Khao lak 2006

[Thaidiver]

Well its one year on & khao lak is well on the road to recovery,.A new road has been built through the centre of town and many of the bungalow resorts have or are in the process of reopening. The meridian Khao lak is open as is the Sarojin resort,Sunset resort, la Flora resort as well as many more & the Mukdara will be opening soon. Baan Niang Beach has a lot of construction going on with resorts & bungalows being built. Tourists are coming back & now that the memorial events of the 26th December are over the air of doom & gloom has lifted and there is a more positive air about the place. This place will come back stronger & better than before & it is still the stepping stone to the similan islands, some of the best diving in the world ( & still is despite what the amateur divers at CBS might say!!).
We all have many stories to tell about that horrific day and they will always be in our memories but again it was the Thai peoples response and how they coped and helped others with no regards to themselves whilst all had been lost in the worst natural disaster in living memory that will be one of the endearing memories of this tragedy.....that & well.........:-(

What the local people of khao lak need now is not charity or volunteers but tourists & divers to once again come back to this wonderful place and spend their $$$ so they can once again feed their children and carry their heads high. The Thai people are a proud race and no one likes to be on the receiving end of handouts when they can earn a living. Come & pay a visit you won't be dissapointed

 

[Ian T]

And on that note, my wife and I will arrive in Khao Lak on Wednesday for a liveaboard out in the Andaman sea and after that, golf and relaxation in the Khao Lak area.

I hope it's warm...

 

[Ringo]

IanT enjoy Kao Luk! More tourists should return there.

 

[Thaidiver]

Hi Ian T where u gonna be staying in khao Lak? Give us a call when u arrive & we can have a cold beer
cheers
076420632

 

[wedivebc]

When I was in Khoa Lak in October I decided to do a majority of my shopping there. There was one store where I had set a pile of merchandise to barter on. The merchant was so grateful saying I was his first customer since the tsunami. I was skeptical until he had to run down the street in order to get a calculator to tally the price. I think buying from these folks is the least we can do.

 

[wmgreatlakes]

How good of diving is Khoa Lak? Why I ask is a friend and I are trying to plan a dive this spring or summer. He has dived the centural America area Utila Island near Handuras. Cayman islands. Could you please let me know of any tropical regions that you have dived and what you thought was the best place for the money. Thanks wmgreatlakes.

 

[Thaidiver]

Hi greatlakes
khao lak is the nearest point to the similan islands which is good for diving between november and April. diving around khao lak itself is almost non existant except for a couple of old wrecks which can be good or bad depending on viz. For all year round diving phuket is good and has a lot of operators there.

 

[Batfish]

Best for the money - Utila, Honduras, especially given that you are based in the US, so would save a huge packet on the flights. Try diving with Utila Dive Centre.

Thailand is good value compared to other destinations, and I have to say the diving in the Similan Islands and Richelieu Rock is better than Utila - I used to work in Utila too.

I hope to go back to Utila though. Lovely place. Something special there.

I reckon I'd enjoy the diving there much more as a fun diver than as an instructor!

Enjoy your diving

 

[Ian T]

well...Khao Lak is sort of like Thaidiver said...not much local dive sites, 2 wrecks and a 'house reef'
We did both the wrecks and the one called Bong Sak is really really nice, loads of juveniles of all kinds, shrimps, nudis, barracudas and just about everything else, on top of the wreck, there are schools of batfish, snappers and jacks eating from the buffet.
Khao Lak is also quiter than Phuket and a lot fewer divers (which is good in my book), the main advantage is that it is quite a bit closer to the Similans/Surin/Richelieu Rock. It was apparently one of the hardest hit areas by the tsunami but they are re-building the whole beach front area - can find accomodation in all price ranges (from US$2 - 30 /night).
There will be a short trip report in the Asia Section later this week.
Be good now
Ian

 

[markieb]

I dived the Similan Islands as a day-trip (1.5hrs by speed boat from Khao Lak) at the begining of January. It was expensive - about 50% more than diving in, say, Ko Lanta but well worth it as the visibility was fantastic (30m +). Having said that, I didn't shop arround for a 'cheap deal' and there did seem to be a lot of dive operators there, so maybe there are 'deals' to be done. Khao Lak well deserves a visit; as has been said it was hit very, very hard by the events of 26/12 and when I was there, it still resembled a ghost-town. A shame.