals to a nursery so we made the preparations for that.
First half of the group made a frame of PVC, while the other group (that I was on) took measures and checked the health of the Green Turtles in the dive shops turtle tanks.
We measure the length, check their weight and look for any health problems.
When they’ve reached a certain weight and length and are healthy, they are released.
After the PVC-frame was assembled we all went out to Chalok Bay to complete the coral “collector”. We collected big fragments and attached to ropes on the PVC frame.
Today we prepared for a school class from an international school in Bangkok which is arriving this weekend.
They will learn about artificial reefs and marine conservation. They will also get to put corals to a nursery so we made the preparations for that.
First half of the group made a frame of PVC, while the other group (that I was on) took measures and checked the health of the Green Turtles in the dive shops turtle tanks.
We measure the length, check their weight and look for any health problems.
When they’ve reached a certain weight and length and are healthy, they are released.
After the PVC-frame was assembled we all went out to Chalok Bay to complete the coral “collector”. We collected big fragments and attached to ropes on the PVC frame.
Feb 13th
First I had an EMP-lecture on substrate.
After that the team went to Sairee to conduct the surveys, for me it was only a practice survey, the data I collected will not be used of course, first I need to get better.
It was a really shallow dive, only about 4 meters max, was a bit difficult staying in the right position but I managed to do OK on that survey. Chad was doing the same survey and he compared my sighting with his. I made a couple of wrong judgements, but overall I did ok.
I also put down the transect line for the survey.
First I had an EMP-lecture on substrate.
After that the team went to Sairee to conduct the surveys, for me it was only a practice survey, the data I collected will not be used of course, first I need to get better.
It was a really shallow dive, only about 4 meters max, was a bit difficult staying in the right position but I managed to do OK on that survey. Chad was doing the same survey and he compared my sighting with his. I made a couple of wrong judgements, but overall I did ok.
I also put down the transect line for the survey.
Feb 14th
Today we first had a seahorse-lecture and after
that we went off to Sai Tong to do what is called a muck dive. A muck dive is a
dive you do where it’s only sand, silt or clay, organisms are that visible and
abundant.We went to about 17 metres, and it was really nice to do a deeper dive, it is so much easier keeping your buoyancy and positions when you don’t have the surge from the ocean and only weak currents.
The visibility sometimes was really really bad, you couldn’t even see your own fins. Luckily we had a V-shaped rope where each person had her/his position so no one got lost J
We didn’t find any seahorses though, but overall it was a perfect Valentine’s dive.
The hardest part was getting on the boat J The waves were pretty big and the boat wasn’t moored so you had to be quick getting up.
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