Up at 4am to get to the airport to fly from Phnom Pen to Bangkok to Phuket, Thailand. Good Bye Cambodia, Hello Thailand.
We were met at the Phuket airport by the Manta Queen people and they drove us 2hrs north to Khao Lak
Once in Khao Lak, OMG, it is HOT! We met our Host/Dive Master, Brenden, from Manta Queen 7. He got us organized and took us to the Pier to get on our Liveaboard
What is a Liveaboard?
It is generally for scuba divers who are obsessed with diving. A Liveaboard's motto is: "Dive - Eat - Sleep - Repeat"
4 days of diving ... lots of photos here
And that is what you do on a Liveaboard. You live, eat, sleep, and dive on the boat, so you don't have to travel back and forth, to and from, your hotel to the boat, ... to go diving. It also allows you to go further out into the sea to many places that you wouldn't be able to do from shore each day.
Once on board, Brandon gave us our first 'briefing' and introduced us to The Crew. What a wonderful, helpful group of ‘kids’ :) Then we got to see our room. The rooms are very tiny :) I have to say i was surprised it was so small.
We were very fortunate that there were only 10 of us on the boat, instead of 20.... i cannot imagine 20 divers on the boat. Honestly, it would not have been very comfortable; and not as enjoyable a trip as it was. That's just too many divers. It took us 5 and a half hours to get out to the first dive site of the Similan Islands... and there are a LOT of them. The entire trip would take us up to the Surin Islands and back down to the Similan Islands and back to Khoa Lak
This is what the Day Schedule looked like. Except 2 days we were up at 6am. There were FOUR dives each day !
Of course, you're not required to do 4 dives; ... but you've paid for them. And, you don't want to miss something. Everyone gets out of the water and says.... "OMG you missed xyz". Then you feel bad. However, there are limits to what some bodies can take, ... miss something or not :)
My stomach was not happy with me and i was sick the first night. But, I got up and did the 1st dive on Day 1. It was different from what i was expecting. There were many large boulders, and wide open spaces.
Lots of fish, big like this Yellow Margin Trigger Fish ...one of my favorites
and small brightly colored ones
And many many StingRays ...
After the 1st dive, I was pretty much wiped out. I decided i was not up to any more diving that day, so I sat out and rested up. I knew i should listen to my body. We did have a nice sunset on the Andaman Sea that i didn't miss.
By Day 2 i was feeling myself again and ready to go diving. This is not ‘my kind’ of diving. It is not Muck Diving, no tiny critters. We’ll be seeing the ‘big picture’. I knew this when i signed up. Interesting dives, obviously much different than Muck Diving; but also very different from any other diving i’ve done.
It actually brought me back to my 'snorkeling days', when i was obsessed with 'fishes'. It was like seeing old friends !
There were little fishes hiding under the soft corals.
And a Broadclub CuttleFish in the shallows
and of course Nemo !
Also a lobster
Feather Stars
and Clams
These are all fish and coral that i have photographed and shown you over the years ... but it's been awhile.
and a video of a Sea Snake ... that isn't interested in people ... so no worries !
This is a type of soft coral that i've not seen before ... interesting purple 'somethings' in it.
What I was not familiar with were the ABUNDANCE of fishes, schools and schools of them !
so many that you couldn't see through them to see other divers !
and they were up close and right in your face
and larger ones too !
again, all the fishes that I used to see when i was in the water snorkeling
and a few that i've not seen before like these red white and blues ones
There were also many different kinds of eels, this green one, that was well hidden.
and this large Moray Eel, ... probably the only photo you'll see of a Moray Eel ... smiling !!!!!!!
i loved the bright blue color that shown as the waves moved this anemone around.
here is a video for the full effect
As we end each dive, we need to do a Safety Stop, which means going up to 15' for 3min, to off gas, then we all head for the boat at the same time. It can get kind of crowded and confusing. Sometimes there is a 'mooring line' that we use for guidance and hanging on to if the current is bad. You can see the mooring line on the right side of the photo
Then we are all at the boat and trying to get aboard the back of the boat, most of the time in high waves. The crew on the boat is there so we can hand up our equipment: first our cameras, then our weight belt, then try to get our fins off (which can be the most difficult part, trying to reach them :) and then tugging on them b/c they are on tight. Then climb up the ladder WITH your tank on, if you are able. I am able, .. that is me on the ladder :) Working out most of my life makes this possible !
