First dives

Our first two days of diving were quite nice, with good visibility, warm water, and lots of marine life. The idea behind starting slowly is to let the kids develop better buoyancy skills and get comfortable in the water.  Good control of buoyancy will be critical for working on the reefs without crashing into them.  Below are just some fun pictures of underwater scenes.  Academics will more deliberately come into play in the coming days.

We just arrived Phi Phi and are in the dive shop getting fitted for gear, registering, and signing forms.

Andrew Hewett likes the notoriety of having an American university class spend a week with him.  So, he doesn't hesitate to let everyone know about it.

Approaching the dive boat from the pier.

Each group of four students has their own instructor to lead them, both on the boat and on the dives.  Here is Instructor Tamara with her team.

Instructor Josh, whom we've had the great fortune to have be part of our program for several years now.

Instructor Danny, who worked for the Adventure Club last year, but was not assigned to our group.

We're on the way to Ko Ha, which is Thai for five islands.  My favorite dive site (The Cathedral) is at the island on the right.

As we approach our dive site, the students begin to get their gear on.  Here's Cam in the foreground putting on her wetsuit.

Charlie, Sabrina, Maddie, and Julia eager to go.

Willis, Lil Mama, Liz, and Dani.

Elena, Cam and Grace, with Instuctor Dominique looking back at me.

Ally's ready.

Hannah and Alexis.

It is so peaceful and serene in the water.  You float effortlessly and the fish aren't afraid of you.

Figuring out who's who underwater takes a little time to memorize mask type and color, etc.

The Cathedral dive site is a set of two rooms inside the island below the surface that are connected by an opening (a "window").  There is air above each of the rooms within the island, so it is not a cave dive and no more dangerous that any open water dive.  In this photo, I am waiting inside the first room and watching as students swim from left to right to the window.

Students and fish going through the window to the second room.  How cool is that?

Golden line snappers.

Here's a singular banner fish next to a crown-of-thorns starfish.  The crown of thorns might look attractive, but it kills coral, as you can see by the extensive white area of the red coral.

This strange looking thing is bubble coral.

More golden lined snappers.

Here's a pair of copper band butterflyfish.

Just a nice scene with lots of things going on.

Two spot snappers.

Remember Nemo?  We found him.

Soldierfish.

Trevallies tend to be more pelagic and out in open water than in the reefs.

Here's a large anemone with a black damselfish above.

We found a sizable group of red and black snappers, which are of commercial size.  We hope they don't get taken for someone's dinner table.  This area is a national park and all marine life is protected.

Between dives, Andrew (on the floor at the top) gave presentations on sharks, corals, fish groups, etc.

Also between dives, we have to allow time for the nitrogen to burn off as a standard safety measure.  So we found a quite place and were able to jump from the upper deck.  I think this is Cam.

Maddie.

Ally and Julia.

Much of the time between dives is just lounging and soaking in the sun at 7 degrees north latitude.  They've been abundantly warned about the effects of the sun at 7 degrees north latitude.