No, really, a military coup HAPPENED

No doubt you heard that while we were staying in Chaing Mai, the military imposed martial law to deal with the political situation that has been in turmoil for some time.

From news accounts we have seen, that was manuvered skillfully, peacefully & embraced by the Thai people.  Indeed, it is not even sll that unususl from what we have learned.

So, we vacationed onward.  Our plans did not change & I noticed nothing out of the ordinary.  We enjoyed Chaing Mai, Chaing Rai, we went to the Golden Triangle & crossed into Laos for about half an hour. 
We then flew to Phuket, & hired a car to take us to a beautiful resort on Koh Lanta.

Then there was a military coup.  Still, Thais I have met are non plussed and support the military.  It's part of the history/culture, & still peaceful.

We had another incredible vacation day.

For instance, I am SO proud of Sue, who does not know how to swim & has been adamant about not getting in the wster for as long as I have known her for strapping on a life jacket, climbing off a perfectly good boat into the sea & letting me grab her jacket & tow her to an island where I swam her through a cave filled with bats (which, if they were as large as the ones we saw clinging to another island, were as large as chickens!!!) to a secret beach where pirates used to hide their treasure.  Most importantly, I repeat:  Sue "swam!!!!!"

As for the coup, we are safe & having a great time, & will keep posting!

P.S.  Kudos to the US State Department for their Smart Traveler program.  We are getting regular email updates with advice for "staying safe" during the coup.  Just thought you'd like an good example of your tax $ at work.

Swimming with Angels

Last night, after returning from wining and dining along the beach, I sat on my bed to Facebook Sue.  Sometimes, if the wifi is just right, I can Facebook and IM, but anything else is definitely too much to ask.

She'd left a fairly urgent sounding message, asking if we could talk.  Since Mt Auburn Hospital had actually been able to get through with a good connection the night before to inform me I owed them $16, I tried an actual phone call to her.  The 1st time I hung up before it went to voice mail.  Since it was nearing midnight here, and 1 in the afternoon there, I figured, correctly, she was at lunch.  I waited a few minutes and called back, and voila!  Connection!

It was indeed urgent, unpleasant news.

Starting last February, many of you may remember, my Aunt Marcia made many trips to Boston's Dana Farber for cancer treatment, and stayed with us for about 2 months of that time, before getting accommodations at the Hope Lodge.  (Our house with its bathroom on the 3rd floor, and kitchen on the 2nd was not well-suited for someone undergoing rigorous cancer treatment.)

Marcia's health was declining.  I knew that she'd admitted to the Mars Hill care unit because she was getting weaker.  Sue filled me in on the rest of the progression and prognosis.  It was bleak.  She was not expected to survive the weekend.

We talked for about 25 minutes, about the family, plans, whether I should call.  IF I could call.  In the end, I am in Thailand.  Dad was going to be there around 6 p.m., which would be 5 a.m. my time.  There's not a helluva lot that I could do from here.  From Boston for that matter.  Things were beyond my control.

We hung up, and, in my Joe Boxer moose-print boxer short pajamas and lime green tank top, I walked out of my bungalow to the center of the courtyard and looked up to the stars.  I had a few moments of quiet, just watching them and wishing her a peaceful journey.  Thinking of her friends and loved ones who have gone before her, my Aunt Alyce, her husband Bob, her friend Tressa, my grandparents.  Kind of asking them to come greet her and help make the journey easy.

This morning I woke up, and IM'ed my cousin Kelly who works at the facility where Marcia was to see if she would do me a "mega huge favor," because I was sure I'd missed Dad & his cell phone visiting Marcia.  I asked Kelly if she would go tell Marcia I loved her, and that I was thankful for the time Sue, Buster & I had with her last year.  That was sending her my best, all the way from Thailand.

I'd no sooner sent that message and I got another IM from Sue, updating me, letting me know she'd passed away during "my night."  Dad had tried to call Sue from his cell so he could put the phone to Marcia's ear, so Sue could say goodbye, because they had grown so very close last year, but Sue missed the call.

I sat by the computer hut where the pitiful wifi is strongest at my inn, and burst into tears.  Fellow volunteer Tripp had just sat down with his laptop - I was behind him.  He turned around to an odd sight and came over and hugged me.  Along my morning, all the people at the dive school were wonderfully consoling.  Fellow student diver John, Spencer, the young Canadian getting his rescue diver creds, Sabrina, my German diving instructor, and the EMP Divers.  

