26th December - Phuket

[Thaidiver]

hi andrew gee
The meridian yacht club has been open all year & the meridian near patong has been renovated and is again operational. The khao lak meridian only received slight damage and was not totally wiped out due to its location and the surrounding sand dunes....This is again now open for business.The Novotel was however pretty much wiped out.
As for the diving it is as good as it ever was.......seeing loads of mantas already this year & a whale shark on elephant head rock 10 days ago, oh & not so many divers because of the rumors that the place was thrashed.........!!

 

[Joanne Hughes]

I am enthralled by this thread. I was in Thailand some 3 years ago over the Christmas period and stayed at both Phuket and Phi Phi. It was horrifying to see on UK tv the very place we had stayed at being battered by such forces of nature, it stayed in my mind for months after the tragedy. I wonder if Phuket and Phi Phi are getting back to normal, it was those very places which began my interst in diving, and have led to me taking the plunge with both of my teenage children - we commenced a PADI OW course in England just last week. I shall go to Phi Phi and Phuket again very soon, the Thai people are such a kind and gentle race, so undeserving to have to suffer such loss. Has anyone any news on how the reefs and diving situations are now, is diving getting back to normal yet?

 

[Ringo]

Joanne - Hurry on over, the diving is great! In fact the season is presently busy. Exactly what we needed after such a dreadful year.

 

[Andrew_ge]

Hi All

Been a long time since I read this thread.

I was actually planning on going back over for Christmas 2005, but one thing led to another and the hotel I was planing to stay in got fully booked. So I went off to Florida in the end (couldnt find any dive centres there!).

I will most likely be returning for xmas this year though, as I'd like to see how things have recovered, and continue helping their economy to recover.