Totally addicted after 6 dives

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keralucu

Senior Member
Messages
1,015
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0
Location
Beijing, China
# of dives
100 - 199
Hi everyone. I'm so glad I found this site - it looks like exactly what I need to express the joy I've just discovered on getting OW Certified.

I'm in Thailand, where we have some of the best dive spots around (I believe) and after being on this planet for almost 33 years, AND spending 4 of those in Bali - another great place for diving, where I never did the course - I have finally gone and done it... I'm certified!

I'm sure you guys will appreciate my first certified diving experience. I was with friends who are all advanced or above who all agreed that the conditions we had were absolutely perfect. We dived off a small island in the south of Thailand (eastern seaboard) called Koh Larn Ped. The water was absolutely flat when we got there, visibility crystal clear at 20m, the rock face was teeming with beautiful anemones and millions of fish. Saw a huge garoupa and lots of tuna chasing each other around, moray eels, gorgeous nudibranchs and a zillion other things that I can't even remember. The most thrilling thing was the whale shark - yep.... there was one right there with us.... only thing was, none of us in the water saw it! We were so awed by the marine life swarming around the walls of the cliff that we didn't notice the 6m beauty swimming virtually right behind us! Our dive instructor who was sitting that dive out due to lack of equipment was on the surface snorkelling and tried to attract our attention but we couldn't hear her. Never mind, as my friends told me - if I'd seen a whale shark on my very first dive I would have been spoiled for life! Our divemaster, who has many years diving experience under his weightbelt has never seen one yet either so that made me feel better. :)

We dived that spot twice in the hope that the whale shark would come round again, and the second time we were all paying more attention to the blue than to the rock! Regardless, I am now hooked and am doing little but eating, sleeping and dreaming about my next dive trip which will be in two weeks. I think I was born to do this.

Anyway, I hope to hear something back from some of you and hope you'll bear with any questions I might have. Cheers.
 
Welcome to one of the best places to spend your surface interval!

I am envious of your diving local. I hope to get there some day. Do keep us informed of the wonderous sights you will see
 
This forum is so cool... It's really true that once you become a diver it's like being part of a new tribe or culture. I love that sense of "togetherness" (for want of a better word!) that is present amongst all who have gone below and experienced that other world down there. :)

THanks for all your words of encouragement, not that I need them but it's great to know that there are people out there who don't even know me that are interested in my experiences, as I am in yours. Anybody who is coming this way and needs help with anything, let me know - I was born in Thailand, so know the language and locations well. I'd be glad to help!

One question while I'm here - my sister (my buddy) has a problem with her ear. The ear canal has swollen and closed up completely - she's on antibiotics to make the swelling go down, but what is the reason this would happen? We both had a bit of trouble equalising in both ears, but it wasn't painful at the time, only when we came out of the water. I'm ok now, a friend told me maybe I was over-equalising, so I know for next time not to try so hard, but my sis says she wasn't doing that. Any suggestions, anybody?

Thanks.
 
keralucu,

Welcome to the boards! My parents have a vacation home in Thailand. One of these days i'm gonna make it over there but I guess that will be another year. Tell us about your dive experiences over there...I'm sure there is a bunch of divers here who would love to here some.

Dive Safe...

Aardal
:peace:
 
Hey Aardal

Thanks for the welcome. Whereabouts in Thailand is your 'rents' holiday home? How long have they had it?

I will definitely keep y'all posted... I can't wait for the next two weeks to fly by so I can get back in the water...

Maybe see you in Thailand some day?

Cheers
 
keralucu

Its near Uborne....We have had it for about 4 years now. My parents had it built, so we own it and about 10 acres of jungle that it is on. My mom is from Thailand so she goes back every year and my dad goes back every other year. Both of them just came from there. They spent about 8 weeks there this year. We will have to keep in touch though because my mom wants to take me there to meet her family there.

Dive Safe...

Aardal
:)
 
We're almost family, Aardal... :wink: (Just kidding!)

How cool to meet someone who's half Thai within my first two days on the boards?

Hope you get to visit our beautiful country soon....

cheers
 
At the beginning of this thread, I described almost meeting a whale shark on my first certified dive. I still have not, but my friends went back to the site a week after we were there and I thought y'all might enjoy reading their experience with it...

Allan & Stef's adventure with the whale shark...

"I went diving with 2 Advanced students, and we swam with the whaleshark for about 30 min. Just the 3 of us. Then I swam around the island to get steffen( didn't feel like getting steffens tank in my face, for not showing him his first one). When we got to the other side, we went back down to 10 meters, for about 10 minutes-Steffen hanging off my octopus, as he "forgot" his equipment back on the boat.

As we came back up, the whale S. kept following steffen, and as we were raving, screaming and laughing, steffen said " hey Allan, the shark is right up your A**!" So we were at the surface with a very attention seeking, playful whaleshark for about 45 min, it even gave Stef a ride back to the boat(should have seen the captains jaw drop!!), by lifting him halfway out of the water..............


I'll shut up now!!

Hope your allright,

Allan

(Part II)

Whale story(and it is a true story..........). After Steffen pointed out that the W.shark was on its way up where the sun doen't shine( last e-mail: "hey Allan, it's right up your A**"), I took of my BCD, They W.S. didn't like the bubbles, so snorkelling seemed like the way to go.
If we "ignored" it ( read giving high 5's, being euphoric etc.at the surface) the W.S. would stop swimming, and move it's head up and down, just like headbanging, untill we'd swim around it again. I swam down in front of it, and it came up to me, stopped, so I put my hands on it's lower jaw, and then it opened is't mouth and started to push me, as soon as I was out of air, and bolted to the surface, it would turn around and come right up to me, " want another go?". We all swallowed soooo much water, the snorkles just wasn't long enough, but it was worth it.I had my head inside it's mouth.........
To be continued.........."

And that is really how it went... the continuation was that the big fish didn't want them to get out of the water... That story has started off Whaleshark mania in Bangkok. We went back there two weeks ago and headed straight to the island... but it wasn't there... :( *sniff*. Next time, perhaps.

Anyway, I'm curious - has anyone else ever had similar experiences with these amazing creatures? Let's hear it. **NB - the area where this happened is completely non-touristic - the only dive operator there is Allan (Absolut Wreck Diving & Tours) so it's not because of large amounts of divers in the water that this whale shark is so friendly.

:)
 
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