<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><rss xmlns:atom='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' version='2.0'><channel><atom:id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7418288175880330028</atom:id><lastBuildDate>Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:16:37 +0000</lastBuildDate><title>Scuba Schools International Australasia</title><description></description><link>http://thailandssi.blogspot.com/</link><managingEditor>noreply@blogger.com (SSI Team)</managingEditor><generator>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>51</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7418288175880330028.post-2764475466813802464</guid><pubDate>Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:11:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-10-13T02:16:37.259-07:00</atom:updated><title>NEW SSI Instructors.</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/StRFO94bXiI/AAAAAAAAAQE/h5JLL2CPUNM/s1600-h/diver+stride.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 171px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/StRFO94bXiI/AAAAAAAAAQE/h5JLL2CPUNM/s200/diver+stride.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392010777301048866" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;October: Simon Garrity has wasted no time since finishing his IT course and has already taught his first SSI Instructor Training Course and both his candidates passed their IE with flying colours...Go SSImon..&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7418288175880330028-2764475466813802464?l=thailandssi.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://thailandssi.blogspot.com/2009/10/new-ssi-instructors.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (SSI Team)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/StRFO94bXiI/AAAAAAAAAQE/h5JLL2CPUNM/s72-c/diver+stride.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7418288175880330028.post-8967138573032646204</guid><pubDate>Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:03:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-10-13T02:10:52.211-07:00</atom:updated><title>Phi Phi beach clean up</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/StRD6KVrfVI/AAAAAAAAAP0/fqYXaD4wZGc/s1600-h/clean+up+phi+phi.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/StRD6KVrfVI/AAAAAAAAAP0/fqYXaD4wZGc/s200/clean+up+phi+phi.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5392009320356085074" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;September Clean up on Koh Phi Phi.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Blue View Divers of Koh Phi Phi, Thailand coordinated a two day event for International Clean Up Day, this September.&lt;br /&gt;Working alongside Scuba Schools International, Project Aware and many of the local businesses in Koh Phi Phi, we organized both beach and underwater cleanups for the event.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On the 19th of September we coordinated a beach cleanup on Loh Dalum Bay, a once quiet beach that has now become crowded with beach bars.&lt;br /&gt;Volunteers from local businesses, bars, restaurants and dive schools as well as countless tourists worked together to collect all the rubbish along Loh Dalum Beach.&lt;br /&gt;People sunbathing on the beach got up and participated in cleaning Loh Dalum Beach in an effort that involved over 80 people.&lt;br /&gt;The volunteers were divided into three groups, with stations set up with water and weighing scales in front of Sunflower Bar, Ciao Bella and Cabana Hotel Beach.&lt;br /&gt;The volunteers combed the beach over the period of two hours and amongst them collected 1,326 Kilograms of rubbish.&lt;br /&gt;The amount of glass collected on Loh Dalum Beach weighed 198.5 Kilograms.&lt;br /&gt;The amount of Recyclable rubbish (cans and plastic bottles) amounted to 77.4 kilograms.&lt;br /&gt;The recyclable rubbish was given to the facility on Koh Phi Phi, whilst the rest of the rubbish was brought off the island to a facility in Bangkok, which divided the rubbish into what could be recycled which could not be dealt with by the small recycling facility situated in Koh Phi Phi.&lt;br /&gt;Afterwards, Sunflower bar on Loh Dalum Beach was kind enough to provide a free barbeque for the tired volunteers.&lt;br /&gt;The 20th of September we organized a dive clean up where over 19 Volunteers came and participated in cleaning the dive sites.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Netting and plastics are devastating to the marine life in our ecosystem, it is estimated that 2 million seabirds worldwide die from ingesting plastic bags every year, one specimen found had ingested over 1000 pieces of plastic debris.&lt;br /&gt;The World Wildlife Fund for Nature estimates that more than 100,000 whales, turtles, seals and birds die through suffocation, entanglement and ingestion of plastic bags and other items.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Plastic bags also resemble jellyfish, the turtle’s favourite food. Phi Phi is blessed with a healthy community of Hawksbill Turtles, despite them being one of the more endangered species of turtle.&lt;br /&gt;However, their habitat and lifestyle is being threatened by the careless disposal of rubbish.&lt;br /&gt;Discarded fishing nets and cages trap marine life and animals such as turtles or sea snakes that breathe air, when they become entangled they end up suffocating, unable to break free.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On the second dive we explored the site where Pileh Wall and Lohsammah Bay meet.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Divers were given a treat when towards the end of the cleanup two leopard sharks swam around as if curious about the divers working on the reef who stopped to watch their graceful progress.&lt;br /&gt;One member of the team was designated reef watch monitor and gathered data on fish and coral populations on the reef to be submitted to Greenfins for a better understanding of the health of marine life in our local waters.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The total amount of rubbish collected from the dive cleanup was over 680 Kilograms, in total over the two days we had collected more than twice the amount gathered in last year’s project! This would not have been possible without all the support and enthusiasm from volunteers and local businesses.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Blue View Divers would like to thank the following sponsors for helping make this project possible:&lt;br /&gt;Amico Restaurant, Aquamaster, Aquamundo, Aquanauts Scuba, Atul Keshav, Ayudhaya Bank, Barrakuda Diving, Ciao Bella,The Geoff Starr Fund, Ibiza Bar, Mama Resto, Panda Restaurant, Pearl Andaman, Phi Phi Bakery, Phi Phi Scuba Diving Center, Phi Phi Tourist Police, Scuba Schools International, Seafrog Diving, Sheryl and Tony Brown, Simon Collins, Spider Monkey Climbing, Sports Bar, Sunflower Bar, Unni’s Restaurant, Viking Divers, Visa Diving,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7418288175880330028-8967138573032646204?l=thailandssi.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://thailandssi.blogspot.com/2009/10/phi-phi-beach-clean-up.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (SSI Team)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/StRD6KVrfVI/AAAAAAAAAP0/fqYXaD4wZGc/s72-c/clean+up+phi+phi.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7418288175880330028.post-7459352799737760311</guid><pubDate>Tue, 29 Sep 2009 06:24:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-09-28T23:50:00.016-07:00</atom:updated><title>West Side Preperations</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/SsGt-tFtioI/AAAAAAAAAPs/0iT4ZtP_ypQ/s1600-h/diamond-original.gif"&gt;&lt;img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 134px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/SsGt-tFtioI/AAAAAAAAAPs/0iT4ZtP_ypQ/s200/diamond-original.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386777922078870146" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;Al Stewart is busy getting ready for the start of the season on the Andaman Coast.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Its a hard life and a tough job but some one has to do it !