Again, I had no control over the situation, so I surrendered to routine.  I went to the lecture.  We had a big task for the day.  The very top row of concrete blocks, akin to Jenga blocks, are reached when diving about 7.3 m.  We were going to epoxy the top level with a variety of unsecured recruits.  Some teams immediately went with a hammer and chisel to ding footing holes for the epoxy to sit in while gripping coral.  Coral will over time; grow over the epoxy and cling & grow on the concrete on its own accord.

My team, with Tripp, was sent to a shallow area, at a natural 7 m, to collect a variety of unsecured recruits and coral fragments.  

The dive was wonderful.  The water was clear, the corals were beautiful, the fish were abundant and colorful.  It was serene and peaceful.  From my classes, I am getting better at identifying fish.

Red-breasted wrasse.  

Longfin banner fish.

Butterfly fish.

Parrotfish.

Angelfish....

Sacred & mundane

In his morning lecture, Chad asked if we had noticed little huts on Shark Island.  I have had a few dives there, and indeed, I had noticed them.  I thought they looked more like ancient pergolas than huts, so, yes, I had noticed them.  He said that just as the human body is believed to have chakras, some believe the Earth does, too, and one chakra runs right through Shark Island.  It is a holy place for Buddhists, and monks come from all over Thailand, the world even, to pray on Shark Island, where the power is intensified.  He said that people from a variety of faiths have beliefs & lore about Shark Island because of the chakras, and there are also a lot of UFO & ghost stories about the island... & there is someone we need to get drunk to hear them....  (Add to the "To Do" list....)

The dive of the day was going to be farther up the coast from Shark Island, and we would be reinstalling two moorings. It was mundane work, but quite important.  An inch of coral can represent a hundred years of growth, maybe more.  If you have a boat, be it a big dive boat like we use, or a small fantail, coming in and dropping anchor, <insert space invaders sounds>, one anchor can swiftly destroy hundreds of years of coral growth, or more.

The briefing continued with a tutorial on knots, something my daydreamer personality never let me master in all my summers at Girl Scout Camp.  "Yeah, yeah, the bunny comes up & out of his hole, and down.... What? A floating lunch?  A night swim?  Stargazing canoe?  Count me in!"  I was relieved to hear Sabrina, a Dive Master Trainee from Germany, who'd been on most of my training dives & who was joining us for this EMP snorkel/dive, say in her delicious accent, "That fucking little bunny and it's fucking hole."  Seriously, I could not have said it, or made it sound, any better than that!

For whatever reason, I guess I was at the right repetition, or really wanted to be successful, but I kind of got it this time.  My knots were... acceptable.

We boarded the boat, King Kong II.  King Kong III was being utilized by fun divers.  The EMP divers (what I have been referring to as Marine Con is actually the Ecological Monitoring Program - will attempt to keep my terminology correct going forward) were a little unhappy we were crammed on the "smaller" boat.  And yes, there is a King Kong I.  It's tiny.  We divided into 4 teams.  Tripp, a newbie volunteer but experienced diver, went on Team 1.  He was the mule that carried the rope to the bottom with Chad and Steven, an English volunteer (a member of mine & Tripp's generation, & almost Melissa's).  They were securing the "anchor" while Teams 2 & 3 snorkeled setting up moorings on the surface.  Melissa & I were Team 4 on the boat.  I was lacking confidence in my knots still, so our job was easy, dispensing rope, twine, cutting implements, providing "dry" back up.  Because there were lulls between these tasks, I did get a bunch of action photos, and if I find wifi that will cooperate, I will try to upload them later.  Some photos I took just below the surface.  (I have a Canon Powersot D10, waterproof to 10m, recommended to me by the same wonderful person who recommended Koh Tao to me, Erika Nonkin. Two recommendations made on two separate occasions, very far apart.  She's a great resource!)

I mention this, because now would be a good time to mention the dive school's mascot.  He's about 8, & he has adopted Chad.  He comes on most dives with us.  Chad speaks fluent Thai, as I've mentioned.  Not sure how much English Chad's shadow speaks.  But he was having a blast with my camera.  We were taking all kinds of shots in the water (it has a floating strap, very little chance of losing it).  But it was a strange sensation to be snorkeling along, and feel a tap in my palm, then his little hand grab mine.  We locked wrists, and swam, and I turned to confirm that he was ok, as the current was really strong.  He may have been a little tired, but I think he was more happy to be connecting with someone, and playing with the camera.  Earlier, during knot tying class, he had walked up to Chad & extended a familiar red cell phone at him.  Chad looked perplexed.  I started laughing.  "Melissa, is that your cell phone?!"  It was.  Chad questioned our friend, and he said he had asked, and Melissa had said it was ok.  I think it was a communication/translation issue.  He had called his Mom.  Melissa did not switch to global service before coming to Thailand.  Oopsie!  Before the American mindset allows you wander down any paths, theft is rare here.  Very, very rare.  That is def NOT what was happening.  He just wanted to call his Mom, maybe to see if he could go on today's dive.

