coral bleaching near Pattaya?

[lord khram]

I appreciate all the responses. And although it's sad to hear that so much of the coral is "damaged" by snorkelers and the like- not all snorkelers are careless! myself being one...I care very much about the environment. It's not that I want to see just any old "damaged"coral - but specifically that which was bleached due to the higher water temperatures as I am doing a larger project on landscapes that are being affected by changes in the climate. It seems that enough time has passed that I would not find examples of what the bleached coral looks like.

If anyone else has an idea of where I could see this - and not just snorkeling off the beaches of Pattaya - I would be willing to go out to a farther island, Please do chime in.

Thanks!

Koh Sichang which is off the coast from Siracha, I assume was affected by the coral bleaching incident a couple of years ago as it was one of the places closed to divers at the time.
This place is not frequently dived but there was a dive operator in the past that I heard about.
Maybe the att'd link might be a usefull contact to get more specific information on the area. Outdoor activities on Ko-Sichang: SCUBA diving

 

[camstar415]

@camstar415, happily for us, there isn't much going on in terms of coral bleaching at present. You can check the NOAA Coral Bleaching project for colour-coded maps showing the "hotspots" both currently and historically. For a current "snapshot" look here:
Current Operational Coral Bleaching HotSpots - Office of Satellite Data Processing and Distribution

For July 2010, the map showed a much more severe problem:
http://www.ospo.noaa.gov/data/cb/hotspots/2010/hotspote.7.1.2010.gif

Somehow I forgot to click on your links the other day. But these are very informational - and good for me to know about to keep an eye on bleaching incidents worldwide. Gotta love NOAA! Thanks again!

 

[Quero]

My pleasure, camstar.

 

[Apecks]

Some of the dive sites up in Pattaya & Sameasan got hit hard by the coral bleaching a while back, most have recovered since

 

[iDreamOfBubbles]

It certainly is very good to hear that many of the reefs in Thailand have recovered from bleaching, hopefully a sign for the future.

 

[camstar415]

Thanks all. I decided not to go looking given all the information I'd gotten. I am in Hong Kong now so can't go even if I wanted to!

Merci!

 

[Quero]

Pas de quoi!