&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Al will be busy helping our existing customers get up to speed for the coming season and will be welcoming new SSI customers on board.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;His travels will take him all over the west coast from far flung Koh Lippe in the south to the Surin islands on the borders with Myanmar.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Al intends to be based around Phuket so we can offer a better service to all our customers.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So if your on the west coast and want to know why so many are upgrading to the service that only SSI can give send us an email .&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;al@ssithailand.com or info@ssithailand.com&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;SSI look forward to seeing you soon. &lt;br /&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7418288175880330028-7459352799737760311?l=thailandssi.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://thailandssi.blogspot.com/2009/09/west-side-preperations.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (SSI Team)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/SsGt-tFtioI/AAAAAAAAAPs/0iT4ZtP_ypQ/s72-c/diamond-original.gif' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7418288175880330028.post-5586004217151295724</guid><pubDate>Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:38:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-09-28T22:40:10.265-07:00</atom:updated><title>New SSI Instructor Trainers</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/SsGdqsavbXI/AAAAAAAAAPU/dUBZIM_nr2g/s1600-h/6929_260256simon295075_633890075_8966618_3697951_n.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/SsGdqsavbXI/AAAAAAAAAPU/dUBZIM_nr2g/s200/6929_260256simon295075_633890075_8966618_3697951_n.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386759986115210610" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;SEPTEMBER 2009 CONGRATULATIONS TO NEW SSI INSTRUCTOR TRAINERS.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;SSI Australasia would love to welcome our new Instructors trainers, Lorenzo from Sairee Cottage Koh Tao / Simon from Big Blue Koh Tao / Per from Viking Divers PHi Phi / Christian from Air diving In Bali.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The new Instructor Trainers where put through 9 intesive days of training ,including several in water workshops lots of exams testing there knowledge to the limit.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;SSI Is confident that they will offer exellent training to all there candiadtes and will help SSI with its ongoiing demand for SSI professionals as we continue to grow at an exellent rate throughout the region.     &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We look forward to working with you all!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;SSI Instructor Trainer Simon with his team of SSI supporters from Big Blue Dive school !&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7418288175880330028-5586004217151295724?l=thailandssi.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://thailandssi.blogspot.com/2009/09/new-ssi-instructor-trainers.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (SSI Team)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/SsGdqsavbXI/AAAAAAAAAPU/dUBZIM_nr2g/s72-c/6929_260256simon295075_633890075_8966618_3697951_n.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7418288175880330028.post-5630439839886553521</guid><pubDate>Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:26:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-09-28T22:40:43.744-07:00</atom:updated><title>New First Aid Course.</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/SsGdAVxxKtI/AAAAAAAAAPM/wWc9r-fi6jc/s1600-h/img_cards.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 83px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/SsGdAVxxKtI/AAAAAAAAAPM/wWc9r-fi6jc/s200/img_cards.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386759258483272402" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;September 2009 Respond Right Course launched.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;SSI have just run the first of many Respond Right courses at Instructor level &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The new and exiting program covers the following to Australian RTO standards.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;    * Basic First Aid perfect for the SSI stress and rescue course.&lt;br /&gt;    * Advanced First Aid building on existing knowledge and taking First Aid to a new level.&lt;br /&gt;    * Oxygen Provider an absolute must for any Diver that is serious about Dive Safety.&lt;br /&gt;    * Advanced First Aid Oxygen Provider Marine Life Injuries .For the complete SSI  dive professional&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Course materials for both the student and SSI Instructor are of excellent quality, and include student workbook and manual,Instructor manual with interactive disk and supporting presentations.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;First Aid should be about knowledge and practical application, so a lot of time is spent on the later to ensure confidence in applying these potentially life saving actions.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7418288175880330028-5630439839886553521?l=thailandssi.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://thailandssi.blogspot.com/2009/09/new-first-aid-course.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (SSI Team)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/SsGdAVxxKtI/AAAAAAAAAPM/wWc9r-fi6jc/s72-c/img_cards.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7418288175880330028.post-8106764532516372599</guid><pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:13:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-08-31T20:17:58.905-07:00</atom:updated><title>Save koh Tao beach Clean Up !</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/SpySUwq7lvI/AAAAAAAAAPE/Esv0bztXmn8/s1600-h/SSI-Clean-160x160.gif"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 160px; height: 160px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/SpySUwq7lvI/AAAAAAAAAPE/Esv0bztXmn8/s200/SSI-Clean-160x160.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376332940533536498" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;August 2009 Koh Tao.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Dive schools on Koh Tao had a Beach and Dive site clean up organized by the Save koh Tao Marine Branch.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The conditions today where great and Big Blue was one of the SSI schools to participate in this regular event.Big Blue where the winners of last years SSI Ecological award for there ongoing commitment to diver awareness and the environment. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;SSI is pleased to report that many SSI facilities are now actively promoting Ecologicaly aware diving practices, and taking on the responsibility that all divers share protecting our oceans and the creatures that reside within them.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7418288175880330028-8106764532516372599?l=thailandssi.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://thailandssi.blogspot.com/2009/08/save-koh-tao-beach-clean-up.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (SSI Team)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/SpySUwq7lvI/AAAAAAAAAPE/Esv0bztXmn8/s72-c/SSI-Clean-160x160.gif' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7418288175880330028.post-1144937523667225068</guid><pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:04:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-08-31T20:12:27.420-07:00</atom:updated><title>Wildlife release Phuket !</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/SpyQbzqoh8I/AAAAAAAAAOs/v-cTA6aXo50/s1600-h/chumper+twins+August+066.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 172px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/SpyQbzqoh8I/AAAAAAAAAOs/v-cTA6aXo50/s200/chumper+twins+August+066.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376330862573422530" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;August 2009 Phuket&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Marine animals released.