Scuba Diving Thread - mini forum

[Guest lazyphil]

<<I highly encourage you to give it a go and don't hesitate to ask any question that comes to mind>>

 

Thanks mate, I will. However, I just found this, which is worrying!!

 

 

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2569051.stm

[Brink15]

Don't let that worry you. Very little diving in Thailand is done from the shore and in cases where this is done your dive master or instructor will be very familiar with the site.

 

More than likely you will dive from a boat and as I said in my previous post it is easy to plan your trip for the best conditions. It was rare from December to February in particular for us to have a bad day or rough conditions on Phi Phi. And again your instructor will plan the dive according to the tides and conditions to give you the safest and most enjoyable experience.

[Guest lazyphil]

Thats reasuring! I'm always dazzled by the karsts around Phi Phi/Krabi etc, as I've said in the past on other threads some of, if not the most beautiful scenery I've seen anywhere. BTW are you a climber too as I know Krabi is a world mecca for this.

[Brink15]

I never had the time to learn to climb. Although we had a very good Swiss climbing instructor on Phi Phi while I was there.

 

It was just amazing to head to the dive sites each morning and pass those cliffs. Almost sad to have toreturn to the mess that was Ton Sai Village.

[racha]

Thanks mate, I will. However, I just found this, which is worrying!!

---

Hi Lazyphil;

In the Phuket area some of the beaches in the low season have very strong rip tides and are not recommended for swimming for a few months of the year,Low season or rainy season weather being from May to Oct, The beaches where there are many tourists staying they have life guards on duty at that time of the year, The quieter beaches that are very dangerous have signs up warning swimmers but no life guards, Every year in Phuket there is a few deaths from swimmers in the low season because of these strong rip tides but the fatalities have been reduced because of the life guards and warning signs, Many times Thai people get in trouble because they go swimming with there clothes on and become very heavy in the water with wet jeans, wet shirts etc,

 

The rip tide is a strong current that is especially strong at the times of very high or low tides such as a full moon or new moon, as the water is moving much faster than normal at these times of the moon phase.

If you get caught in a strong rip tide it is nearly impossible in most cases to swim back to shore against it, The most important thing to do is NOT PANIC, Let the rip tide take you out as it will not go very far and either find another route back to shore or wait for someone to rescue you,

Rip tides in many cases are happening on the ends of bays or beaches so when you let the rip tide take you out it is in most cases possible that when you get to the corner of the bay the tide will turn the corner and slow down and you can climb ashore and walk back safely,

In most cases of drowning in rip tides people panic trying to fight it and become to exhausted to stay a float.

 

When you are learning scuba diving you will have no trouble with these type of rip tides as the Instructor teaching you would not take you diving to an area where they occur, When you learn to scuba dive you will learn about these type of things to watch out for in the sea, Learning scuba diving teaches you to become more aware of the sea and things to watch out for while in the sea,

[Guest lazyphil]

Thanks for the info, as I mentioned before I'm going to take the plunge. Its a total waste to ignore the potential los has regarding diving. BTW, the beach on the BBC link, is is Lam Sing in Phuket (even though the story didn't happen in Phuket??)

 

[racha]

You are correct The beach is in Phuket not anywhere near the place of the story, They most properly copied it from phuket.com's web site as they have this exact same photo on there web site under the Northern Phuket beaches section,

 

There are many photo's of beaches advertising hotels & properties for sale in Phuket in various brochures and also on the net , The photo's they use are from the islands off Phuket such as Raya island, Phi Phi island , As the sand is so white and the water so clear on these islands where in Phuket the sand is a more golden color and does not make such a good a photo. I do not mind people copying my web sites text or pictures, though I do not like it very much when I see a brochure or web site with a condominium for sale and the view is a picture from my site claiming it to be the view from the property for sale in Phuket.

 

Sorry for the rant now back to the diving thread

[Guest]

Thailand's waters have walls covered with brilliant soft corals, underwater plains of hard corals

 

Any suggestions on where to find the best of this? I've been to quite a few places on both sides and have been disappointed with the coral. Compared to what I have seen in Fiji and Kawaii, LOS is more like a desert; lots of dead areas, mainly brown coral, less (but still a good deal of) sea life. If I hadn't seen the other places, I guess I wouldn't know what I was missing. I am a snorkeler by the way and happy to stay at that level with the freedom it permits. Still would love to find some great coral reefs. I keep hearing "Andamans", but the packages seems inapplicable for snorkeling. Any suggestions?

 

[racha]

There are colorful soft corals, and great sea life to see in many different areas of Thailand, I have also dived in many other places, Fiji, Great Barrier reef, parts of Indonesia and the good spots in Thailand are right up there with the best quality in the world, I have seen the boats coming to Racha island and other places with day trippers and they go to places that are easy to dive and easy to look after the customers, The divemasters on the boats either do not care about what the customers get to see or the dive guides do not know the best places, I call this factory diving where groups of 10,15 up to 30 divers all entering the water at the same time and scaring away any big fish that you would normally see in the area.

 

Some of the best places I have seen in Thailand for soft colorful corals are different spots at the Similan islands, Racha Noi southern tip, as well as underwater places off shore from Racha island that are not marked and we use a GPS to find the spots, I found some of these sites years ago by going with the local fishermen and checking out there fishing spots after pulling up soft corals on my fishing line, Also Hin Dang & Hin Muang has some nice soft corals there as well but not as good as the other places I mentioned, there are lots of White tip sharks there to make it an interesting dive, If we go to Hin Dang & Hin Muang we always get there early and get a dive in before other boats turn up as if you get there later the majority of the sharks disappear out of the way to deeper water,

 

To go to the best places you need to find a reliable dive operator that would be the best way to see the best places, Many dive shops in Phuket sell scuba diving and then put there customers on other peoples boats, If you go on some of the dive boats the customers can be from many different companies alltogether on the same boat.

[limbo]

Hello Brink,

 

great idea to open a dive thread. There's been a good amount of exchange already and I truley hope this will continue.

 

Let me introduce myself to the forum. As Brink mentioned, I'm a Master Instructor with PADI and I've been in Thailand for 3 years now and have been working on Koh Samui as a dive instructor during that time. Same as Racha, I'm living my dream of living in Thailand and being able to dive all the time in the beautifull tropical waters of Thailand.

 

I'm working for Samui International Diving School in Chaweng, a CDC dive center, the highest rating a dive center can get in the PADI organisation. In our shop you can do all courses, from absolute beginner up to instructor level. Since the beginning of this year I'm the office manager of our main shop on Chaweng Beach Road, so if you're around, come and see me.

 

If you can't make it to Koh Samui or you want any advice on diving or snorkeling in Thailand, and especially the Gulf of Thailand, you can ask me on this board. Other than that, check out our webiste www.planet-scuba.net .

We also have a shop in Koh Tao, so if you're interested in Koh Tao, we can help you out as well.

 

Good sites we frequently visit in The Gulf of Thailand include Sail Rock, Ang Thong National Marine Park, Chumphorn Pinnacle and many more. I'll write about some trips I did there in the near future.

 

Enjoy the great underwater spectacle Thailand has to offer on some prime dive sites around the Kingdom on either the East or the West coast.

 

Get wet, GO DIVE!! :)

 

Cheers,

Limbo