When i am diving, i usually do 2 dives (and that is muck diving, which is much less strenuous than this). Then i take a 2hr nap :) ... Now i am trying to do 4 dives a day! I did 4 two of the days, and 3 dives the other day.
Now on our 3rd day briefing we are told we are going to Richelieu Rock, which is considred to be one of Thailand's most iconic dives sites. I thought it was interesting that our Liveaboard was at the Similan Islands ... but it seems that the highlight of the trip is here at Richelieu Rock ... which is part of the Surin Islands .. whatever ... :)
What is so special aobut Richelieu Rock? It is 28 miles from the mainland, making a day trip difficult, but not impossible. There are no islands in the immediate vicinity of the reef. The limestone pinnacle rises from the sea floor of about 98-115 ft above the surface at low tide. It was not low tide, but we could see it sticking out of the water. While we were on the boat and also while we were in the water. The horseshoe-shaped reef is known for its purple corals as well as diverse marine life ranging a variety of different pelagic species of all different sizes. Richelieu Rock is considered to be one of Thailand's most iconic dive sites. And we have made out way here now.
So, they were right ... lots of purple corals. Otherwise, we didn't see much 'color' on any reef.
But there were some great surprises in store for us. Barracuda ! We saw a LOT of these on our Night Dive (no pics), but they were 3 times the size, and much darker in color. No worry, we are not on their 'food chain'
Here there were thousands of them. They can swim in bursts of up to 25 mph
they form in huge numbers ....like a tornado, it makes it more confusing for a predator to single one of them out. ! We couldn't take our eyes off them, it was amazing !
We saw a lot of other fishes too ... including this Titan TriggerFish, which was about 20", he is a big boy and can be quite territorial. But I have never had a problem with them.
Of course, smaller fish too ... all of which I am familiar with from my 'snorkeling days'
This area saw a lot of 'coral bleaching', so we witnessed the sad results. I did see this new growth on this dead hard coral. That's a good sign.
The terrain under water reminded me of being in the Rocky Mountains. You could see 'way up there', and all you had to do, was just float.... no hours of struggling through a hike. And when you looked over the edge ... you just floated off. It's a weird feeling.
We also saw several Crown of Thorns ... a nasty one that eats coral. In great numbers it can be a real problem, but there weren't that many of them. They are truly beautiful though, but those spines are poisonous and not to be touched.
After 4 dives at Richelieu Rock, we motored all night long, and retraced our path, back south, and did 2 dives at Koh Bon.
One of the 'fun' activities of this dive site is the 'surf' above us.
As the surf crashes over the rocks above water, it makes an 'explosion'
under water. We were along the edge of a ‘wall’ where the waves crashed overhead … and then exploded into the sea. We played like 'kids'. This will give you an idea of the force. Here is a video of our 'Dive Guide' .. who was having
too much fun.
You can see that he came out of it. I did it once, and all I could see was bubbles and white foam, it was fun. The second time i did it... it just never quit. I kept getting hit with more and more waves. I started to get concerned, so i just let some air out of my BCD (vest) and i floated down and out of it.
One of the many highlights of the day, was a large Eagle Ray that passed by.
and more familiar fish: Sweet Lips
and a couple Groupers
and another Parrot Fish
and this Moray Eel, ... with many of his friends: the Durban Dancing Shrimp. I honestly did not see the Shrimp until i saw the photo :)
The very last dive was a ‘wreck dive’, i know i swore i’d never do another one. But before each dive, we have a Dive Briefing, and Brenden tells us where we’re going, what we will or might see, how deep we will go, and how long we will stay down (if everyone has enough air). And maybe some history. It was the LAST dive, so i decided to go. He said the ‘ship’ is in many pieces and doesn’t look like a ship. He was right about that. And visibility was horrible down there.
He also said there would be many many Puffer Fish. We’ve all seen this fish, and everyone loves it eyes. But we are lucky to see one. He said there would be many many. He was right. They are so cute
He also said we would see some Leopard Moray Eels ... and again, he was right about that. We saw 3, and they all were marked a bit differently.
and a yet a different Grouper
And that was the end of my Liveaboard experience. Would I do it again? Probably not ... unless it was a Muck Diving Liveaboard. But even then.... it's a lot of diving and very close quarters with lots of people.... so ... not sure about that
But it was fun and I got to see things I had not seen before ... and I got to see some old 'fish friends', and new people friends. This is our dive group of 5
And all the divers
After docking and unloading, we were taken about 20min to Partum Hotel in Khao Lak for another couple days. More on that in the next Blog.
