Koh Tao Buoyancy World Project: 6th till 10th February

Amongst other valuable work, each year the ‘Save Koh Tao’ marine conservation group organize one major project aimed at bringing the Koh Tao dive schools together in working towards sustainable diving tourism and protecting the island’s natural resources.

Save Koh Tao marine conservation

Back in 2009, the project was creation of the ‘Hin Fai’ biorock structure. A series of domes were laid underwater off Koh Tao’s north-west coast, with a weak electric current passed through the structures to stimulate coral growth and create an artificial dive site.

For 2010 the project is even more spectacular, with the creation of Koh Tao Buoyancy World near the popular Twins dive site.

Koh Tao’s ‘Twins’ dive site is a series of coral covered shallow pinnacles lying off the west coast of Koh Nangyuan. The shallow depth, massive variety of marine life and flat sandy areas just off the dive site make Twins a popular dive spot for PADI dive training. Understandably a lot of divers visit the Twins dive site each day.

In an effort to ease pressure on the dive site and offer Koh Tao scuba diving instructors a valuable training aid, Buoyancy World will be an artificial reef structure custom designed for PADI dive training. The artificial reef will incorporate:

• Hoops and rings, perfect for peak performance buoyancy training
• Caves and swim-throughs
• Hover weights and balance beams
• Permanent fixed CESA lines for the PADI Open Water course (for the controlled emergency swimming ascent skill)
• Underwater navigation way-points, ideal for fine tuning natural and compass navigation
• Transects for coral reef monitoring / Reef Checks

In addition, work will also be undertaken to encourage corals and marine species to inhabit the artificial reef including:

• Coral nurseries and anchoring points
• Fish nurseries
• Divers habitats for coral reef species

Finally, some sculptures and art work will be added to the artificial dive site to enhance the diving experience.

Work will be taking place between the 6th and 10th Febraury, with the main deployment taking place on the 7th. For this the project has the use of one of Koh Tao’s large night boats to help simplify logistics.

All dive schools are asked to avoid diving Twins between 12pm and 6pm on Feb 7th, to allow the work to take place unhindered.