Once the job was done, all teams were free for a fun dive.  

Here is where I experienced my annoying buoyancy issues for the day.  By the time the EMP divers were gearing up, after the mooring & knot lecture, the was only 1 shortie left in my size.  I wear the shortie for sun protection, not warmth.  (Yes, I, Michelle Rediker, said that.  I have found an ocean warm enough for me to swim. In fact, at day's end when we come back to our mooring & ferry to the school, the water at the shore feels more like stepping into hot tea than an ocean!  Another degree warmer, and the coral will be goners, I've been told.) The only shortie left was 5 mm, and I normally use a 3 mm.  The additional 2 mm made it next to impossible for me to sink.  I went back to the boat for more weights, even though it would mean more work swimming, faster air consumption & a shorter dive.  Even with the additional weight I struggled to descend.  

At the bottom, we started looking for Crown of Thorn to bring to the surface to kill, as they overwhelm the resources corals use, choking them out of the area.  If you stress Crown of Thorn underwater, they release their sperm & eggs, multiplying the problem.  We had not swum far, and, because it was murky I was tailing my team closely to not "get lost."  Someone kicked my mask, filling it with water.  I cleared my mask, and took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the salt water bath they just had.  I looked at my colleagues.  They'd gathered in a circle around a large hawksbill sea turtle.  It was in a coral valley, eating, looking up at us, not all that curious about us.  Rather indifferent, to be honest.  Probably thinking, "what odd looking fish.  But can't be as tastey as this...."  

Me, on the other hand, I was overcome with joy, crying into my mask 21 m underwater!  My hands were clasped in front of me, shaking, & in my head I heard a phrase I've heard at work & in visiting UU services and gatherings, "The sacred in me bows to the sacred in you." 

After watching our friend eat for a while, we moved on and I watched two of my teammates harvest our Crown of Thorn, and place it in a plastic laundry basket for the trip to the surface.  Back in the boat, it was measured and catalogued, and placed in a larger tub with others that had been harvested.  Each team retrieves just one.

At some point, Pau, one of the Spanish leaders, handed me a diving sausage reel.  Picture a fishing reel, with no rod. It's kept in the pocket of the BCD until you want to ascend.  The "sausage" comes off the reel before the twine, and is "hunter orange."  You use one of your stages (air sources) to inflate it at depth and release it like a helium balloon, letting the reel spin on your fingers, so the sausage is attached to you by twine. It shoots up, alerting boats to avoid surfacing divers. The reel Pau handed me had starfish quills stuck in the twine in knots.  He asked me if I could remove it, without touching the starfish, because I would get stung if I did.  "I am quite skilled at untying knots.  Ask anyone at home.  This adds a unique, exceptional challenge!"  Sabrina assisted me, like an OR nurse, handing me BBQ tongs that serve some EMP dive purpose, and the coral needling needles, as needed.  Untying knots... Still gifted.  No stings.  If only the "fucking little bunny" were that easy!

Just before we were to leave, someone noticed one of the turtles (other teams saw TWO turtles, but I am so incredibly thankful to have seen just one) had surfaced.  It was as though it came to wave goodbye (or to see where those giant freaky-looking fish went).  My little friend and I were playing with the camera again, and he took off like a little squirrel, across the crowded boat, over all the repacked diving gear, to the bow.  Wouldn't you know it, he got the shot!  :)

He napped on the way back, and again on the fantail to shore.  When the boat was unloaded and I was going to walk to the beach, I felt a tap on my shoulder, and looked up.  He put his arms in the air, and I carried the sleepyhead to shore, his head on my shoulder.

Knit one, perl two

My 2nd conservation dive was on May 1st.  Chad's lecture was about corals and how to take "unsecured recruits" and replant them, and where.  He also noted that most Dive Masters around the world will freak out if they see you doing it without knowing you've been trained - rightfully so!

On the boat en route to the site, Maria (Sweden) showed Melissa, Tripp & me, the three new volunteers, "needling."  We have one needle that has bright twines spooled on something like a pic in the middle.  The free end of the twine is knotted, so you are working with 2 threads, like a sewing machine if memory from Home Ec serves right (ancient history).  She demonstrated how to "needle" by lashing a pen to the handle of a basket.  As I watched, it looked a heck of a lot like a knitting knot!  My Dad was always very concerned I was going to take up underwater basket weaving.  Close, Dad!  Underwater knitting!  