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The release, which took place off Mai Thon Island, was arranged by the Phuket Marine Biological Centre and Phuket Aquarium, under the auspices of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources. Amongst the marine critters that found new freedom, were 39 bamboo sharks and at least 200 clown fish. Students near the Phuket Aquarium also got in on the action by releasing 100,000 tiny prawns.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The release of the marine animals is a boon for Phuket’s dwindling coastal marine animal population, a cause for which public awareness was being raised along side this tribute to Queen Sirikit.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Bamboo sharks are harmless to humans, but their population has dwindled to nearly nothing in local waters.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7418288175880330028-1144937523667225068?l=thailandssi.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://thailandssi.blogspot.com/2009/08/wildlife-release-phuket.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (SSI Team)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/SpyQbzqoh8I/AAAAAAAAAOs/v-cTA6aXo50/s72-c/chumper+twins+August+066.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7418288175880330028.post-2780753955624989531</guid><pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2009 02:53:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-08-31T20:04:38.174-07:00</atom:updated><title>There be gold in Indonesia !</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/SpyOk7EPiFI/AAAAAAAAAOk/PIfkiKFPrek/s1600-h/pr76373.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 170px; height: 113px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/SpyOk7EPiFI/AAAAAAAAAOk/PIfkiKFPrek/s200/pr76373.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5376328820155451474" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;August 2009 Indonesia&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;Wreck found in Indonesia holding millions in treasure !&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The wreck of a 19th- century English ship loaded with gold and silver worth millions of pounds has been found by German adventurers in seas off Indonesia.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;More than 1.5 tonnes of silver coins, gold jewellery, crystal, Chinese porcelain, cannon, muskets and 400 bottles of wine were recovered.The ship had ran aground between Borneo and Sumatra in 1806.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The team believes the value of the find to be at least £6 million (Dh36.3 million). &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"I found the first things during a survey and everything just looked encrusted but when I saw there was treasure like this I just couldn't believe my eyes," Wenzel said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Forbes was a prolific trading and buccaneering ship that had King George III's approval to attack and plunder foreign vessels.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Forbes carried opium and iron from Calcutta [now Kolkata] to the Far East and was on its way home with a "considerable amount" of loot and cargo.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Frazer Sinclair, captain of the Forbes, went on to skipper other ships and was decorated by George III for his bold raids on foreign vessels. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Half the value of the treasure must be given to the Indonesian government under the salvage licence agreement, but the German team plans to sell its share at auction and use the money to finance future quests. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;SSI wreck specialty anyone !&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7418288175880330028-2780753955624989531?l=thailandssi.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://thailandssi.blogspot.com/2009/08/there-be-gold-in-indonesia.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (SSI Team)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/SpyOk7EPiFI/AAAAAAAAAOk/PIfkiKFPrek/s72-c/pr76373.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7418288175880330028.post-8219230582258355837</guid><pubDate>Fri, 21 Aug 2009 04:59:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-08-20T22:09:20.884-07:00</atom:updated><title>Fun On the Bio Rock</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/So4rriw_k_I/AAAAAAAAAOc/6mXRpsbLn98/s1600-h/marchapril2009+046.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/So4rriw_k_I/AAAAAAAAAOc/6mXRpsbLn98/s200/marchapril2009+046.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372279432566248434" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;I was invited by New Heaven Divers to go and assist with the Bio rock off the shores of Koh Tao.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;After a briefing on how to recognize coral suitable for transplanting on to the structure, I was then shown how to attach the coral to the electrified structure that is Koh Taos very own Bio Rock.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The conditions on descending where excellent with awesome visibility  and before long I had found my suitable coral from a broken coral rubble  field .Devrim then showed how to clean the structure then attach my new project securely.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I was surprised at how good it felt to be part of repairing a reef after spending years admiring there beauty.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I look forward to returning to see how my part of this structure has grown with the aid of the electrical current that runs throughout the KT bio rock structure.  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7418288175880330028-8219230582258355837?l=thailandssi.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://thailandssi.blogspot.com/2009/08/fun-on-bio-rock.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (SSI Team)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/So4rriw_k_I/AAAAAAAAAOc/6mXRpsbLn98/s72-c/marchapril2009+046.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7418288175880330028.post-7408794641323971463</guid><pubDate>Fri, 21 Aug 2009 04:48:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-08-20T21:59:45.374-07:00</atom:updated><title>Full Moon Madness</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/So4nnOt0O2I/AAAAAAAAAOU/DkFivRQHge4/s1600-h/2008+048.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/So4nnOt0O2I/AAAAAAAAAOU/DkFivRQHge4/s200/2008+048.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372274960418224994" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;August Full Moon Madness&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Full moon has just finished in the Gulf of Thailand, the weather is clearing up and there are thousands of people on the move! I'm happy to state that all of our SSI Dive Centres are running at full speed and we will have hundreds of new SSI divers to welcome on board. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Whalesharks are making an appearance as if by Magic and right on cue for the new divers. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So if you are an SSI professional and you are in Thailand, get in touch with us or our SSI Authorised Dive Centres.  I'm more than confident you will find work.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7418288175880330028-7408794641323971463?l=thailandssi.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://thailandssi.blogspot.com/2009/08/full-moon-madness.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (SSI Team)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/So4nnOt0O2I/AAAAAAAAAOU/DkFivRQHge4/s72-c/2008+048.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7418288175880330028.post-4619137338090499136</guid><pubDate>Fri, 21 Aug 2009 03:44:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-08-20T21:43:42.195-07:00</atom:updated><title>Buoyancy world .</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/So4lVgk3gmI/AAAAAAAAAOM/WV1mr6wRfpg/s1600-h/July+Koh+Tao+090.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 134px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/So4lVgk3gmI/AAAAAAAAAOM/WV1mr6wRfpg/s200/July+Koh+Tao+090.