Sixty percent of the money raised will go to the victims of the March 11, 2011 Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami via organisations such as Shelterbox; the remaining forty percent will be, divided between Project AWARE (an organization that acts to conserve underwater environments) ,Local Lanta Community Projects (Kim and Scubafish are enthusiastic supporters of the local community), and victims of the landslides and floods in Krabi Thailand.

“I saw first-hand both the immediate and longer-term impacts of the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004, on friends and communities in Thailand (and in particular Phi Phi)”

says Kim,

“The devastating struggles facing those directly affected in Japan at this time compels me to connect personally with this tragic event, to act, and to show support.”

The challenges facing Japan following the 8.9 magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami are vast. The immediate needs of the survivors include the provision of medical care and food, of finding shelter for displaced people during a time of inclement weather. There is the mammoth job that is locating and reuniting relatives separated by this event, and longer term necessities such as rebuilding homes, schools, infrastructure, whole coastal communities. With your generous support, we can help provide much needed aid and support when these people need it the most.

Your Contributions:

“I am asking people and businesses to donate and show their support for these people.”

Your gift of any size may be made quickly, securely and easily online, via bank transfer, or in person in the lead-up to, and at the event. Unfortunately at this time we are only able to accept donations in Thai Baht. Should you wish to see current exchange rates then please check out the XE Currency Converter

To Donate please click here, which will take you through to our Donations Page, and provide further information.

Information about the organisations these funds will be distributed to:
ShelterBox is an international disaster relief charity that delivers emergency shelter, warmth and dignity to people affected by disaster worldwide. They deliver the essentials a family needs to survive in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. Each large, green ShelterBox is tailored to a disaster but typically contains a disaster relief tent for an extended family, blankets, water storage and purification equipment, cooking utensils, a stove, a basic tool kit, a children’s activity pack and other vital items.

Project AWARE Foundation is a registered nonprofit organization conserving underwater environments through education, advocacy and action. In partnership with scuba divers and water enthusiasts, Project AWARE offices located in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Switzerland and Japan combine efforts to conserve aquatic resources in more than 180 countries and territories of the world.

The high season is well underway now, so we thought we’d catch you up on the excitement so far:




It was also in November that Narima Diving was also the host base to Camille Lemmens’ (Platinum PADI Course Director) and his Instructor candidates. This was Camille’s first IDC on Ko Lanta with Scubafish. The IDC was enjoyed by all – and we are extremely proud of the 100% pass rate achieved!

December was Ko Lanta’s Manta Month! We were blessed by in excess of 22 days of manta ray sightings at Hin Daeng & Hin Muang. Being the only dive operator on Lanta to offer 3 dives a day at these sites, and visiting these sites 3 times a week lead to some very happy divers and staff. On many of these ocassions there were multiple manta’s – at it’s peak 9 manta rays were spotted together on Hin Daeng in one dive alone!

2010 Achievements:

Narima Diving would like to thank and congratulate all our students and divers over the past year.

Firstly we’d like to thank the 66 children we have taken diving this year – keep on blowing those bubbles and showing the grown-ups how it’s done!

In particular though a big OK and well done goes to our 10 students who took that step into the professional world of diving and became PADI Divemasters with us this year:

• Sanae Yamae
• Craig Enderby
• Lucas Troup
• Andrew Hemery
• Chris Neillson
• Heidi Taylor
• Simon Sparrow
• Emma Kirton
• Paul Kirton
• Birgit Schreiner.

Congratulations also to those who passed their PADI Instructor Examinations with us this year too:

• Dominic Jeanes
• Heidi Taylor
• Simon Sparrow
• Emma Kirton
• Craig Enderby
• Maya

And of course we could never forget Phil Worall who achieved his PADI Staff Instructor rating.

We are also very pleased with the continued success of, and support for our environmental efforts over the year including Dive for Earth Day, Save our Fins, International Clean Up Day and our day back in the local Klong Hin School.

Itinerary:

• IDC (Instructor Development Course) Prep Days start on November 29th
• The AI (Assistant Instructor) portion of the IDC commences December 1-4th
• The OWSI (Open Water Scuba Instructor) portion of the IDC will be from December 5th – 9th
• The EFRI (Emergency First Response Instructor) will be held on December 9th
• The IE (Instructor Examination) will be held December 10th till 12th

Spaces are available, imagine becoming a PADI Instructor by christmas!