Upon reaching depth, Madeleina (Portugal) played tour guide and leading the newbies around to the different experiment stations.  Much time has elapsed since that day, so I can't recall everything, but I do remember - she is a FAST swimmer!!!  But, we had a lot to do and not a lot of time (oxygen) to do it.  

There were metal structures of varying shape, cement structures...  A lot of teams working on different tasks.  Needling seemed "easiest," so I was glad to be put there.  We were led to a metal pyramid structure that already had coral fragments attached to it.  Passage of time, however, had loosened and weakened the old twine.  We were put to work needling over the old twine.  

At this point I had not yet completed my advanced course, and the next class was a day away, so I was allowed to participate despite not being fully skilled up.  My buoyancy left a lot to be desired.  In Marine Con, for some tasks, anyway, and this was one, you want to be overweighted so you can be still and needle.  I am exceptionally buoyant. I must have looked like I was riding a mechanical bull.  I even tried bracing my knees under the far ends of the pyramid's corners to hold me down, but for the love of god, I played basketball, was not a cheerleader, and am terrible at yoga.  I could not manage that split.  Madeleina finally came over and put an extra weight in my BCD's (vest with big air pockets that I inflate/deflate to assist with buoyancy/descension/floating) pocket.  That helped.  Then, to my delight, I was a needling zen master.  My knots were tight and strong, I really enjoyed what I was doing, saving these little fragments from certain death.

Switching gears, I'd like to toot my own horn for a minute.  Through my Open Water & Advanced classes and the conservation dives I have done, my peers all keep saying the same thing, & it feels like repeatedly:  I'm a natural.  (Buoyancy issues aside -which as I dive more, I improve; as I acquire my own equipment so I don't have to use the school's super buoyant shortie, I improve.)  Skills testing?  Sure!  No prob!  I can toss my regulators, find them, remove my mask, pit it back on.  Swim upside down, handstands, flips. What else you got?  I am underwater, and I am relaxed & happy.

Melissa will tell you she struggled a lot in the beginning, & there was one early dive when we had just swam over a sea snake, and her fin fell off - for the 2nd time that day.  We were deeper, and she was quite distressed - mostly considering the sea snake.  Our Dive Master Alex, a young Woman from North America, went to help.  Melissa is signing "UP."  Alex, grabbed her by the BCD "lapels," and is shaking her head "no."  We were to deep for a direct ascent (going up without a safety stop to prevent decompression sickness).  Alex started to work on Melissa's fin.  I could see Melissa was still distressed. I gently touched her forearm, and she was shaking.  I circled, grabbing her BCD lapels like Alex had (reminding me of an "Airplane!" scene, minus the slapping).  She was looking all around but not at me.  It tapped the lens of her mask, and did the sign for "I'm watching you!!!!"  So we floated and got her breathing zen again, her fin on.  It helped that I was a known entity to her, meeting within 24 hours of our arrival here.  

On my 1st conservation dive, Tripp & I were buddied.  We did our pre-dive , buddy check, and jumped in.  I don't know how, but Tripp's tank dropped out of its main strap (there's another backup strap for this reason - backups for EVERYTHING).  All the other divers had swum away to the dive site.  I heard him say, "Aww, my tank!" and saw him struggle with it.  Suited up in my own tank, & a bit away from him, I managed to swim over quickly and while he floated, I reinserted the tank into the strap & secured it.  He said that he's someone with about 80 plus dives under his belt, and for a beginner, I reacted perfectly, again, using the words my classmates had often used, "a natural."

I do love this!

Perspective (April 26, '14)

I fell in love with a Boring Clam today.  Not, "You.  Are.  So.  DULL" boring, but boring as in "to drill."  It nestles itself in coral crevices.  It looked like a pile of deep purple silk, flecked with gold, that would billow every now & then.  It was large.  About as long as my femur, and remember, I am a tall woman.  5 feet and ten inches mostly attributable to my legs.  The clam, then, was simply a large, marvelously beautiful being.

This was my 1st conservation dive.  Quite shallow to be honest, probably only 10 meters.  We were "Collecting data along a transect line" in Mango Bay.  Essentially a 100 m line (or 2 50's) are laid out at long established A & B points.  We swam in a zig zag pattern 2.5 m to either side of the line, covering a 5 m width.  My job included a clipboard (Yay!  A clipboard!), or, as the mostly European scientists working here call it, a slate.  I would use hash marks to count certain Invertebrate Indicator Species.  (OMG, I sound like a scientist... Or someone who has half a clue about that which I am speaking!  Fear not!  I have my text book* open on my lap to jog my memory!  My degree, after all, included as little science as I could get away with at the time.)

