Scuba Diving Thread - mini forum

[limbo]

Hi Brink,

 

excellent story about the Sea Snake cave.

I did my Divemaster training in Koh Phi Phi but I never heard of this cave. Reading your story makes me want to go back again and dive in this cave and see this amazing site.

Can't wait to read the rest of your story.

 

Cheers,

limbo

[limbo]

Escape Rabitt,

 

in the Gulf there's pristine coral to be found in Ang Thong National Marine Park. Koh Yippon Lek and Koh Yippon Yaai are excellent sites, great places to see sea snakes a.o.

Also Hin Taa Lung and Koh Wao in the Marine Park have lots of fish and beautifull coral to offer.

 

Limbo

[nkped]

"sea sick for the whole nine hours at sea, it was a horrible experience so I'm cautious of diving off boats etc"

 

On one of the dive boats out of Pattaya, they offered dramamine (or at least I hope it was dramamine) at the dock. Took one and was just fine in conditions that would have made me uncomfortable at the very least otherwise.

[Brink15]

This is actually for both Limbo and Racha,

 

When you guys have a moment if you wouldn't mind giving a brief description of the following:

 

Racha if you could do dive sites in the Similans, Koh Lanta, the Rayas, and some of the other Andaman dive sites.

 

Limbo if you could do Koh Tao and Samui as well as other Gulf diving.

 

I'm good with Phi Phi and can do Koh Tao if Limbo isn't comfortable.

 

My intention is to give board members an idea as to the differences between the various areas.

 

BTW, the wreck of the King Cruiser was after my time so I'll need someone else to describe that. Was that Shark Point or Anemone Reef that got trashed?

 

Thanks guys.

 

[nkped]

Glad to see the thread. I tried scuba for the first time last month with a PADI approved shop operating out of Jomtien last month. Most shops appear to have one day Discover Scuba trips. Basically one on one in the water. Great fun. Considering the four day Open Water course next trip. I'm one of those cursed souls who needs something fairly engaging to do during the day, even on vacation. Scuba may be it.

 

BTW--Working in a dive shop seems to be a viable alternative to English teaching for a lot of farang. One instructor who I believe was relatively new was showing me how the regulator attached to the air tank. He tells me there needs to be an "O" ring and asks me if I can see it. I peer at it for awhile with my 52 year old eyes--w/o reading glasses--instructor says "You can't see it either." He wasn't much younger than I was.

[Brink15]

nkped,

 

Great post. Who did you dive with in Jomtien? Would you recommend them?

 

As far as the scuba instructor being a good replacement for teaching English, I'm not real sure.

 

IMHO the only reason someone should choose a career in diving is because they absolutely love to dive. It has to be an all consuming love. The money will never make you rich.

 

And in reality unless you are a Master Instructor managing a shop or a Course Director teaching others to become an instructor the pay is poor and the hours very long. But if you love it, it's the only thing you can do.

 

This was true for me for 15 years and then reality hit and I needed to think about family and eventual retirement.

 

But in retrospect would I trade those 15 years for the same amount of time behind a desk making three times as much? Hell no.

 

Definitely take the next step and get certified, you'll never regret it.

 

[PhordPhan]

Hi, Brink.

 

Great idea to start this thread. Too much space in the S&L section was being wasted on soccer.

 

I suffered a perfed eardrum last May while diving in Mexico, so I was a bit paranoid on this trip, whch ended on Dec. 5. Anyway, did 4 dives in Phuket (did a little tongue-in-cheek write-up in the Trip Reports section) and did 4 with a dive outfit in Jomtien. The name was Mermaids, they're a 5-star PADI center and they were a wonderful bunch of guys. I'd recommend them to anybody. Feel free to edit the name out if it's verboten to give a plug.

 

Anyway, I hope to get in some more diving around Phuket next trip. The Manta Ray and Whale Shark thing sound great. But count me out on the sea snake cave deal! No way, Jose. ::

 

PhordPhan

aka Chicken of the Sea

:: :: ::

[limbo]

Hi Brink,

 

during my Divemaster training on Koh Phi Phi I was diving on the King Cruiser. Did maybe 6 or 7 dives on it, when it was just a year old or so and in prime condition. It was Anemone reef that was in the way!? as the boat managed to hit it, way out of it's normal course and well located on all sea maps of the region.

 

The King Cruiser is a car ferry that sunk inbetween Phuket and Koh Phi Phi and it's probably the best wreck dive in Thailand.

It's a great location for divers, the max depth is about 30 meters and the first part of the wreck is at about 15 meters if I remember correctly.

It's a very spacious wreck, it's very easy to swim through the big wide cargo part of the boat. On top of the wreck you can swim through the captain's cabin. Here are many big fish, barracuda and loads of lionfish are to be seen all over the main deck of the boat. Also stonefish made the wreck their home togethr with murray eels.

 

The wreck is easily to be found, it's marked by bouys and there are big ropes leading you down to the wreck from the bouys, they are also an easy reference to find your dive boat back and very helpfull to conduct your safety stops at 5 meters at the end of the dive.

Down at 30 meters you can see the big propellers of the boat.

Due to the wreck's ideal depth, it can be used for many different dives, you can do your Advanced Open Water dives on the wreck, like the Deep dive, Multilevel dive or Wreck dive. Naturalist dive, Underwater Photography and Nitrox could be other dives on the wreck as part of your Advanced Open Water course. All the above mentioned dives can also be conducted as part of you specialty courses in the mentioned areas and it's a great site to just have some fun dives.

I'll discuss some specialty dives another time. The specialty courses are a great and fun way to learn more about topics that are of interest to you in diving.

 

Before you go the dive, make shure to check the tides, there can be ripping currents and low visibility if you go when there's unfavourable conditions. It's better to wait a day or so if conditions are more favourable. The dive operator you plan to go with should be able to advise you about conditions for each day. Before we went from Koh Phi Phi we always checked the tidal tables and determined in such a way which would be the best days to go.

 

As already mentioned before, the King Cruiser sank next to Anemone Reef, which is also a great dive site, with lots of soft coral and fish. A great place to dive and once I missed a whaleshark there by 2 minutes!!!

 

This is all I remember of this site, if Racha or anybody else has more information on this site, please feel free to share it with us.

 

Cheers,

Limbo

[Brink15]

PhordPhan,

 

Thanks for the info. Be very careful with that eardrum. A perforated eardrum is a relative contraindication to diving, meaning it needs to be fully healed before diving is safe. The time frame you quoted doesn't sound like enough to me but I'm not a physician.

 

Mermaids has a really good rep. They used to be owned by Rick Ray who is now a PADI regional manager. The current owner, Steve Blumenthal is a well thought of PADI Course Director.

 

Glad to hear you had a good outing in Thailand. I'm sorry your dive in Mexico didn't go so well. Wouldn't have been Cozumel by any chance?

 

[Brink15]

Limbo,

 

Thanks for the post. When I was on Phi Phi the King Cruiser was still ferrying passengers to the Island.

 

On one occasion a longtail captain, chit, decided to play chicken with the King Cruiser and cut across the bow as we were only 20 or 30 meters from the ship.

 

It certainly made my diver's hearts skip a beat.

 

Sorry to hear that they trashed Anemone Reef. It was a nice site. I heard the ship took the top right off the reef.

 

The wreck must make for a nice dive though.