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March 21st, 2009
Sairee Sizzling, Beach and Dive Site Clean

On a hot afternoon over 25 volunteers from Eco Koh Tao and Crystal Dive joined the Save Koh Tao community for their monthly clean up around the island. Usually held at the end of the month this one was a little early to coincide with this year's Koh Tao Underwater World Festival.

Newly certified Course Director Justin Mayers surveying
the salts and the sand at Sairee before the clean up

Sairee is one of Koh Tao's busiest beaches with a large number of dive resorts, dive schools and hotels located along its 1km expanse. Divers and beach goers joined the activities but surprisingly and happily there was not a great deal of garbage to retrieve.

Some of our beach cleaning crew on Sairee

One of the things the diver’s did notice was that garbage and other waste that has been underwater for some time is absorbed into the growing structure of the reefs. Old ropes and pipes often get overgrown by corals and become part of the reef itself. This is not to say that garbage is good, but it goes to show that reefs show some resilience in the face of threats like waste.

Eager divers before taking to the waters off Sairee

Being based at Vibe Bar on Sairee beach allowed participants access to chilled water and a few beers at the conclusion of the clean up. Thank you to everyone who participated.