I saw (in general, insert adjectives like:  beautiful, amazing, wondrous....):

Flatworms- which are very sensitive to water quality changes & habitat destruction.  Seeing a lot is a sign of good reef health & diversity.  An absence, the reverse.  A reef in trouble.  I saw one, and only because they are small, and I still do not know what I am looking for, or where to look.  My Divemaster, Ploy, pointed it out to me.

Drupella Snails- (Gastropods... Or as they said in class... A stomach with legs). In small numbers, they are ok.  They eat coral, which allows for "diversification" or new corals to move in to the neighborhood.  But, in large numbers, they play the role of the villain.

Nudibranchs & Sea Slugs- (more Gastrpods!). "A favorite among divers for their very striking colors & often ornamental bodies."  They are sensitive to changes in the reef, including decreased water quality & habitat destruction.  

In the Echinoderm Phylum

Marbled Sea Cucumber, Orange Spiked Sea Cucumber, Pinkfish Sea Cucumber- regulators of nutrient levels.  Marbled Sea Cukes, the book notes, are cleaners, removing micro algae & improving substrate. So I wonder if all the Cukes do that?  I would think they do.

Giant Clams & Boring Clams- VIPs.  Filter feeding, contribute to reef structure & host Zooxanthalle so they "seed corals."  This is especially important after a bleaching event.  Bleaching is what it sounds like.  Coral turns white, and dies.  

I thought it was an amazing dive.  Beautiful.  Thrilling.  Back on the boat, the folks that know what's what had different emotions.  Great sadness.  They are seeing more and more bleaching and decline.  This reef is ill.  They were all a bit quiet on the ride back.  Vastly different perspectives.

Meanwhile, my friends who were doing a training dive on a different boat were oohing and ahhing when they saw a sea turtle.  But as they approached, it became apparent that it was dead.  It was a sad day on the water.**

While this sounds incredibly sad, Dev, the man who runs New Heaven, put it in perspective.  "This is why we are doing what we are doing.  To make a difference."

*a BIG shout out goes to Chad Scott, who is from Colorado.  He wrote the text book we use.  I would describe him as a groovy young guy who is WICKED (a word I have taught to my mostly Spanish & German Dive Master & Dive Master Trainee buddies), WICKED, smart.  It seems, in addition to being a brilliant young scientist, he speaks fluent Thai.  I gather he is a pioneer in the coral reef management field.  Instead of studying its decline & death, he's covering a LOT of ecological basis above and below water to preserve what we have and grow new ones.

**an autopsy revealed the turtle was a healthy young female, just turning old enough to lay eggs.  She had drowned.  They are guessing that she got wrapped in a fishing net and drowned. Again, very sad folks around the New Heaven Dive School.

Random thoughts

Thursday, Melissa & I did a 2nd "fun dive" to get us more acclimated to being under water.  It was the best dive yet!  Crystal clear, tons of fish, tons of gorgeous coral.  We saw squirrelfish, pink anemome, some small yellow fellow who is hard to find, trigger fish, and... I swam in a flock of barracuda ,  how cool is that?!

The 2nd dive stared out quite murky, but improved quickly.  

Once we are done diving,out boat returns to our harbor, and a smaller boat comes to ferry us in.  Living in the Northeast, it is still SHOCKING when we get to the beach and have to jump out and pul the boat ashore that the water is NOT so cold it takes your breath away, but warm.  So warm in fact, I've had baths that were far colder.  This is more like the temp of hot tea!

Speaking of the boat, the ride to the first site this morning was very rocky.  It made me think of all the stories of people hanging off the back end of the Ptown ferry, losing their meals. I was rather loving the ride though.  First "good breeze" I've felt.  I remembered Dad's Navy/boating stories, "look at the horizon," and I haven't ever really felt ant seasickness.  I shared that with Melissa and she's found it quite helpful.

On a completely unrelated note, 7-11, the place with the best a/c around... What would they do if I came with a lawn chair & refused to leave?  Anyway... They have, Sue Wedda, ready for this?  Corn Popsicles.  Corn.  Popsicles.  That is all.  Good night!

Burning love....

I made a last minute decision to go snorkeling today, but forgot that I hadn't sun screened for that vs SCUBA.  So, as one would imagine, I burned the crap out of my backside.  What is one to do?  Get a cold aloe vera massage where you had your pedicure of course.  OMG.  Heaven.  HEAVEN.