APRIL 2008 • MAY-DEC 2008 • DEC 2010 • DEC 2011
DEC 2011
1. Everything old is new again
After a brief stint as a snorkeling boat, our much loved original Sunshine Boat is back. Also, our new captain P'Chat is always up for a trip to Chumpon and the first to high five after a whale shark sighting.
2. New DMT's
2011 was a great year for Sunshine DMT's. We met and miss:
Team Sweden- Oscar, Johan, Jacob and Daniel
South Africans - Nick, Robyn, Karen and Simon,
The British Invasion- Elena, Tom and Chris,
Team Canada- Emily, Lauren and Chris
Greater and lesser Germany: Thomas, Vera, Michael and Nadja
Team of 'Harder to Classify'- Simon and Janice Zutt
... and of course our current DMT's Kim (Holland), Thomas (Germany), Huw (UK), Nick (S. Africa), Alex (Canada) and Julie (USA).
3. New Instructors
June 2011 saw a sunshine IDC held right on our very own front deck for Elena, Simon, Janice and Tamara. The course was operated by our own Natalie Hunt making it truly a Sunshine experience. Other instructors completing their IDC this year were Emily, Michael and Suus.
4. Con-Ed beyond MSDT
Just to remind us that our education doesn't stop at MSDT Scott Butz, Manuel Tolobars, Bastian Van Der Kujl and Emily Hong all completed staff instructor courses this year at Sunshine. Lasse Wahlquist, has recently become a tec rec instructor and is now the Sunshine tec consultant.
And the most impressive leap of all, we have recently learned that our very own, the inimitable, irreplaceable Timothy Hunt has recently been promoted to PADI Regional Manager of the Gulf of Thailand! Congrats!
5. New Dive Sites
A great addition to the Koh Tao dive site map, the HTMS Sattakut started life as American warship USS LCI 739 during World War II, and saw action at Iwo Jima and Okinawa before joining the Thai Navy in 1947. Generously gifted to Koh Tao this past year, she rests at 30 meters just south of Hin Pee Wee and is fast becoming a worldwide attraction, as well as an artificial reef and shelter for a variety of sea life.
The ship is ideal for penetration , so consider a wreck specialty and experience a bit of history. There have also been new additions to Bouyancy World north of Twins make navigation and bouyancy training better than ever!
6. ECO Projects
Along with our clean-ups this year, we have also adopted a coral nursery! Sunshine instructors and DMT's joined together under the supervision of SKT and Songkhla University to construct a coral nursery platform, plant it off of Sairee reef and seed it with coral fragments.
 |
 |
| Click to enlarge |
|
The nursery is doing great with regular check-ups to ensure the coral is thriving. It has created a great new opportunity for DMT's to get involved in eco projects and to learn about the ocean environment.
7. Just for fun
At the Save Koh Tao festival this year Sunshine made a strong showing. Manuel was once again in the Mr. Koh Tao pageant, this year as Eco Man... defender of sustainable energy!
Then we had loads of performers in the Bans/ Sunshine musical, The pirates of Koh Tao. Sunshiners gave stunning, and perhaps shocking, performances as pirates, cheer leaders and can-can girls. We all enjoyed entertaining while raising money for Save Koh Tao. And of course our famous Dive Master celebrations are still continuing on in our own quirky way incorporating murder mysteries and pirate scavenger hunts into a way for the whole group to get together.
8. Changing Faces
After 10 years with Sunshine Divers, Joe, our equipment manager, has made some serious life changes; marrying his longtime sweetheart , Cherry, and finding a new job on the island. We will miss you!
Now working at Sunshine in the shop are the hardworking Wai and the multi-talented Thura. Welcome to the team and keep up the good work.
9. New Ways to keep in touch
A yearly newsletter not enough? Looking for more updates on eco-projects and general goings on about Sunshine Divers? We want to hear from you, too! Check out our page on www.projectaware.org and our new Facebook page Sunshine Dive Resort for more regular updates!
This years newsletter is dedicated to the amazing Todd Webster. We miss you, buddy. |