Camille’s programs provide the quality and expertise you should expect and demand during your Instructor Training. His IDC programs provide valuable hands-on training with the emphasis on fun and in-water application with an emphasis on personalized training. Camill

We are thrilled to say that all candidates, Dom Jeanes, Simon Sparrow and Heidi Taylor passed their IE (Instructor Exam) with flying colours and have joined the ranks of PADI Instructors.

A huge congratulations also goes out to Phill Worrall who completed his IDCS, (Staff Instructor) rating.

If you are interested in more of the photos, and proceedings of this IDC then check out the following links to Camille’s blog:

October-November IDC on Koh Lanta

November IDC Half-Way Point

November IDC EFRI Course

Last Day of the November IDC

This season we are delighted to have PADI Instructors teaching in the following languages:

• English
• Thai
• Swedish
• Danish
• German
• French

Don’t worry if your language isn’t covered by this – we have PADI materials (such as manuals and DVD’s) in many more languages including: Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Finish, Norwegian, Japanese, and Chinese.

In addition to this our PADI Divemasters are able to speak Thai, English and Spanish.

What do we offer on top then?

• A real emphasis on the environment and sustainable tourism.

We are proud 2 time Winners of the Project AWARE Marine Conservation Award (2007 & 2010 winners), are a Go-Eco Operator, and members of Greenfins. For more information about our community projects including days at the local school, beach and underwater clean-ups, and shark conservation efforts please read our blog entries.

• Staff who specialise in teaching nervous divers

We promise you small groups or individual tuition if you prefer, learning tailored to your own pace, unbeatable personal service, flexible pool diving times to fit around your holiday plans, or family’s needs, and above all, a great time!
Our team of professional PADI Instructors each have their forte, and understand that learning to dive can be daunting for a number of individual reasons – we are experienced, understanding and adept at dealing with your concerns! Our aim is to ensure you feel you can place your trust in your instructor, enabling you to relax, ask questions, and build your confidence, skills and knowledge.

• Staff specialising in teaching children, and families

Narima Diving staff are comfortable, skilled and experienced in teaching children.We strive to inspire children to not only enjoy but protect our underwater world. At Narima Diving we stock dive equipment designed specifically for younger people, including smaller, lighter tanks, XXS BCD’s and wetsuits, kids masks, small fin sizes and even underwater toys!
(Thanks for the great picture Jonathan Kronberg – aged 10!)

• Hin Deang & Hin Muang Specialists

Along with our affiliated dive center Scubafish we offer more trips per week to these dive sites than any other dive operator. We are also in the enviable position of being the closest dive operators to these sites, so are able to offer much shorter journey times. These reduced journey times also allow us to offer our divers an optional third dive! (Depending on conditions). These are fantastic dive sites to take advantage of Nitrox.

• Liquid Lense – Our Underwater Digital Academy.

We provide a Liquid Lense professional underwater photographer on each trip who takes fantastic photos both on the boat and underwater. The photos are shown as a slideshow when the boat gets back each day and you can choose if you’d like to buy the photos. On selected trips we also have a Liquid Lense underwater videographer on board.

The diving community have a responsibility to foster environmental awareness, responsible attitudes and values. Narima Diving & Scubafish aim to encourage positive action, and inspire a change in personal behaviour, highlighting the value of our natural resources. Or:

Think global, act local. Today, for Tomorrow.

So on a local level we set out to enthuse and influence the thinking and attitudes of the next generation, through a series of fun environmental and educational activities (or stations), which we presented to the 70+ local schoolchildren of Ban Klong Hin School.

Station: Re-Use and Recycle!

Re-use:
Tetra Pak (Thailand) Ltd. has launched a new campaign entitled ‘Green Roof Project for Princess Pa Foundation’ in collaboration with Princess Pa Foundation, Thai Red Cross Society and Big C Supercenter.

Narima Diving & Scubafish introduced the schoolchildren to this project with cartoons and videos, and then got stuck in.

This Project calls for the thai public to participate in collecting four million used UHT beverage cartons which will be recycled and made into 2,000 roof tiles for charity.

