South to the Reefs

From Bangkok, we flew south to begin our hands-on coral reef conservation studies.   Day one included two dives on nice reefs so the instructors could evaluate our students diving skills, and to give the students some experience diving in open water.  They all did very well.

Our early morning flight from Bangkok was on a Thai Airways 747.

Sara and Jake are comparing their new sunglasses.  Sara is wondering why her 3-dollar specs say "Ray Bam."

We have classroom sessions each day in which the students learn aspects of tropical coral reefs.

No, we don't have to wear matching shirts or uniforms.  We each just got a dive shop t-shirt.

We're on our way out to Ko Bida Nok, the first dive of our program.  It's rather nice here.  

Carley and Anna on the dive boat.

Olivia, Carley, and Jess preparing their dive gear.

Divemaster Jacob, Carlie, Gabi, Kelly, and Hally posing for a photo while they get suited up for their first dive.  There was widespread nervous excitement about what was to come.

For our first dive, we had great conditions:  excellent visibility, little to no current, and LOTS of things to see underwater.

Carley (L) and Anna (R) enjoying their first dive.

Here's a sizable school of yellow snappers.

This dive featured interesting underwater topography with swim-throughs.

These are moorish idols.  You might remember this beautiful species from Finding Nemo.

I bet you've never seen or heard of bubble coral.  Turtles love to eat this.

Here's a hawksbill turtle grazing on algae.

A barrel sponge, soft corals, other invertebrates, and lots and lots of fish.