In late March, Conservation Instructor Kirsty was invited to join onboard the Smiling Seahorse Liveaboard for a trip to the Andaman Seas along with Jamie Piyada of Thailand Manta Project. The liveaboard itinerary was designed to provide as many opportunities as possible to find some of Thailands Mega Fauna, the Whale Shark and the Manta Ray. 

The liveaboard was the perfect opportunity to present the work both Kirsty and Jamie have been pushing within Thai waters and gave them both a great opportunity to share their knowledge with other divers, about these 2 amazing creatures and share their passion and knowledge for the ocean. 

It also provided an opportunty to check out how the Andaman Sea differs in comparison to the Gulf and also gave Kirsty the opportunity to get some photos of some very cool critters. 

From the Surin Islands, to Koh Bon and Koh Taa Chai, to the Similans, back to Koh Bon and Koh Taa Chai, and rounding of the trip with 2 days diving at Richelieu Rock, this was certainly a great trip. Everyday was something a little different and the onboard lectures helped to educate those onbaord about the marine environment. 



The trip came to an end in the best way possible when a 3m male whale shark appeared as we were descending. 

Thank you to the Smiling Seahorse for inviting us on this trip and to everyone that came aboard. 

You can find out more information about our next expedition here 
https://www.thesmilingseahorse.com/thailand-whaleshark-expedition-2022.html

Heres to the next trip, more sunrises, more sunsets and of course more whale sharks for company. 

These past two weeks have been non-stop here at the program.

We completed disease surveys, EMP surveys, muck dives, 

crown of thorns surveys and drupella removals and more.

We had some fun recording data and exploring new areas of the reef as well as taking part in a macramé workshop, making our own coasters.

It was also the week that we had to say goodbye to our Italian pair, Mati and Simone. This awesome duo have been with us since late Feb and have spent their time analyzing the health of the reefs through the compromised health surveys.

Thank you guys for being amazing interns, hopefully we will see you back here in the not too distant future.

Stay tuned to hear about the next week as we start a new course and welcome a new group of students and interns.

Until then remember its

This week has been a very busy week as we welcomed new short term students and another group of Loop students. 

We had coral taxonomy, coral diseases, drupella removal and EMP surveys rounded off with a trip to South West for a scavenger hunt. 

We worked hard and played harder as we dove head first into each dive this week. We also removed nearly 5,000 drupella from the reef. 

At South West we saw a large number of Acoel flatworms on different genus of coral. 

and we were treated to good vis and some wonderful dives

It was a busy week all round but was a great laugh with everyone thank you to everyone that joined us this week. 

We look forward to the upcoming week 

Until then remember its 

This week was all about Coral genus, predators and diseases as well as Clams and Sharks.

We started the week with coral taxonomy when our students were introduces to 23 different genus of corals and the ways to identify them.

Next came our coral predator lecture as we took to the water to remove drupella sea snails from the reef. With 2 people we were able to remove over 1,000 individuals taking our total for the year so far to over 25,000 snails removed.

We then moved onto coral compromised health states to understand the health of the corals down our EMP lines

Diseases such as Skeletal eroding band and white syndrome were present across the line ad well as signs of predation and overgrowth from algae and tunicates.

We then took advantage of the good weather and headed out to check on our giant clams.

We rounded off the week with some freediving and give everyone another chance to learn those coral genus in the water.

Thanks to everyone for another great week and until next time its