These roof tiles/sheets will then be presented to the Princess Pa Foundation, and Thai Red Cross Society, to help support victims of natural disasters, especially flood victims, throughout Thailand. These rooftops will be used in home building projects within these disaster-hit communities.

The campaign plans to amass the four million UHT cartons (about 40 tonnes) by the end of this year. The recycling of four million cartons would help shave off 36 tonnes of carbon missions.

Tetra also collecting discarded milk cartons from various schools, to turn them into materials used for making tables and chairs for rural areas within Thailand.

The children had all been asked to bring in used cartons with them and were shown how to “Cut, Clean, and Collect” these cartons to be re-used for a worthy cause. Everyone had a go, and the school now has its own collection point for future use!

Recycle:
A large part of Narima Diving & Scubafish’s Intl. Clean Up Day Fundraising this year aims to improve community recycling facilities around Kantiang Bay. Through sponsorship and fundraising we will create a Recycling Station for Plastic bottles, Cans, Glass bottles.
The children of Baan Klong Hin School all did their part by painting small mosaic tiles, which will be used to decorate this Community Recycling Station once it is completed.(They even managed to paint within the lines!)

Station: Sharks

Project AWARE have put a special emphasis this year on the plight of the worlds shark populations with their ‘Protect the Sharks Campaign’.

Working and living in Thailand you soon become aware that the majority of Thai people are petrified of sharks, and so we set out to try and change these school-children’s perceptions and show the ecological importance of these often misunderstood animals.

As expected when we asked what the children thought of sharks they all answered that they are scared of sharks, because they will bite them and eat them.

A Presentation in thai, posters and photos of the main 3 types of sharks found in the Andaman Sea; the whaleshark, leopard shark and blacktip reef shark, were shown and discussed. Everyone watched a video of Whalesharks, taken during dives around Lanta, which included what they eat, where in this area they are seen and why they are endangered.

To demonstrate to the children just how massive a whaleshark could be, 12 children stood next to each other with their arms open…this certainly didn’t fit in the classroom, and the children were very impressed!

We also discussed why we need sharks, and the dangers facing sharks including how long it takes them to reach maturity and the problems with shark finning.

As this station came to a close the children were asked a second time what they thought of sharks, and this time only a few in each group said that they were still scared – although not of leopard sharks and whalesharks anymore (but of blacktip reef sharks!)

Station :The Plague of the Plastic Bag

Last year Narima Diving & Scubafish launched it’s “Do Something Drastic, Say No to Plastic’ Campaign. Remaining with this theme we examined the environmental problems caused by our over-dependence on plastic bags.

Together we discovered that:

-600,000 plastic bags are given out every day in Bangkok.
-1,800 Tonnes of plastic bags are disposed of every day in Bangkok.
-If you laid all the plastic bags that thai people use in one year end to end they would reach to the moon and back 7 times!

Yet plastic bags take between 200 and 1000 years to breakdown.

The group discussed alternatives to single use plastic bags, and how if we do not not properly dispose of them, many of these discarded bags end up in rivers and the sea where they cause years of damage to the marine environment.

Using photos of seals, dolphins, turtles, and sea birds all of which were either entangled, or eating plastic bags, we explored the dangers of plastic bags to marine animals.

We discussed how when an animal becomes entangled, it’s ability to swim and therefore catch prey is effected, in addition to causing stunted growth and restricted circulation. We also discussed how if animals ingest bits of plastic they may suffocate, or their digestive system becomes blocked.

Demonstration time: We illustrated how difficult it is to catch food if you are entangled with a fun game!

Kids had to imagine that they were a turtle or dolphin, and pretend that their index finger and thumb was their mouth. Using only these fingers we timed how long it took to catch and remove our little fishes (made from old diving fins) from a small tank of water.

Next we wrapped elastic bands around these fingers and got them to try again…it took a lot longer to catch the food this time, and the kids also found that it was nearly impossible to pick up these fish without getting small bits of plastic which were floating in the water too.

All in all, the day was a huge success with children and staff alike. The dive team were even roped in to games of marbles, dancing to the Why Not? Bar band and much, much more! We are still not sure who was more exhausted at home time…the children or us!

