Trip to Cambodia, any takers?

[FarEastYankee]

Hey Seaslug,
We actually had taken a long trip out to Condor Reef which is about 5 hours off the coast. There the vis was great.

Yes, Claude is a wonderful host and a good friend.

Good diving and be safe,
fareastyankee

 

[keralucu]

Sounds absolutely wonderful! (Whalesharks... Neil, are you reading this?? ut: )

Could you give me contact info for Claude and more details on your complete trip from BKK? I'm trying to sort out our next dive trip for next year and seeing as Cambodia is so close... It probably didn't cost too much either? (Here's hoping!)

How rough did you have to 'rough it'?

Looking forward to seeing some pics!
Cheers

 

[FarEastYankee]

Hey There,
I can't give you his info at the moment because I'm sitting in the airport in Seoul awaiting a flight to Bangkok. I will send you that info via PM tomorrow however.

Another option would be for you to private mail "Madmax" on this board. You may know him as Max from Pattaya. If not, I'll have that for you tomorrow anyway. Max has all of Claude's details, and was with me on the Cambodia trip.

Cambodia is a wonderful place to dive, and if you need a guide there (which you will) I will suggest a guy to you that is a good friend and you will become friends with as well.

I'll get all that information to you tomorrow after I check out Koh Krac and the Bremmen (Pattaya).

Fareastyankee

 

[keralucu]

and have a good trip over here. I'll send Max a PM - yes, I've heard of him but have yet to dive on the east coast. (Because I get my dives for such a good price plus guarantees of no other divers ever, it's kind of hard to justify going elsewhere financially at the moment.)

I'm interested to hear your report on Koh Krac and the Bremmen.

Have another good trip!
Dive safe...

 

[seaslug]

Hey funny monkey
I could have given you Claude's details but my brother has upped and gone to Bangkok carrying my LP guide to Cambodia with him..and Claude's details are in there!
Everyone seems to know him in Sihanoukville though; we went to one of those telephone booths to try to call him on his mobile and the girl there knew him!
All else failing you can go to his guesthouse cum restaurant called Chez Claude and look for him there (be warned that it is a trek and a half to get up to the restaurant but it is worth it - and ask him for his mermaid special....!!!)
FEY - if ever I go back to Cambodia, I will have to be more organised and go on one of those overnight trips like you did. We only had 2 days in Sihanoukville which was just not enough. Sounds like you dive Cambodia a lot - why not move further south and go to Layang-Layang???

 

[seaslug]

And...I don't want to be beaten to a pulp, but diving in cambodia is pretty rough for anyone who has dived in Thailand, Malaysia, singapore or I suspect even Indonesia..
There doesn't seem to be any infrastructure for diving - they seem to use fishing boats not boats fitted out for diving - it took us 2 hours to get out to the dive site and if the sea is choppy (which it was the day we went out) you would be pretty sick even if you normally have no problems with rocking/rolling motions. I am not complaining, because that was part of the experience (!) but for people used to speed boats etc, be prepared to do max 2 dives a day (unless if you do an overnighter like FEY did...)
And as for decompression chambers - do they even exist there???

 

[keralucu]

(I take it you speak Indo?)

The info is much appreciated. As far as 'roughing' it on fishing boats and travelling long distances to get to dive sites... this is how I dive every other weekend! The first time I dived in Phuket I was blown away at the size and outfitting of the dive boats there.

I'm more concerned about the sleeping in tents on the beach bit! Will find out more - and check out LP...

Ta!

 

[seaslug]

I speak Malay which is close enough??!

Sorry if my mail wasn't clear - the details are not in LP, but I got them, then left them in my LP.

If you are okay about the fishing boats, you will be fine about the tents, I am sure!

 

[keralucu]

ok saya mengerti - 'makasih banyak!

 

[seaslug]

Hey keralucu
If you haven't grown old waiting for this info...here it is finally..
Claude can be located at his restaurant/hotel known as "Chez Claude". His tel no. is (855)12 824 870
His email is 012 824 870@mobitel.com.kh
I know it looks a bit strange, but try it and let me know if you get through...
Good luck!