These teeny-tiny little critters are, in a nutshell, the foundation of the food chain for the ocean world. Without them, there would not be much to see in the ocean even though you can't see them yourself.

They are more than just food though, they also are huge carbon dioxide absorbers accounting for about a third of all produced by us dirty humans. Pretty impressive. They live in the upper layers of the ocean where they produce organic compounds via photosynthesis. They actually account for half of all photosynthesis done on the planet. Even more impressive!

Their name comes from the Greek words meaning python (plant) and planktos (drifter/wanderer). Depending on which particular strand of phytoplankton is present, it changes the colour of the water. Here in Koh tao we get a green tint. If there is enough of them, you can even see them from space! Super impresive!!

 

These guys were captured off the coast of ireland by NASA's Terra satellite

These guys were captured off the coast of ireland by NASA's Terra satellite 

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Sunshine Divers is located at the Southern part of Koh Tao, the more relaxed, chilled and beautiful area which is called Chalok Baan Kao. The direct access to the beach, the chilled atmosphere, the beautiful rock formation "Buddha rock" and off course the relaxed atmosphere at Sunshine Divers is what most people attract to this location.

chalok baan kao

Chalok Baan Kao is far away from the busy and touristic Sairee Beach, but close enough to go there in about a 5 minute drive by either taxi or motorbike. Even better, you don't actually have to leave because in the last few years nice little restaurants found their way to this side of the island like healthy food boutique restaurants, luxury dining, lounge bar etc.. The famous Buddha Rock at the left end side of the bay is close to one of the more 'private' beaches of Chalok Baan called Freedom Beach and is one of the most picture taken shots.

buddha rock

If you scuba dive at Sunshine Divers we have a beach classroom directly on the beach which allows you to enjoy the view but also enjoy the cool stories about diving from your Instructor!

Hope to see you soon!

 

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The PADI Bubblemaker program has been developed to offer anyone over the age of 8 years to participate in blowing bubbles using SCUBA underwater to a maximum depth of 2m.  This program can be conducted in either a pool or confined open water environment where conditions are calm.

Recently young 8 year old Vincent participated in the PADI Bubblemaker program, where he was instructed by Thomas Pommerin. Starting off at the beautiful dive site around Koh Nang Yuan called Japanese Gardens, Vincent observed several types of tropical fish including Butterfly fish, Angelfish, Sargent Majors and the infamous Triggerfish.  Vincent's father Stephan joined in with his Son to share the amazing experience.


"Vincent with Instructor Thomas"

"Vincent with Instructor Thomas"

"Father and Son enjoy the experience of the Bubblemaker" "Father and Son enjoy the experience of the Bubblemaker"

To add further fun and games to this program Thomas introduced the Underwater Fizbee, which added value to the training especially for bouyancy control.

r"Vincent receives his Bubblemaker Certificate""Vincent receives his Bubblemaker Certificate"

 

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Anna, Yase and Pedro were drawn to Koh Tao to enjoy the beautiful beaches and explore the underwater world through Scuba Diving.

Anna & Yase were recommended by friends to come to Sunshine Divers and learn to take their PADI Open Water Diver course course. Pedro was walking by the dive shop - stopped and enquired about the program and decided to sign up and learn to dive. During the course, they learned the fundamentals of diving from getting geared up and buddy checking, the physiology and physics of diving along with planning their dives using the RDP and simply just having fun!!!

We look forward to your return to continue your diving with us at Sunshine or during your further travels worldwide - explore the many underwater environments.

PADI open water dive courseJumping on the beach - Congratulations Anna, Yase and PedroAnna & Yase Buddy Checks

 

 

 

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Want to learn more about connecting items, lifting items and just in general how to tie KNOTS? The PADI Search and Recovery Specialty course, which is now incorporated in the PADI Divemaster Program as a workshop, helps teach you the basic knots that are useful when traveling or working on boats.

The Bowline, Sheet-bend and two-half hitches are useful knots for several situations. In particular when you need to attach a fender or a tyre to the side of the boat to prevent the boat from damages whilst docking.  Along with learning how to tie knots during the Search and Recovery Program you also learn several search patterns to find missing items. If these items are too heavy to lift we use special lifting devices to bring the object to the surface if it weighs more than 4 kg.

Rebecca practices the bowline knot during her Search and Recovery workshop of her Divemaster Program.

Rebecca practices the bowline knot for Search and Recovery Workshop

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As we help celebrate Project AWARE’s 25th Anniversary, there is no better time to lend a hand by tackling the issue of marine debris. Like many other PADI 5 Star Instructor Development Centres, at Sunshine Divers we integrate reef conservation in our everyday activities. Now our team has taken the next step toward a cleaner underwater environment – we’ve “Adopted a Reef”. This means that we have committed not only to cleaning our reef, but to regularly recording and sharing the rubbish-collecting data with Project Aware. It is a fairly straight forward initiative if you’re interested in joining the movement. 