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372272456951628386" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;Buoyancy  on World Koh Tao !&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A new and exiting project that should relieve pressure of local training sites, and provide a safe and fun area to practice skill sets that are critical for the environment. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;SSI plans to be actively involved with this and will keep you posted on any of the developments as they happen.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;To be part of this exiting project there is a meeting at dirty nellies at 7pm on the 18th to discuss structure designs and site location.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7418288175880330028-4619137338090499136?l=thailandssi.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://thailandssi.blogspot.com/2009/08/buoyancy-world.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (SSI Team)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/So4lVgk3gmI/AAAAAAAAAOM/WV1mr6wRfpg/s72-c/July+Koh+Tao+090.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7418288175880330028.post-3568277577329190944</guid><pubDate>Fri, 21 Aug 2009 03:26:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-08-20T20:39:53.183-07:00</atom:updated><title>Nha Trang Vietnam upgrading Instructors To SSI</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/So4W7hfHfxI/AAAAAAAAAOE/ywjJbg3kXa4/s1600-h/Vietnam+271.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/So4W7hfHfxI/AAAAAAAAAOE/ywjJbg3kXa4/s200/Vietnam+271.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372256617356558098" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;Al Stewart is in Vietnam conducting more Instructor Crossovers. Also while there Al will be introducing our new products and completing a standards check on our existing SSI facilities. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Vietnam has some great Diving on offer  and provides an interesting alternative to the sites in Thailand. Expect good visibility in the shallows and lots of critters to keep all Photography buffs happy for hours. The boats are well prepared and spacious and during your surface interval you can eat as many baguettes as a frenchman in Paris.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;After diving Nha Trang has plenty to offer ! great shopping great food and local beer and wine abound.Nha Trang has accommodation for every budget from backpackers hostels to the impressive Novotel on the beach.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Getting there is easy and I would highly recommend a stopover in Ho chi min en route.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;SSI Is proud t o have many SSI facilities in Vietnam go and check them out. &lt;/span&gt; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7418288175880330028-3568277577329190944?l=thailandssi.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://thailandssi.blogspot.com/2009/08/nha-trang-vietnam-upgrading-instructors.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (SSI Team)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/So4W7hfHfxI/AAAAAAAAAOE/ywjJbg3kXa4/s72-c/Vietnam+271.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7418288175880330028.post-7254581013433891266</guid><pubDate>Fri, 21 Aug 2009 03:19:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-08-20T20:25:00.363-07:00</atom:updated><title></title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/So4S1GDjBiI/AAAAAAAAAN8/k4YGoGdGrEk/s1600-h/me+%40barrier+reef.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 130px; height: 86px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/So4S1GDjBiI/AAAAAAAAAN8/k4YGoGdGrEk/s200/me+%40barrier+reef.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372252108867438114" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;Want to be an SSI Instructor ?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;Due to expansion SSI is is need of qualified SSI Instructors across our whole region.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;SSI Instructor Training Courses running on the east and west coasts of Thailand - email for details of where and when.&lt;br /&gt;Work in paradise, be in demand, love your work, be part of the SSI team in Australasia. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Email: info@ssithailand.com&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7418288175880330028-7254581013433891266?l=thailandssi.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://thailandssi.blogspot.com/2009/08/want-to-be-ssi-instructor-due-to.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (SSI Team)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/So4S1GDjBiI/AAAAAAAAAN8/k4YGoGdGrEk/s72-c/me+%40barrier+reef.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7418288175880330028.post-5230055967265920019</guid><pubDate>Tue, 17 Mar 2009 08:26:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-03-17T01:28:07.760-07:00</atom:updated><title></title><description>&lt;meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; 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 &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;A new version of the &lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 255);"&gt;SSI&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt; Training and Dive Centre Standards for our region, effective March 2009.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;After reviewing the feedback from our members, we are pleased to inform you that this latest document uses a new format, which is easier to read and we hope will make information easier to find.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Some exciting changes and additions are:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"&gt;&lt;!--[if !supportLists]--&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Symbol;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;·&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"&gt;         &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;!--[endif]--&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Introduction of &lt;/span&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; color: fuchsia;"&gt;SSI&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;’s new &lt;b&gt;ECO&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(51, 204, 0);"&gt;Logical&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Standards and Code of Practice;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"&gt;&lt;!--[if !supportLists]--&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Symbol;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;·&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"&gt;         &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;!--[endif]--&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;New Nitrox Level 1 (up to and including 32% Oxygen) and Level 2 (up to and including 40% Oxygen) certifications;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p style="margin-left: 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"&gt;&lt;!--[if !supportLists]--&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Symbol;"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;·&lt;span style="font-family: &amp;quot;Times New Roman&amp;quot;; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"&gt;         &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;!--[endif]--&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;SSI’s forthcoming &lt;/span&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt; color: fuchsia;"&gt;SSI&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt; Dive Leader levels:  Dive Guide and Dive Master, and changes to the existing Dive Control Specialist (DiveCon) and Instructor Training Course (ITC) Courses.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Please familiarise yourself with the full list of &lt;b&gt;Key Changes and Additions&lt;/b&gt;, which is outlined on page 9.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;As always, your feedback is appreciated and will be used in future editions.