"Coral Chaos"

Hellooooo!  It's very rainy right now, so I'm more willing to sit at my computer instead of sunning myself on the beach, haha.  Hopefully it's just temporary bad weather and not an early start to the monsoon season!

I've been pretty busy since I've returned from BKK.  I got my DMT exams #1-3 out of the way, but those were the easy ones.  I have 4 exams left: Physics, Physiology, Equipment, and Skills & Environment, booooo.  I haven't been studying much, just lots of fun diving.  I can actually start assisting instructors in courses now that I've done exams #1-3, but I'm nervous.  I've done an unofficial assist on a Rescue Diver course, which basically entailed me being a "panicked diver" or "tired diver" or general "victim" and it was pretty tiring, pretending to drown.  Also, being manhandled and having to act unconscious while being hauled onto the boat resulted in a few bruises, hahah.

I've seen so many amazing things underwater this past week:

blue-spotted ray and white-eyed moray, just hanging out together, chillin'

Scribble Filefish, who wasn't shy at all

GIANT moray eel (those fish are approximately finger-sized)

a grumpy Hexagon Grouper, who seemed to be saying, "get off my lawn!"

super cute puffer/porcupine fish, with a nice smile

At Sail Rock, I found my first nudibranch!  Granted, I was specifically looking for it and didn't just happen upon it, but still!  I'm very proud of myself, haha.  I think I'm getting better at spotting interesting marine life amongst the coral.

Phidiana militaris

Here's a size comparison so you can see how tiny it is:

yep, that's my finger

I was pretty stoked about that...

I am working on making my backflips more graceful, haha.

DMTs, yeah!

Then Sascha returned from his long trip to Bangkok, so some of the gals hosted a Wine & Cheese Party ... SO much delicious cheese!

I <3 Brie and apples

Another recent event was our first Activity Day, which we hosted for a large group of newly certified Open Water Divers, as a way to generate publicity.  We christened it "Coral Chaos" (because our resort is named Coral Grand) and it was a lot of fun.  It made me miss HMC's DOS Activities so much!  I was involved in the planning, but during the actual event, I participated as part of the DMT team.

billboard I wrote (we changed it up a bit during the event)

MC Phil getting ready to PUMP IT UP

I may have gotten a little TOO into it, haha

pass the mango to the back, and then crawl through your teammates' legs...

the fin and mask relay was extra funny

we substituted inflatables for kayaks, and the results were fantastic

we lost at tug-of-war :(

DMT Jesper couldn't handle the wheelbarrow

More pics on facebook, very soon.  We all got at least two shades darker than day, haha.

Apparently, International Clean-Up Day is September 25th, so all free staff and DMTs went around collecting trash on the roads and the beach, and then on the reef.  On the reef we actually brought up a lot of grody bottles, and cut free a net and some rope tangled around the coral.  I didn't have my camera with me, obviously, which was a shame because Greg (my DMT diving buddy) and I saw a giant black porcupine (puffer) fish, with crazy-looking teeth.  We also saw a goatfish, and not one, but TWO rarely-seen juvenile Harlequin Sweetlips.  Here's a googled image for your reference:

SO cool.

cheesy group photo

I played volleyball with the Thai staff (tank boys) afterward, during the sunset.

Yesterday was Sascha's Bday, and he made delicious Swedish meatballs at Nad's house.

yay for boys who cook!

fun with Scott's wig

our newest DMT, Thomas

so many fireworks (big, proper fireworks, lit by drunken boys, eek!)

with the birthday boy

we kept trying to feed moths to the large gecko ("took kay", in Thai)

check out his crazy feet!

it's sad that Phil looks better with my hairclip than I do! :P

Chrissy freakin' Bedard is coming to visit me for ten days, and she's arriving on October 4th and OMG I AM SO EXCITED YAY!  For those of you not in the know, this is Chrissy:

Glittens are cool. Don't be jealous. (winter 2007)

DOS Caroling, Winter 2007

... she exudes energy. from her waist. and she's coming to visit MEEE!

YAY CHRISSY!

I'll probably update again after her visit, or during.  She's going to take the PADI Open Water Course, so I'll get to assist, yay!