Adopt the ReefStep One: Make the commitment. It’s not a one-off clean-up (although that is still a great thing to organise), rather it is a repeated effort to visit the same reef at regular intervals. This helps good intention evolve into scientific practice.

Step Two. Clean, clean, clean. With guidelines from Project Aware, organised underwater cleans-ups can be conducted in a safe, responsible and fun manner. Even better, divers returning to Koh Tao and our local dive sites year after year, will now be able to see their hard work making a difference in the exact same stretch of reef.

Step Three: Record and report. With some very simple tools and forms (free of charge and downloadable on projectware.org), the type and quantity of trash removed now needs to be shared. By recording and reporting, this information can now be used by the Project AWARE team to make policy change. We also keep our online community involved by sharing these clean-up stories on our My Oceans page www.projectaware.org

Citizen science is the way forward on route to a cleaner reef. If you do take the leap and “Adopt a Reef”, we hope you have as much fun as we have at Sunshine Divers organising regular events for guests and staff. Together we can make a difference.  

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AWARE Shark Conservation!

The Project AWARE Shark Conservation specialty is something every diver or professional should have if you ask me (Dutch instructor at Sunshine). Its a very informative, interested and amazing course. I had the honor to get taught by Marine biologist and Master Instructor Mike Richardson at BAN's Diving resort.

shark conservation (3)

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DSC 7693 Copy F590x400Once again the Festival Performances were a HIT! Thanks to Rosemary Allen from The Film Co,  diving on Koh Tao for her time, patience and creativity for this performance. Sunshine Divers and sister school Ban's Diving Resort put on a Dance Performance from the hit single "FOOTLOOSE", although it was transformed to  "FINLOOSE" to help create awareness on how to protect the aquatic environment and the importance of buoyancy control. This performance is a yearly event and we hope that you will be able to join us next year at the Save Koh Tao Festival - 2013.

 

 

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Contestants

Every year the Save Koh Tao Foundation co-ordinates most dive schools and local enterprises in creating and participating in a Festival to bring Awareness about the environment above and below the ocean. The Mr. and Miss Save Koh Tao Contest, was to increase awareness about Recycling, and how to Reuse products and to Reduce waste.

The aim is to encourage an Eco Friendly Environment, and emphasize reduction of use of plastic bottles (mostly water bottles)  plastic bags and straws.

Several dive centres participated in this event and representing Sunshine Divers was Manuel Tobolars ( our last years Eco Man). With the creativity and design from P. Wam who was last years designer and maker for Bans Diving Resort / Darawan Restaurant costumes, Manuel won this years contest. The Costume is the attire worn by a well known King of Thailand. It was made from coke can parts including the can caps, the helmet was made from Coconut, the body shield made from plastic bottles, and the undergarment was made from rice sacks. A lot of thought and detail went into this design. So Thank you P. Wam for your help.


P.Wam and Manuel

To Compliment his the outfit as part of the competition, Manuel had to discuss an item that was created to show ways on how to reuse items.Sarah Van Name put together a small garden that can be made from plastic egg containers, soil and plant seeds to produce herbs or small plants. This container is a great starting point for growing plants from scratch, and easy for anyone to do. Thank You to everyone for their participation in this event.

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In Thailand, there are laws to protect corals everywhere including Marine Protected Areas (MPA's). Though hard to enforce, one of the laws forbids the moving of coral. After the massive coral bleaching event of 2010 here on Koh Tao, and around the world's tropical seas, local government decided to ask for help from different dive schools on Koh tao. Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) and the Prince of Songkhla University decided to include SKT and participating dive schools in a program to promote the rehabilitation of coral reefs. Sunshine Dive Resort is one of the dive schools with special permission from the Thai government to work with coral and construct coral nurseries.

Recently, SKT's Chad Scott gave a Coral Nursery Techniques Workshop so that those participating dive schools could continue to educate their instructors and DMT's here were not here in 2010. The workshop was very thorough covering coral health, monitoring and growth. After the lecture the group actually building coral nurseries from wire and pvc pipes. Participating from Sunshine were David Scanlan, Tamara May, Sarah Van Name and Jacabo Sanchez.

 

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Sunshine Divers continues to be at the forefront of environmental issues. As an Eco Operator, we make it our mission to implement environmental practices and to provide our customers with experiences to enhance visitor awareness, appreciation and understanding of the (underwater) environment. Sunshine Divers continue to work closely inline with Project AWARE (the dive industry's non profit organization dedicated to conserving underwater environments) and also 'SAVE KOH TAO' – a local organization concerned with local environmental issues. Sunshine team members are always present on the frequent Beach and Underwater clean ups, ready to lend a hand

Your friend, Sunshine Divers, has invited you to join a global movement of divers on My Ocean, Project AWARE's eco-networking site.

To become a member and to set up your profile, click the link below or paste it into the address bar of your browser.

http://www.projectaware.org/invite/accept/--invite-code

Please join the movement.

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