Here's my trip report:
One's choices of diving in Cambodia are extremely limited. If fact, about the only venue I found that is readily manageable for the traveling diver is Sinahoukville (AKA Kampong Som), a developed yet still funky city not far from the Vietnamese border. It's about a 3-hour van drive or 20-minute flight SSW from the capital, Phnom Penh.
Dive outfits around Sinahoukville include Pegasus (Chez Claude), Condor & Naga Dive. All provide a range of other services & entertainments as well, and you'll find Condor's owner, Steve, out with the boat when more lucrative salvage or survey projects crop up.
I went with Chez Claude (Tel: 012-824870, Fax: 034-320032) as it seemed to be the most squared away of the lot as regards getting out of town to dive. In business for about 8 years, it can arrange just about anything--eking out a living here requires flexibility & resourcefulness. Claude himself is an engaging, likeable, weathered French ex-pat with an abiding Gaelic affection for good food, wine & conversation, not to mention a damn fine diver. In addition to the dive op, he runs an excellent restaurant (French style cooking & what has got to be the best wine list outside of Phnom Penh) with a smashing view. Also has 4 fully serviceable bungalows set on a hillside (on Kam Pegn Hill above Sokha beach) for about $30 dollars/night. Not really a good value, however, as for about this price you can get a place on the beach with A/C. The diving also is expensive by local standards, starting at $55 for a two tank morning dive to local sites, although he'll work a better package deal. If Claude is out of town or otherwise indisposed, his partner Bernard can hook you up.
If you want upscale digs ($40-$60/night), check out the Peak Hotel with a super view of the port, plus a small casino (one of about 1/2 dozen in the area; the snazziest is out at Koh Kong & reached by ferry), gardens & a whimsical mini-zoo. Also upscale are the Crystal & Seaside, both on the beach and less than the Peak.
Things can be incredibly cheap here, and a couple of hundred bucks can easily take you a long way. The bus trip from Phnom Penh is about 4-hours, and costs about $3-$4 for one of the nicer, A/C models that make a number of trips each day. If you want to go on a beater, it can be done for about $2-$3. If you don't mind downscale accommodations, I was able to solicit an offer of $5 a night at a guesthouse in the center of town. Small, sparsely furnished and with a communal toilet, it was clean and had a fan & hot water. A couple of shots of tequila & I could have called it home. Local restaurants serve decent dinners for around $6, and you can eat for less. Seafood is remarkably cheap, including crab & lobster, so order up a mess done in hot sauce & keep the cold Tiger beers coming. It should go without saying that it is wise to drink only bottled water & beverages, even in the better hotels, and to stick to well-cooked foods, and well-washed/peeled fruits. The pineapple is divinely fresh & sweet, as is the watermelon.
On other matters of health & comfort, while the insect situation was not bad during my stay, I did notice some mosquitoes & no see ums. Judging by the mosquito netting in some of the rooms I looked at, I assume the situation can get intense. Be prepared.
I rented a motorbike in excellent condition for $4/day. This later transaction involved my giving the woman two days rental & she giving me the key. There was not a scrap of paperwork or any identification involved. The single piece of info I was asked was where I was staying. Not a room number, mind you, just the name of a hotel, and this was not verified. This trusting soul was not around when I returned the vehicle, so I simply parked it in front of her home & left the key with a neighbor. Now ya' just gotta love doing business like this.
It's the most inexpensive dive vacation I've ever had by several orders of magnitude. And speaking of money, the Cambodian riel is rather looked down upon here, and you'll find either US greenbacks or Thai baht more warmly welcomed.
The more than 20 islands & coral reefs that form the foundation for diving stretch both north & south (the latter are best) from Sinahoukville are in three groups: Kampong Som, Ream and Royal groups. Those feasible for a day trip range from just offshore to a 2 1/2-hour boat ride, although not all are consistently accessible at all times of the year. Conditions were darn near prefect during my visit in early May, but during the winter months there reportedly are strong winds around the Kampongs. Many of the best dives sites are 4-8 hour rides to the SW, and require at least one overnight. For more distant sites, Claude will arrange for 2-3 nights of camping out on suitable islands, although you'll want companions to share costs & camaraderie. Claude likes to have 4-5 divers on these. He will take you solo, but you'll need to make up the difference in cost. Koh Prins (couple of shipwrecks on the NW side, plus a downed US chopper; depths of 90'-110'), Koh Tang & Poupo Wia are among the more highly rated.
After a couple of very disappointing dives on inshore reefs that were heavily fished, beat up & of only modest vis, I opted to do a two-nighter on Condor Reef. This meant sleeping in a pup tent, and eating fish & fruit for several days, but also sparkling white sand beaches without another soul in sight & heavens strewn with more stars than I thought existed. Situated about midway between Thailand & Cambodia, and about a 5-hour boat ride in a slow, converted wooden fishing boat. Claude can take up to 10 divers, but I wouldn't to be among them--five is a much more comfortable number. Anyway, Condor Reef is in the middle of nowhere. Although the dynamite fishers' filthy grasp has reached even this far, it's still a fine location. Vis was 100+ & water temp around 85 degrees. The massive limestone boulders that littered the area are home to giant tridacna clams with lips of swirling green, blue & brown, a variety of nudibranches I'd not seen before, what have to be the world's biggest mussels & wondrous sea fans exceeding 25' in diameter. In addition to a plethora of tropicals, we saw a whale shark in the 15' range, a sighting Claude said was not all that unusual. No matter how often I see these creatures, they never cease to mesmerize,
Also to be found are pieces of broken porcelain pottery, apparently from a wreck called the "Lampton." In 1672, this merchant ship laden with Chinese porcelain & other treasure left Bangkok and sailed south across the Gulf of Siam, towards Singapore. The vessel belonged to the King of Siam, and it was on a trading mission to India & Persia, to return with exotic pieces to decorate his palaces in the royal city. It foundered somewhere in the Gulf of Siam. A group from Australia has been mapping the site for a couple of years in search of fabled gold, but I was still thrilled with just old wooden beams & shards of pottery.
Although the Cambodian people here are indescribably nice, it's still a bit wild & woolly. As such, a tour guide, the sort of thing I generally avoid like the plague, is a smart idea for exploring parts of the region. Riddh (sangvariddh@hotmail.com; Tel: 855-1285-1416), is the man to see. A true character and whatever you want he knows how to make it happen. Check out Sinahoukville Mountain where the Upper Wat (temple) has a commanding view of the city, the Kbal Chhay falls & pools, the hodge-podge of spirit houses & the bat caves at Fisherman's Pagoda south of Otres Beach (you'll probably want local assistance getting out to this number) & a few of the lower wats. Some time on the long stretches of white sand beach is a must for the sunworshipper, although you have look some to find sections free of flotsam & jetsam. This is rather a shame, as for pennies a day a contingent of locals very likely would be more than happy to gather the offensive litter. Sokha is the most crowded & dirty of the beaches that I saw, and I recommend the quiet end of Ochheuteal instead. Given stamina & good pair of old sneakers for traversing the rocky areas, you can walk the stretch of 4 beaches.
Given the much more convenient diving of equal or superior quality on superior boats in nearby Thailand, I do not recommend making the trip to Sinahoukville just for scuba. If you're doing a larger circuit, e.g., Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, Tonle-Sap, and don't mind a scout-like overnight or two to get to the better diving, give it some thought. I suspect that in a couple of years they'll be faster & more comfortable boats, making some of the overnighting unnecessary."
Hope this is helpful.
DocVikingo
