CORE sea
is a framework for marine environmentalists, scientists, divers and other passionate people which would like to preserve our biosphere, with a strategy based on reason and the scientific method.
It stands for Center for Oceanic Research and Education | south east asia
We are open for everyone, given that you have common sense or at least some humor. It’s necessary if you are thinking about volunteering with us.
Our Mission
We work with a simple mission statement, that is probably impossible to achieve in a lifetime:
To understand and protect the marine biodiversity of south east asia
Yes, it’s a bit silly, but we’ll try anyway
What we do
What we are
Who we are
CS Koh Phangan Crew:
Eike Schoenig (1975-2019)
Founder
There could be a great many words written about “The Big Fella”. Most of them would probably be reasonably accurate. He had a tremendous and infectious passion for the marine environment that he caught diving in Koh Tao in 1994. He honed this into a fierce and encyclopedic knowledge at the University of Bremen and the Centre for Tropical Marine Ecology in Germany. It ridiculously involved him wading around in the muddy waters of Indonesia’s estuaries, which surprisingly wasn’t all that pleasant! Not perturbed by this too much he travelled to Koh Phangan and almost completely unexpectedly set up what we know and love as COREsea in 2011.
“He attacked everything in life with a mix of extraordinary genius & naive incompetence, and it was often difficult to tell which was which.” – Douglas Adams
Janina Schoenig
Director/Internship coordinator
Janina studied educational sciences in Hamburg and worked in adult education, before she was dragged to Thailand by her husband. Since then, Janina dived extensively in South East Asia and is fascinated with aquatic wonderland in front of her door step. A lot of her experience in adult education found its way into the courses. Today, Janina manages COREsea’s logistics, accommodation and temper tantrums from Germany.
Stefan Follows
Dive Operations
Since 2001, Stefan has worked as a diving instructor, dive centre manager, and dive guide in the Gulf of Thailand. This has allowed Stefan virtually endless opportunities to indulge in his passions for teaching, diving, photography and all things aquatic. For the past 10 years, Stefan has been Director of Dive Operations here at COREsea. When he’s not at the center, you’ll find him exploring the island, running, diving and photographing the wonders of Koh Phangan above & below the sea.