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;If you are have problems with the attachment, you can download the standards at &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.ssithailand.com/dealers/resources/forms/SSI_Thailand_Training_Standards_2009.pdf"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;www.ssithailand.com/dealers/resources/forms/SSI_Thailand_Training_Standards_2009.pdf&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt; (username: &lt;b&gt;thailand&lt;/b&gt;, password: &lt;b&gt;ssi&lt;/b&gt;) or by logging onto the Downloads section on ODiN at &lt;b&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.divessi.com/"&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt;www.diveSSI.com&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/b&gt;using your Member number and password.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 12pt;"&gt;Happy diving,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7418288175880330028-5230055967265920019?l=thailandssi.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://thailandssi.blogspot.com/2009/03/v-behaviorurldefaultvml-o.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (SSI Team)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7418288175880330028.post-3475773567396349320</guid><pubDate>Fri, 06 Mar 2009 04:42:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-03-17T01:26:40.233-07:00</atom:updated><title>SSI In Vietnam</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/Sb9emudThrI/AAAAAAAAAN0/KKlD_i-Zyjs/s1600-h/Vietnam+236.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/Sb9emudThrI/AAAAAAAAAN0/KKlD_i-Zyjs/s200/Vietnam+236.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314070104719460018" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/Sb9bon353FI/AAAAAAAAANk/BJvGXF_MuIc/s1600-h/Vietnam+271.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 147px; height: 194px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/Sb9bon353FI/AAAAAAAAANk/BJvGXF_MuIc/s200/Vietnam+271.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314066838776831058" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;I always enjoy going to Vietnam, . Once again I was lucky enough to spend some time in Nha trang. While there we had a real busy week and achieved the following.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;• &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Crossovers&lt;/span&gt; : SSI welcomed two new instructors Steve and Chris from Octopus divers. I was         impressed with their attitude and loved the enthusiasm these young guys had for teaching diving. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;• &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Standards Check&lt;/span&gt;:  SSI believes in quality and took this opportunity to ensure that courses and facilities met the high standards that  SSI has set across the globe.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;• &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Dive center update&lt;/span&gt;: SSI introduced all the new services and courses we have on offer.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;• &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Diving&lt;/span&gt;: I couldn’t miss the opportunity to visit the dive sites around Nha Trang, as usual the diving had me hooked. Visibility was good and my camera went in overdrive with all the critters that diving in Vietnam has to offer. On my next visit I have been promised a trip out to some of Vietnam’s outer islands I can’t wait. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;• &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;MPA Training&lt;/span&gt;: First aid and Oxygen provision Training for the Marine Park Association was conducted the first course in a commitment made to provide ongoing training for the Vietnamese government s MPA. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:arial;"&gt;• &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Ecological  &lt;/span&gt;: campaign was launched in the Vietnamese market.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7418288175880330028-3475773567396349320?l=thailandssi.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://thailandssi.blogspot.com/2009/03/vietnam.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (SSI Team)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/Sb9emudThrI/AAAAAAAAAN0/KKlD_i-Zyjs/s72-c/Vietnam+236.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7418288175880330028.post-8128049037424182819</guid><pubDate>Thu, 05 Mar 2009 08:23:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-03-05T00:55:40.199-08:00</atom:updated><title>SSI Training goes on line.</title><description>&lt;code&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=7,0,19,0"  width="125" height="125" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" &gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.diveSSI.com/data/Image/ot/banner/ssi_online_training_EN_125_125.swf?link=http://www.diveSSI.com/online/ref/766001&amp;target=_blank" /&gt;&lt;param name="quality" value="high" /&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.diveSSI.com/data/Image/ot/banner/ssi_online_training_EN_125_125.swf?link=http://www.diveSSI.com/online/ref/766001&amp;target=_blank" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="125" height="125"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/code&gt;&lt;br /&gt;SSI Online training is now available!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As a potential diver you have many choices when it comes to activities and we wanted to make sure you had a chance to try the SSI system of scuba diving training. One of the barriers to becoming a diver is the fear of the unknown and the investment of time and cost. Online training is designed to educate you on what it means to become a scuba diver. The information demonstrates what it takes to stay safe and comfortable during your underwater adventures. At anytime during your online experience you can contact your local SSI Dive Center and complete your scuba diving course! Once you try it you¹ll be hooked!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Check out the SSI online training program by clicking on the graphic above.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Dive centres wishing to run this exiting program contact us on info@ssithailand.com&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7418288175880330028-8128049037424182819?l=thailandssi.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://thailandssi.blogspot.com/2009/03/ssi-training-goes-on-line.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (SSI Team)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7418288175880330028.post-471218088978260492</guid><pubDate>Thu, 05 Mar 2009 06:20:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-03-05T00:18:07.375-08:00</atom:updated><title>DEMA in Las Vegas.</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/Sa-Kj09ncZI/AAAAAAAAANU/DW-1sHyLy-Q/s1600-h/2008+189.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; 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&lt;/style&gt;&lt;!--[if gte mso 10]&gt; &lt;style&gt;  /* Style Definitions */  table.MsoNormalTable 	{mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; 	mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; 	mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; 	mso-style-noshow:yes; 	mso-style-priority:99; 	mso-style-qformat:yes; 	mso-style-parent:""; 	mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; 	mso-para-margin-top:0in; 	mso-para-margin-right:0in; 	mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; 	mso-para-margin-left:0in; 	line-height:115%; 	mso-pagination:widow-orphan; 	font-size:11.0pt; 	font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; 	mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; 	mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; 	mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; 	mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; 	mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; 	mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} &lt;/style&gt; &lt;![endif]--&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="color:black;"&gt;Viva las Vegas DEMA show.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="color:black;"&gt;Well someone had to go !This time I was lucky enough to endure two twelve hour flights from Thailand’s southern beaches to the desert oasis that is Las Vegas in the USA. The DEMA show (Dive Equipment Manufacturers Association) is a huge show so big in fact that they had motorized transport inside the hall.