electric_diver
Contributor
I just got home from an extended business stay in Asia. To finish the trip I treated myself to a mini vacation in Phuket.
I was there from May 15 to 20th. I wanted to do a liveabord (yes I know - low season - its hard). However I contacted dive-the-world.com and they found me exactly what I wanted.
I had 4 days on the MV Queen Scuba run by Coral Grand divers. If you are looking to do a low season livabord contact these guys. According to the divemaster, they will be willing to accomodate small parties in the low season. While on land, I stayed at the Andaman Seaview in Kata. Its a very nice but mostly empty hotel.
We did 4 days of diving around Racha Yai and Racha Noi. Dive sites included north point, south tip, the plateau, staghorn reef etc. Notable sightings included scores of lionfish, nudibranchs, many varieties of shrimp including some big mantis shrimp, spotted stingrays, a banded sea snake, octopii. We decended through a huge school of chevron barracuda one one dive at the plateau. Another amazing sight was the fields of purple soft corals on the plateau. On a night dive I watched a feather star move from one location to another.
A quite amusing find was a broken karoke/dvd machine and some tools off Staghorn reef in Racha Yai.
On the very last dive we came across a 6 to 7 foot long leopard shark. They are truly magnificent creatures!
My biggest complaint about the diving was the amount of fishing debris and garbage spread around the reefs. There were bits of fishing line and nets everywhere. Lots of pop cans and other refuse littered the bottom. Local divers should consider doing a project AWARE cleanup day here.
Speaking of garbage, someone should also clean up the beach by south tip on Racha Noi. Its a beautiful beach and a great place to spend some surface interval. Plus while we were there a medium sized monitor lizard came down for a stroll. It sure looked like a komodo dragon to me. If so, he is a very long way from home! We took some pictures of him.
One minor annoyance with the land based operations: It took me forever to find an ATM that worked with my bank card. Some machines that had the right network affiliations refused to cooperate. Another was that none of the Tshirt vendors had diving related t shirts. Not a single one! The best I could do was a Phuket Island t shirt with a fish motif.
With regard to Tsunami recovery: there is construction going on everywhere. I'd guess that by the fall there will be no evidence of physical damage. All of the major hotels and businesses seem to be restored.
Anyway, I enjoyed my visit. I wish i could have stayed longer.
Adrian
I was there from May 15 to 20th. I wanted to do a liveabord (yes I know - low season - its hard). However I contacted dive-the-world.com and they found me exactly what I wanted.
I had 4 days on the MV Queen Scuba run by Coral Grand divers. If you are looking to do a low season livabord contact these guys. According to the divemaster, they will be willing to accomodate small parties in the low season. While on land, I stayed at the Andaman Seaview in Kata. Its a very nice but mostly empty hotel.
We did 4 days of diving around Racha Yai and Racha Noi. Dive sites included north point, south tip, the plateau, staghorn reef etc. Notable sightings included scores of lionfish, nudibranchs, many varieties of shrimp including some big mantis shrimp, spotted stingrays, a banded sea snake, octopii. We decended through a huge school of chevron barracuda one one dive at the plateau. Another amazing sight was the fields of purple soft corals on the plateau. On a night dive I watched a feather star move from one location to another.
A quite amusing find was a broken karoke/dvd machine and some tools off Staghorn reef in Racha Yai.
On the very last dive we came across a 6 to 7 foot long leopard shark. They are truly magnificent creatures!
My biggest complaint about the diving was the amount of fishing debris and garbage spread around the reefs. There were bits of fishing line and nets everywhere. Lots of pop cans and other refuse littered the bottom. Local divers should consider doing a project AWARE cleanup day here.
Speaking of garbage, someone should also clean up the beach by south tip on Racha Noi. Its a beautiful beach and a great place to spend some surface interval. Plus while we were there a medium sized monitor lizard came down for a stroll. It sure looked like a komodo dragon to me. If so, he is a very long way from home! We took some pictures of him.
One minor annoyance with the land based operations: It took me forever to find an ATM that worked with my bank card. Some machines that had the right network affiliations refused to cooperate. Another was that none of the Tshirt vendors had diving related t shirts. Not a single one! The best I could do was a Phuket Island t shirt with a fish motif.
With regard to Tsunami recovery: there is construction going on everywhere. I'd guess that by the fall there will be no evidence of physical damage. All of the major hotels and businesses seem to be restored.
Anyway, I enjoyed my visit. I wish i could have stayed longer.
Adrian
