An afternoon dive to one of Koh Tao’s premier dive sites, Chumphon Pinnacle gave us the opportunity to head to Green Rock on the way back and replace the buoy line which was in much need of repair.

As part of the Marine Conservation Koh Tao’s Mooring Buoy Project Eco Koh Tao and Crystal Dive teamed up to replace the buoy line at Green Rock, a popular dive location that suffers from strong waves and currents and often loses its buoy line.

Save Koh Tao's Mooring system plan

Using the Save Koh Tao Group’s prescribed method we spent the entire morning cutting and splicing rope, tying knots and attaching the buoy ready for deployment. With good preparation the job is usually pretty easy assuming you have your tie on location predetermined.

At the site we used the old buoy line to help secure the new line to the rocks below. With the help of a grant from Project Aware the Marine Conservation Branch have started making ‘sand screws’ as mooring anchors for Koh Tao. Hopefully these prefabricated sand screws drilled into sandy areas will protect our natural reefs from the damage tying rope onto them does. This is a work in progress and will present a great leap forward for mooring systems on Koh Tao.

Thank you to everyone who helped put the whole system together and make the site diveable by all for a good while to come.

Thanks especially to Justine Delaney, Justin Mayers, Simon Dowling, Jenny Dowling, Max Larran and Johnny Ashencroft for all their work to arrange, organise and deploy the new line.