Finally some time for myself....
I Christmas/New Year in Japan last year I decided this time it was not for me. After a few other locations were discarded I decided upon Thailand for some diving and some SEA culture.
I missed out on a couple of trips which turned out to be Ocean Rover and Viking (both of which I saw and looked mighty impressive - but then so was the price tag....)
I ended up with the MV Colona VI 22-26 Dec to Similians and 27-29 Dec to Hin Daeng, Hin Muang and Phi Phi. I was not disappointed! After previous liveaboards in the Red Sea it was better than most with a shower in each and every cabin - OK it would have been nice for a hot shower but then I think I was one of the last in - too busy reliving the dive!
OK I am a wrecky but I was amazed by the amount of fish in the Similians and Richilieu. Also I now know where to see mantas - 4 of my 16 dives had manta sightings with one dive at bolder city we spent an hour 20m from the boat watching the show.
The dive guides were great - with a good English/German banter going on! They were very knowledable about the divesites and Mark was very good at finding the small stuff. I am sure Raul was too but I did not dive with him. Raul was also the blender so nitrox was available - and Walter you can get your best mix if you know it!!
The local crew were fantastic too - the captain must have eagle eyes! You have to use an SMB if not coming up the line and there were some pretty limp sausages out there.... The food was also fantastic and plenty of it - I really miss those egg and bacon breakfasts.
Oh and expect a few early mornings - a couple of 7am dives but that is for a reason, you get the dive site to yourself. As I said the guides know what they are doing and don't like a crowd (though it was quite amusing when ringing their bells when one cattle boat turned up....)
Thanks also to all the guys who helped out on the board and who I contacted by email - sorry couldn't go with everyone and everyone was very constructive and helpful.
A sample of the pictures can be found at:
Thailand Diving pics
Till next time......
Jonathan
I Christmas/New Year in Japan last year I decided this time it was not for me. After a few other locations were discarded I decided upon Thailand for some diving and some SEA culture.
I missed out on a couple of trips which turned out to be Ocean Rover and Viking (both of which I saw and looked mighty impressive - but then so was the price tag....)
I ended up with the MV Colona VI 22-26 Dec to Similians and 27-29 Dec to Hin Daeng, Hin Muang and Phi Phi. I was not disappointed! After previous liveaboards in the Red Sea it was better than most with a shower in each and every cabin - OK it would have been nice for a hot shower but then I think I was one of the last in - too busy reliving the dive!
OK I am a wrecky but I was amazed by the amount of fish in the Similians and Richilieu. Also I now know where to see mantas - 4 of my 16 dives had manta sightings with one dive at bolder city we spent an hour 20m from the boat watching the show.
The dive guides were great - with a good English/German banter going on! They were very knowledable about the divesites and Mark was very good at finding the small stuff. I am sure Raul was too but I did not dive with him. Raul was also the blender so nitrox was available - and Walter you can get your best mix if you know it!!
The local crew were fantastic too - the captain must have eagle eyes! You have to use an SMB if not coming up the line and there were some pretty limp sausages out there.... The food was also fantastic and plenty of it - I really miss those egg and bacon breakfasts.
Oh and expect a few early mornings - a couple of 7am dives but that is for a reason, you get the dive site to yourself. As I said the guides know what they are doing and don't like a crowd (though it was quite amusing when ringing their bells when one cattle boat turned up....)
Thanks also to all the guys who helped out on the board and who I contacted by email - sorry couldn't go with everyone and everyone was very constructive and helpful.
A sample of the pictures can be found at:
Thailand Diving pics
Till next time......
Jonathan
ut: I use a Sony DCS-85 in a DIV housing. Still need to sort out by Nik for macro - especially after the stuff you showed last night!