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="color:black;"&gt;SSI Thailand was there to see how our colleges in SSI USA done things and to promote Thailand ,Vietnam and other world class diving &lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;destinations’ within our region.SSI had a great presence there and it was awesome to see our co workers rushed of their feet&lt;span style=""&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;dealing with new and old customers alike.&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="color:black;"&gt;However after walking for miles and visiting the famous Las Vegas Strip. I was missing home so it was with great relief that I found the Tourism Authority of Thailand had a stand at DEMA. Within minutes I felt right back at home eating Thai sweets and receiving lots of warm Thai smiles. &lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=""&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;o:p&gt;&lt;/o:p&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;  &lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7418288175880330028-471218088978260492?l=thailandssi.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://thailandssi.blogspot.com/2009/03/dema-in-las-vegas.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (SSI Team)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/Sa-Kj09ncZI/AAAAAAAAANU/DW-1sHyLy-Q/s72-c/2008+189.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7418288175880330028.post-1463437951888790851</guid><pubDate>Thu, 05 Mar 2009 05:47:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2009-03-04T22:18:58.547-08:00</atom:updated><title>West Coast Dreaming</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/Sa9sr3K5LEI/AAAAAAAAANM/_4s80wKH6uA/s1600-h/phi+phi+015.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 152px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/Sa9sr3K5LEI/AAAAAAAAANM/_4s80wKH6uA/s200/phi+phi+015.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309581986492918850" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;SSI Has just had an awesome trip to the west once again visiting Koh Phi Phi ,Krabi ,Phuket and seeing our friends up in Kow Lak.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"&gt;Beaches are busy bars are buzzing on Phi Phi,Mantas are playing hard and thrilling divers at the Simmilans so be quick you may get to dive with these awesome flying Rays.  Krabi and phuket offered the same idilic surroundings as always.However my credit card preffered Island life as  Donna found a slice of heaven at all the shopping venues in Phuket. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7418288175880330028-1463437951888790851?l=thailandssi.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://thailandssi.blogspot.com/2009/03/west-coast-dreaming.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (SSI Team)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/Sa9sr3K5LEI/AAAAAAAAANM/_4s80wKH6uA/s72-c/phi+phi+015.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7418288175880330028.post-4467966777242412968</guid><pubDate>Thu, 02 Oct 2008 06:51:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-10-01T23:51:36.080-07:00</atom:updated><title></title><description>&lt;embed width="448" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" src="http://i481.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid481.photobucket.com/albums/rr177/ssithailand/SSIMP4.flv"&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7418288175880330028-4467966777242412968?l=thailandssi.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://thailandssi.blogspot.com/2008/10/blog-post_01.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (SSI Team)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7418288175880330028.post-868658783944451478</guid><pubDate>Thu, 02 Oct 2008 05:20:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-10-01T22:36:03.892-07:00</atom:updated><title>Blue Views Phi  Phi Clean Up Marthon......</title><description>&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;Blue View Divers&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;, Koh Phi Phi, organized and arranged 3 days of activities for International Clean up Day 2008 (19th September- 21st September) in association with SSI and Greenfins Thailand, collecting just over 645kgs of debris from our beaches and dive sites.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;Friday 19th September &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;started off at 9am, and it was back to school for all of us!!!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;All 60 children and 12 staff (including the school principal, Khun Wirawat) of The Phi Phi Island Village School were assembled in the playground to look through posters explaining how long different types of debris take to break down, talk about ICC and beach clean-ups.In less than 1 hour the children collected and categorized over &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;78kgs of rubbish&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt; from the beach located in front of the school!!! Everyone proudly received their SSI Certificates of Participation. Congratulations guys!!!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;We then headed out to Phi Phi Ley snorkeling to examine the different aspects we had just talked about: types and shapes of hard and soft coral, the importance of algae in the different colored corals, the life supported by the reefs and different types of damage. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;A huge Blue View thank you to all the children for making our day sanuk maak!!!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;You are all underwater superheroes!!!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;Saturday 20th September:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;Sunflower bar was our starting point and host for a beach clean-up along Loh Dallum Beach (Phi Phi Don), aimed at encouraging community involvement, responsibility, and raising awareness of the length of time that debris takes to break down and the detrimental effects to the environment and tourist industry in the interim. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;23 volunteers arrived for the morning session, and a further 35 plus for the afternoon clean-up (each lasting just over an hour due to the heat!) An astounding &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;501 kgs of rubbish&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt; was collected and categorized, including more rope and netting than we could count, cigarette butts, fish traps and cages, and a boat captain’s seat. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;Sunday 21st September:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;Sunday morning and 2 longtail boats headed out on choppy seas with 9 divers and 1 snorkeler to Phi Phi Ley, where we focused on 3 dive sites: Viking Cave, Lohsammah Bay and Piley South.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;A total of 64.6kgs of rubbish was collected, including clothing, fishing nets, line and cages, rope, beverage cans and bottles etc. We are also optimistic that the ReefWatch data from these 3 sites will prove useful to Greenfins and the PMBC in terms of monitoring the health of these reefs over time.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;Blue View Divers&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt; would like to thank  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;Aquanauts&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt; for their enthusiasm and assistance over all 3 days of activities.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;PICTURES TO COME.......&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7418288175880330028-868658783944451478?l=thailandssi.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://thailandssi.blogspot.com/2008/10/blue-views-phi-phi-clean-up-marthon.