After a few days on Phuket's sunny
beach in Patong we we're in desperate need of some action. You just can't lie on a beach staring into the sun for too long, it gets boring. At least for me.
Patong is flooded with diving firms selling equipment, one-day trips to nearby dive sites, as well as liveaboard experiences to more distant locations. We spent a few hours window shopping to get a feeling for current price level on one-day trips and seriousness of the firms.
Finally settled for
Scandinavian Divers which had its shop just a few hundred meters from our hotel, located between restaurants and bars in a busy soi on Bangla Road. It's not just named Scandinavian for nothing - it seemed like all Scandinavian countries were represented in the firm; shop people, dive instructors, dive guides, etc.
Early the following morning we were picked up by the firm's Thai guy responsible for quick-and-bumpy transport to the pier, ...
... had our names called out and quickly replied "Yessir!" to get in the water as fast as possible, ...
... and then eagerly boarded the designated one-day trip boat together with a number of other dive addicts.
Happy divers taking a break between the dives. Some preferred the sun deck - I tried to hide from the sun though, didn't want a sun burn. The Thai boat crew made sure that there were coffee, tea, and fruit (papaya, pineapple, etc) available the whole time.
Trip manager; made sure everything ran smoothly on the boat.
Stephanie, our dive guide for the day. Thanks for letting me use your octopus during our second dive! I used a lot of air during that dive and my indications to her didn't get through. We were at around 15 m when I finally swam to her and switched to her octopus - my cylinder was empty.
Sun deck; not that sunny at the moment though.
Same type of boat as we were on.
Last dive for the day done. It was time to head back to the pier and Patong again.
All in all a great one-day trip.
http://www.scandinavian-divers.com
Every morning starts early to get the most out of the day. Four dives are planned each day, including one night dive. Around 06.30 wake-up calls can be heard in the corridor.
The dive crew at the table, planning todays dives for the different groups.
Since there's eat-what-you-ordered breakfast right after the morning dive a few toasts and a coffee is more than enough before the first dive in the morning.
Into the blue; giant strides from dive deck into the Similan ecosystem. The water was clear, blue, warm, ...
Lunch time. Mm... Always lots of food, lots of great Thai food. Delicious.
A visit to one of the Similan islands. I have climbed up on the rocks to get the view - fantastic... A few dive boats can be seen anchored in the sea.
Night dive. Had to watch out for the barracudas.
Time to go to bed. More diving tomorrow...
