Dive boat sank off Phuket Thailand today (6/7/05)

[MoonWrasse]

Cannot believe a group of apparently advanced and knowledgeable (going out to do a reef survey and reef improvement work) divers would go out on a trip to the Similians at this time of year!!!

More amazing that a government agency (one you would think most knowedgeable of the hazards of going to the Sims at this time of year) was involved in this fiasco!!!!

Good to hear about the quick rescue, however, and the limited loss of life and serious injury in a harowing situation.

Yea, but for some reason it doesn't seem unusual that government folk would do something seemingly so absurd

What's amazing was how few died, considering the conditions. Also it's good to hear that they didn't panic in the water and that there were enough pfds for all.

 

[whitehead]

Tis Thailand - all is never as it seems. But why dwell on it - change will be measured in generations and while now is now we can enjoy the positives and not dwell on the negatives. We will never know the full truth but knowing would not benefit us anyway.

 

[The Hamburger]

Tis Thailand - all is never as it seems. But why dwell on it - change will be measured in generations and while now is now we can enjoy the positives and not dwell on the negatives. We will never know the full truth but knowing would not benefit us anyway.

Have you been drinking............

 

[MoonWrasse]

Have you been drinking............

LOL, in the land where you can have any beer you desire as long as there's an animal on the label and the bottle is full of animal piss

 

[ssra30]

Tis Thailand - all is never as it seems. But why dwell on it - change will be measured in generations and while now is now we can enjoy the positives and not dwell on the negatives. We will never know the full truth but knowing would not benefit us anyway.

Geez, this sounded almost like an old geezer sitting in a corner of a bar, reminiscing about the long gone good old day and letting time trickling by as the amount of empty bottles pile up. Quite nauseating really
Must really be drunk to come up with this!

 

[whitehead]

Ah ah - one of em has managed to get out of bed before 4 pm and the other has stopped shopping long enough to post something!

Look on the bright side we seemed to have stopped that what would become a mindless Thailand/Thailand dive industry inquisition based on the garbage that is written by the Thai press.

 

[ssra30]

Hmmm, may be there is weed as well as alcohol.

Seriously though, I am still surprise that it was a government charter that went down. Knowing that the airport was closed and there was warning out for rough sea etc etc. How big was the boat anyhow? I would have thought that the survey team would know better.
Not including the accident at Richeliue which is still unclear as to what happened, I guess now there are at least a couple of boats that sank around the Similans during off season in the last few years due to bad weather/sea condition.
If people are still going to insist on going out of LOB to the Similans during monsoon season, next time at least pick a good spot to sink so we can have a good wreck site as well

 

[ScubaJoel]

The National Park is closed, correct, but that does not mean diving is not allowed. It only means people are not allowed to stay on the islands any more. Diving is allwoed the whole year, and diveoperators are going the whole year.
[...]

Sorry - "...some diveops are going the whole year."

Responsible ones know about the risk and stop going at the end of May and start scheduling again mid of October.
See-Bees, Diveasia, Calypso etc.

 

[Batfish]

Sorry - "...some diveops are going the whole year."

Responsible ones know about the risk and stop going at the end of May and start scheduling again mid of October.
See-Bees, Diveasia, Calypso etc.

Well, actually ScubaJoel, if you want to pick nits....Calypso never go to the Similan Islands as they only run a day trip boat around Phuket and Phi Phi. Sea Bees DO have a schedule for the Genesis for the summer (but I saw the boat at Thap Lamu a couple of weeks ago, and looks like it will not be running). But you are correct that Dive Asia do not run the liveaboard in the summer. One out of three, not bad.

end of May? Well, in fact many stop at the end of April, some continue until early to mid May. End of May is normally wet and windy and the National Park is officially closed from May 15th, so most will stop by then. Besides, there are no customers!

mid October? Well, some start early October, some start mid, and many liveaboards do not start until early November when they are certain the weather is stable and they are certain to get more customers.

 

[stevenl]

Sea Bees DO have a schedule for the Genesis for the summer (but I saw the boat at Thap Lamu a couple of weeks ago, and looks like it will not be running).

It can run any time. At the moment though, there are not many bookings, but some of the trips are confirmed.