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (SSI Team)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7418288175880330028.post-8659059346485626718</guid><pubDate>Thu, 02 Oct 2008 05:15:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-10-16T20:01:29.711-07:00</atom:updated><title>Busy as Sea Bees</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/SPf_4nL6ChI/AAAAAAAAAKg/Ha_j386FPH0/s1600-h/Logo-Sea-Bees.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/SPf_4nL6ChI/AAAAAAAAAKg/Ha_j386FPH0/s200/Logo-Sea-Bees.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257952438035024402" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;On the latest International Coastal Cleanup Day, Sea Bees Diving, Phuket had 32 guests in all, both their own customers and those who joined in from other dive companies around Phuket.  Everyone met at The Anchor Inn (the Sea Bees restaurant next to the dive shop), and at 9.10 am we left for Chalong Pier where, once onboard, a final equipment check took place before MV Excalibur II set off for Koh Mai Thon.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This small island on Phuket’s south-east coast, with it’s beautiful sandy beaches and clear water, is a perfect spot for holidaymakers who want to escape the stresses and strains of modern life. The diving is suitable both for beginners and for those who just want to drift their way through a nice relaxing dive. The many small pinnacles offer a diverse range of marine life such as moray eels, nudibranchs, fusiliers and soldier fish - sometimes even razorfish are to be found bobbing gently just above the sand. Sea Bees only make occasional visits to the dive spots around Koh Mai Thon, when they want to avoid the congestion sometimes found on the busier sites or to offer their divers something a little bit different from the rest. During previous dives we realised that a thorough clean up was necessary to remove rubbish which our divers had begun to find there.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/SPf_gJhef1I/AAAAAAAAAKQ/D3Gubi9RL_4/s1600-h/2008-09-20-sea-bees.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/SPf_gJhef1I/AAAAAAAAAKQ/D3Gubi9RL_4/s320/2008-09-20-sea-bees.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257952017755570002" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;During our one hour journey to the site our tour leader Stefan gave a very detailed briefing about the dive site itself, and also about procedures for safely cleaning the reef without causing any damage to the corals, after which gloves and net-bags were distributed to all. Once the clean up began there was a steady stream of divers returning to the surface with full loads - almost every 5 minutes another net-bag appeared filled with beverage cans, nets, plastic bottles, shoes, flip flops etc. At one point even a large truck tyre was taken from the reef. Stefan, who was stationed on our dinghy, was very busy meeting all the dive teams to collect the rubbish until, after one hour of diving, two large barrels had been filled (not including the truck tyre which would not even fit). In all, about 100 kg of rubbish was collected.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On the way back to Phuket every participant received a Certificate of Recognition for their involvement in the International Coastal Cleanup Day, which was supported by SSI (Scuba Schools International), TDA Diving Association (Thailand) and Green Fins Thailand, which is affiliated to the United Nations.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;After arriving back at the pier, everyone was treated to a drink at the Anchor Inn. All participants could clearly see the importance of the clean up and were very satisfied with the good work done on the day. All in all the event was a great success so thank you again to all participants - the environment will thank you for it on your next dive.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7418288175880330028-8659059346485626718?l=thailandssi.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://thailandssi.blogspot.com/2008/10/busy-as-sea-bees.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (SSI Team)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iDHYdt_rtik/SPf_4nL6ChI/AAAAAAAAAKg/Ha_j386FPH0/s72-c/Logo-Sea-Bees.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7418288175880330028.post-6270980862181555562</guid><pubDate>Thu, 02 Oct 2008 05:05:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-10-01T22:06:32.144-07:00</atom:updated><title>Welcome aboard.....</title><description>&lt;span style="background-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SSI Thailand welcomes three new Dive Centres on Koh Tao&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;img style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" src="http://www.divessi.com/data/Image/system/new.gif" border="0" /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;&lt;img alt="" style="width: 128px; height: 160px;" src="http://www.divessi.com/data/Image/SSI%20Thailand/images/Dive-Centre---240x302.gif" align="right" border="0" hspace="5" /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SSI&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; Thailand is happy to welcome three new Dive Centres on Koh Tao to the &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SSI&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; Family.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Golden Diver&lt;/strong&gt;, part of the Golden Travel group, joined &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SSI&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; in August.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Sairee Cottage Divers&lt;/strong&gt; opened in July and crossed over their four instructors, Trevor, Mick, Manuel and Dmo, in August and September.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;New Heaven Dive School &lt;/strong&gt;will crossover five instructors in early October.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;img alt="" src="http://www.divessi.com/data/Image/SSI%20Thailand/images/logo-save-koh-tao.gif" align="left" width="160" height="145" hspace="5" /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: larger;"&gt;Save Koh Tao Group&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: larger;"&gt;&lt;img src="file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Al/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SSI&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;strong&gt;New Heaven Dive School &lt;/strong&gt;and the &lt;strong&gt;Save Koh Tao &lt;/strong&gt;group are working together to train &lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;SSI&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt; Dive Leaders and Instructors in the &lt;strong&gt;ECO&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Logical&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;strong&gt;Monitoring Program (EMP) Specialty &lt;/strong&gt;so divers and Dive Leaders all over Koh Tao can survey the transect lines and contribute invaluable information on positive and negative trends regarding marine life around Koh Tao’s islands.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;For more information on the Marine Conservation Branch of the Save Koh Tao Group, visit: &lt;a href="http://www.marineconservationkohtao.com/"&gt;www.MarineConservationKohTao.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7418288175880330028-6270980862181555562?l=thailandssi.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://thailandssi.blogspot.com/2008/10/welcome-aboard.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (SSI Team)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7418288175880330028.post-6784623215501081767</guid><pubDate>Thu, 02 Oct 2008 05:04:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-10-01T22:15:09.004-07:00</atom:updated><title>BIO ROCKS !!!</title><description>&lt;span style="background-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;&lt;em&gt;19. September 2008&lt;/em&gt;: &lt;strong&gt;Construction of Koh Tao’s Second Biorock begins&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;img style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);" src="http://www.divessi.com/data/Image/system/new.gif" border="0" /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;&lt;img alt="" src="http://www.divessi.com/data/Image/SSI%20Thailand/images/SSI-ECO-Logical-500.gif" align="right" width="250" height="53" /&gt;Construction of Koh Tao’s Second Biorock named Hin Fai, which means Electric Rock in English, begins this week.