Narima Diving and Scubafish wish to express our heartfelt thanks to the following local businesses and sponsors for their support, help and funds towards this community school day:

• Why Not? Bar – Thank you for your fabulous entertainment courtesy of the band, and for providing so many people with lunch to fuel the day!

• The Houben – Thank you for providing the sweets and pudding;)

• Pimalai – As always, we thank you, especially for your cookies.

• Kantiang See Villa – Thank you for coming along and supplying milk and snacks for the children.

• Dream Team – Thank you for your drinks and syrup.
• Nine Art Gallery – Thank you for creating the beautiful mosaics for the children to paint.

• Baan Laanta Resort & Spa – Thank you for providing the paints and the wooden tiles to be decorated.

• Narima Resort – Thank you for your generous donation.

• Same, Same but Different Restaurant – Thank you for your kind donation, and for joining and helping us on the day.
• Drunken Sailors – Thank you also for your donation, time on the day and some fabulous photos.

• Anti -Gravity Divers – Thank you for joining with us and donating to this event.

What is the problem?
Marine debris is having devastating impacts upon the underwater ecosystem. Marine life suffers; seabirds, turtles, sharks, corals, and a myriad of other creatures face a slow death from entanglement, suffocation or ingestion of man-made objects.

Marine debris can also have a direct impact upon our health. Sharp items like broken glass or metal cans cut beachgoers, while disposable diapers and batteries introduce bacteria, toxic compounds, and other contaminants into the water.

Project AWARE volunteers worldwide collected 252,000kgs of marine debris in a single day. (To put this in perspective, this is roughly equivalent to the weight of 4500 Thai people,or 2520 Honda motorbikes!)

Volunteers at our Kantiang Bay Clean-Up last year collected and removed an astounding 3,528 kgs of trash!

Items collected globally (and in Kantiang Bay in brackets):

• 140,814 Cigarette Butts (400)
• 91,596 Plastic Bottles
• 78,854 Plastic Bags (720)
• 67,526 Beverage Cans (314)
• 55,334 Caps and lids (1,000)
• 49,046 Glass Bottles (382)
• 22,942 Straws and stirrers (700)

Narima Diving and Scubafish believe that the diving community have a responsibility to foster environmental awareness, responsible attitudes and values. We wish to encourage positive action, inspire a change in personal behaviour and perception of environment, and highlight the value of our natural resources. Or:

Think global, act local. Today, for Tomorrow.

This year Narima Diving and Scubafish’s fundraising efforts will go direct to Kantiang Bay itself, with the purpose of creating a small recycling station (for plastic bottles, glass bottles and cans). This is just a small step towards reducing marine debris at the source: 60-80% starts on land!

Currently the main resorts in the bay have their own facilities for this, but there is nowhere for the smaller businesses, local families or tourists to take their recyclables. This subject is often broached at local community meetings, and we intend to help turn talk into action.

International Clean-Up Day Events:

Narima Diving and Scubafish are in the process of preparing our activities as we speak…

The staff team here believe that influencing the thinking and attitudes of the next generation is the first step to making a long term difference. As such we are planning to go back to school!  We are currently busy preparing a series of fun environmental and educational activities to present to 100+ local schoolchildren (Ban Klong Hin School) on Friday September 24th. Wish us luck!

Kantiang Bay Beach & Village Clean-Up

Date: Saturday 25th September
Time: 3pm

Although we are just in the early stages, we may have a few surprises up our sleeves in terms of some fun Clean Beach Activities for afterwards!

Last year we launched our ‘Do Something Drastic- Say No to Plastic Campaign’, highlighting our over-dependence on plastic bags. In Thailand alone, 15% of all waste is plastic bags, equating to an astounding 18,000 tonnes each day! In local terms, during our clean-up of the Kantiang Bay area for ICC 2009, volunteers collected 720 plastic bags in just over an hour (as well as a myriad of other debris). We are intending to re-visit and reinforce this message in our activities this year, and during our research found this mockumentary on the Life of a Plastic Bag, which is well worth a watch!

Click here to see the report and here to see some familiar dive team faces signing the Help Give Sharks a Fighting Chance Petition.
(And please consider signing this petition if you haven’t already done so!)