More artificial reefs in Thailand

It is part of requirement for all Divemaster Trainees at Wicked Diving Thailand to plan and undertake Eco projects. As part of this process we are actively building an artificial reef using found materials. Our goal is both teach and encourage all professional divers to improve the world around them, but also find the best materials for creating reefs in the most economical and practical ways......

Wicked DMT’s Eco Project

As part of our DiveMaster training course with Wicked the DMT’s (Martin, AJ, Brian & Kim) were given the task to carry out an Eco project which entailed building an artificial reef.  We were briefed by Tuk and Colin who gave us the details of where and how this would be done and what the previous reefs built were like. 

The materials we had at our disposal were a large concrete pipe, three car tyres, some rope (which could be used to tie everything together and be used to make artificial sea fans) and an old broken stool of some sort. We discussed various ideas on how to arrange these and eventually settled on one and pieced it all together on land.

Afterwards we researched online regarding the benefits of using rubber tyres in artificial reefs and found that the general consensus was that the disadvantages of using tyres underwater outweighed the benefits. So we decided we did not want to use them if there was any chance they could harm the aquatic environment, which would make the whole exercise pointless.  We also decided that we would try to use as little rope as possible because it was made of nylon.

We shared the above with Tuk and Colin who agreed. Colin found rope that was made of natural materials that we could use to turn into artificial sea fans (instead of the nylon rope), then Tuk found some concrete blocks for us to use as well as the concrete pipe. Concrete is the best material to use when constructing artificial reef because it is very easy for aquatic life such as coral to grow on it.

So we all; now joined by George (a former DMT) set off on the longtail boat to the Boonsung Wreck. When we arrived George and Kim went down to locate the other artificial reefs and tie an SMB to a toilet. That way the captain knew exactly where to park the longtail boat so we could drop the materials. We had decided that the easiest and ‘safest’ way was to literally drop the Blocks and pipe in so once George and Kim had checked the area was clear and surfaced we threw everything into the sea.

 Then well all kitted up, got into the water, descended and started to locate everything which took a surprisingly short amount of time, somehow we also managed to find more concrete blocks than had actually been thrown in, Tuk even happened to find an extra one that had a big ‘W’ on it which was Wicked. (Pun intended) It is possible to swim underwater while carrying concrete blocks as long as your BCD is fully inflated and you don’t let go. We had no design planned out so once Tuk and Colin had rolled the concrete pipe into position….

 Kim and AJ arranged it all into a formation that looked best and made best use of all the holes in the blocks so that little fish could move in there and have a safe place to live. So while we were all holding it place and Brian was tying it all together (Brian is a sailor he’s awesome with knots, if you ever happen to give him some rope he will tie the heck out of it!) and Tuk was cutting up the environmentally friendly rope and making it into sea fans a couple of ill-tempered looking lion fish that live in another artificial reef came over, I guess they didn’t want anyone other than their own kind moving into their neighbourhood, or more likely they loved what we were building and was eager for a step up in the property ladder. Either way something had to be done because they were dangerously close and poisonous, we needed some security. Which is when Martin; with complete disregard for his own safety courageously stepped in as security detail and saved us all, so while we were working away you could see Martin in the background fighting of a couple of huge lions with what appeared to be an old piece of the Boonsung wreck (obviously he didn’t actually harm the fish because that wouldn’t be the Wicked Diving way)  The reef was then more or less finished but we were all close to 50bar on air so we surfaced.

Our surface interval was spent in what could only be described as monsoon like conditions. When we went back under we finished the reef and took photographs and then explored the Boonsung Wreck which I highly recommend because it is an awesome wreck dive and full of a huge variety of marine life.

Happy diving

AJ

 When you dive with Wicked....you make a difference. We offer one of the most unique and through Divemaster courses in Thailand.

-Khao Lak Diving