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;SSI Thailand&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt; encourages divers and Dive Leaders from all participating &lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;SSI &lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;Dive Centres and Resorts on Koh Tao to help and be as active as possible during construction of the Biorock.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;All income from &lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;SSI&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;’s &lt;b&gt;ECO&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;Logical&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;b&gt;Monitoring Program &lt;/b&gt;Specialty Courses conducted in Koh Tao will be donated directly back into projects of the Marine Conservation Koh Tao branch of Save Koh Tao.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;The Biorock structure will be constructed in the gardens of &lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;SSI&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt; Dive Centre, Phoenix Divers, located at A.C. Resort in Sairee Beach, before being resituated at the dive site north of Sairee Beach in Koh Tao.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;&lt;img style="width: 314px; height: 210px;" alt="Biorock Process" src="http://www.divessi.com/data/Image/SSI%20Thailand/images/biorockprocess.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;Lectures will be given in the evenings to promote environmental awareness and education of the Biorock activities.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Links&lt;/b&gt; &lt;ul style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Save Koh Tao Group’s Marine Conservation Branch&lt;/strong&gt; - &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://www.marineconservationkohtao.com/"&gt;www.MarineConservationKohTao.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Biorock&lt;/strong&gt; TM - &lt;a target="_blank" href="http://www.biorock.net/"&gt;www.biorock.net&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7418288175880330028-6784623215501081767?l=thailandssi.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://thailandssi.blogspot.com/2008/10/bio-rocks.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (SSI Team)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7418288175880330028.post-9155634037209387362</guid><pubDate>Thu, 02 Oct 2008 05:01:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-10-01T22:03:55.732-07:00</atom:updated><title>Reuseable Ecological banners</title><description>&lt;strong style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;Reusable vinyl banners available for beach and dive site clean-ups&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;The following 1.5m x 4.0m reusable vinyl banners are available for SSI Dive Centres to promote their own beach and dive site clean-ups.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;&lt;img style="width: 363px; height: 136px;" src="http://www.divessi.com/data/Image/SSI%20Thailand/images/ECO-Beach-Clean-Up-Banner-575%281%29.gif" alt="Vinyl Banner" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;Already, the following Dive Centres have taken advantage of this to help promote their own environmental activities:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ul style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;&lt;li&gt;Big Blue Diving, &lt;em&gt;Koh Tao&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Save Koh Tao Group, &lt;em&gt;Koh Tao&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Sea Bees Diving, &lt;em&gt;Phuket&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Blue View Divers, &lt;em&gt;Koh Phi Phi&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt; &lt;p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;Information on these activities will appear here shortly.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;Please also use the &lt;a href="http://www.divessi.com/events/l"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;myEvents&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/a&gt; section to advertise your own Dive Centre’s environmantal activities.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);"&gt;If you would like to use the banners, please email &lt;a href="mailto:info@ssithailand.com?subject=Beach%20and%20Dive%20Site%20Clean-Ups%20Banner"&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;strong&gt;info@ssithailand.com&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7418288175880330028-9155634037209387362?l=thailandssi.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://thailandssi.blogspot.com/2008/10/reuseable-ecological-banners.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (SSI Team)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink='false'>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7418288175880330028.post-36571276151535412</guid><pubDate>Thu, 02 Oct 2008 05:00:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2008-10-01T22:03:32.976-07:00</atom:updated><title>Training Oppurtunites</title><description>&lt;p&gt;SSI Thailand is currently looking for candidates to be sponsored through an &lt;strong&gt;ECO&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 102);"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Logical&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt; Mapping Programme course - &lt;strong&gt;EMP&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;img style="width: 274px; height: 58px;" alt="ECO-Logical - Education, Conservation, Obligation" src="http://www.divessi.com/data/Image/SSI%20Thailand/images/SSI-ECO-Logical-500.gif" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;We are looking at training one person from every associated SSI Thailand school to Specialty instructor level.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;The Instructor Course takes four days and teaches candidates how to set up &lt;strong&gt;ECO&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 153, 102);"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Logical&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/span&gt; Mapping Programmes and how to conduct on-going reef surveys.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;So far three candidates have completed the course and all state they have an increased knowledge of reef structure and its on-going problems.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;To start with, we are running this program in the Gulf of Thailand and will be looking at expanding to cover the Andaman coast and beyond over the next year.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Once trained, all certification revenue raised by SSI from EMP Specialty Course students will be directly reinvested into local environmental projects, hopefully setting a precedent for sustainable reef and environmental awareness projects.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Candidates must:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Be an Active SSI Instructor or DiveCon;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Be Associated with an Active SSI Dive Centre;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Have a recommendation from Dive Centre manager/owner;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Show commitment to offering ongoing EMP training.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 255);"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:larger;"&gt;Interested?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Email:  &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href="mailto:gary@ssithailand.com?subject=EMP%20Instructor%20Training"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"&gt;&lt;u&gt;gary@ssithailand.com&lt;/u&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/7418288175880330028-36571276151535412?l=thailandssi.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://thailandssi.blogspot.com/2008/10/training-oppurtunites.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (SSI Team)</author><thr:total xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'>0</thr:total></item></channel></rss>