Thailand/Similan - photog and seasick questions

[gfac]

'Tried "search" function for this and didn't see it. Am heading to Thailand in November, plan to get to Similan, maybe Richelieu Rock. 'Am a little person with a fairly bulky housed camera rig.

My first question: my dive style is to move slowly with a lot of hovering a loitering. How well would that be tolerated in the dive groups that go there? How much of the diving there is drift and/or otherwise dealing with strong currents?

Second question: going with a dive buddy who is game to try it but is prone to sea sickness. Anyone out there prone to this problem who can recommend a particularly stable liveaboard (out of Phuket, Khao lak or otherwise) that might increase the odds of feeling ok?

Thanks for info -
glo

 

[stevenl]

If you're an experienced diver with your own buddy, you will probably dive without guide, so following a group should not be a problem. Just keep half an eye on one of the guides to see what he points out to his guests, and you should enjoy yourself. Even if you prefer to dive with guide, this is normally not a big deal, since the groupsize is limited to 4 guests per DM on nearly all boats.

Yes, most of the dives are driftdives, and sometimes the current can be quite strong, so your buoyancy is very important. The good thing is, that quite a few of the sites have big boulders, so there is often the possibility to find shelter and make nice pictures.

Some of the boats are more stable than the others. The Junk e.g. is big and stable, also the Ocean Rover, Mermaid and Panunee e.g. are stable. There are many more boats that are stable and can be recommended. You can find a nice overview of a lot of the boats from both Phuket and Khao Lak on www.thailand-scuba.com.

Have fun, and I'm sure you will because it is already nice to be busy with sorting things out, and in Novemeber you will be making some lovely dives.

 

[ssra30]

Some boats do have dive guides that are very friendly to photographers. Depending on how full the boats are, last year, I was at Similan/Richeliue on Aqua One with one diveguide just for myself and my dive buddy who is also a photographer so we basically set our own pace. As far as seasickness goes, Similan is not bad as they are many islands and shelter but Richeliue is basically an underwater pinnacle and at low tide, just the tip of the rock is visible above the water so there is no shelter whatsoever. Most boats will spend at least half if not a full day at Richeliue if they go there because of the distance so if your friend is very prone to seasickness, November may not be the best time to go there as the sea can still be a little rough.
From personal experience, Panunee and Aqua One are very friendly toward photographers. There are many other excellent boats out there but I have not been on them personally.

 

[gfac]

Thanks -- appreciate the info!
Glo