21.2.-26.2.2011
While we had the thai immigration on the boat in Ranong it was raining cats and dogs. Pong had to sit in the car for several minutes and the immigration officer could not go off the boat without risking to be washed away. It could only get better from now on :-)
Diving the first time as usual on High Rock we found an interesting place for the second dive; we call it Pollock Reef. The current was coming from everywhere, but once you where behind the rock everything was ok. Not all of us managed to hide behind the rock.....
Then it was Shark Cave time, like in the past we could enjoy the macro life in all its variations. The second day some of us had a Manta, I will not mention ho missed it...grrrrrrrr! But like always in life, sometimes you are lucky and sometimes not. Only two dives later the person who missed the big one found the small one: first frogfish of the trip.
Diving Seafan Forest is always a happening. Even if you don't see anything special, only the scenery itself is amazing. This time it was even more special. Just when we where about to go to the deeper part this cloud came towards us and we felt the cold water around us. Within seconds the whole rock was hidden in a huge cloud of dust, you could barely see your buddy. And as fast as it came it was gone on the other side. Scary! But during the whole dive we were sure to hear dolphins singing.
And by the time we surfaced the crew told us that they have seen many of them playing around.
Maybe we are lucky and they show up, so we went for a second dive. Again we could hear them, but they didn't want to be seen. Coming up, the crew had even better news (well, not for us), beside the dolphins they even saw an eagle ray jumping. We thought about quitting diving.
But again, sometimes you are lucky and sometimes not. This time the crew had more luck than we, but only half an hour later our captain spotted the dolphins again and we approached slowly with the boat. Realising that there must be more than 30 in several groups in front of us. Then one of them swam directly next to the boat and we realised, these are not dolphins. It's fake killer whales!!!! At one point we had a group that close that nothing could stop me from jumping into the water only with my fins and the snorkel. And what I experienced then was one of the best moments in my life! Snorkelling with 6-8 fake killer whales around me, sometimes that close that I could touch them. You could hear them singing, even from the boat. Since they were not shy at all we decided to give it a try and dive with them. But I guess, that was too much, only for a few seconds we had them in front of us and then they were gone.
This time all of us were lucky.
It should not be enough for today...Night dives at Western Rocky are known to be the best ever. As well today, many nudi branchs, 3 frogfishes (why do they always hide in almost unreachable places?) and last but not least our beloved Harlequin Shrimps. We tried to stick to our announced 40 minutes but it was impossible. Coming up to the surface looking to the stars and keep on smiling. Now it's Leo time :-)
After spending the whole next day around this amazing rock, after doing 4 more dives, after we had seen much more than we expected we started our journey towards the mainland.
Last but not least we found a shark on the last dive, ok we only saw the tail and it was crawling deeper under the rock than we could manage but it was there. And the baby Kuhl's stingray will stay in our memories for a long time...sleeping under the sand, not letting him bother by anything for a long time and suddenly escaping like a rocket and almost crashing into Melanie :-) Maybe see you next time little fellow, as well as Lisa, Rob and Melanie.
It was a great time with you guys, hope you enjoyed it like we did and spread the word.
AIDC Dive Team
P.S. I almost forgot to mention who was the unluckiest and luckiest of us at the same time: ROB! Why? He lost his camera but Pong found it on the surface. He lost his torch but Melanie found it on the ground. After this, we attached the torch to the camera and everything was fine. Exept the last dive: He lost his mask but his wife dived after it before he even realised :-)
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Surin 14.2.2011
14.2.-17.2.2011
Surin, Koh Bon, Koh Tachai and Richelieu Rock
3 divers, 3 snorkellers, 1 student
1 Instrcutor, 1 divemaster, 1 divemaster trainee and 4 crew who did an extremely good job
Maybe you are wondering why there is no blog from the 3 day Surintrip last week....it is quite simple: the blog writer didn't join the trip, she was on vacation in Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai. But what the others told her is basically said in one word: current!!!!!
This time I was again on board and was more than looking forward to spend 3 days on the boat and do some diving together with Melanie, Andreas and Henning. Mischa was supposed to teach Kati the diving but ended up with teaching Tine. Congratulations to be an Open Water Diver.
Kati and Mischas parents enjoyed the trip with snorkelling, eating and sleeping.
But what about the diving? Current? Bad Vis? Anything to see? NO - NO AND YEEEEEEEEES!
We started out in Surin where we had relaxed diving around Koh Chi, Yellow Rock and Hin Kong. The second day, everybody in big expectations of the Mantas, we did 2 dives on Koh Bon, the first dive with a lot of fish but no Manta and the second dive again, with a lot of fish and a Manta. Luckily all the groups, even Tine as still not certified diver, saw the impressive animal and came up with a big smile.
Then we moved north to Koh Tachai where - at least Henning with his guide - had one of the best dives in his careers ever. Even the guide said so. The pinnacle was surrounded with fish, big tunas, barracudas, jacks...all hunting for the thousands of small fish, a turtle sleeping in a small cave, lobsters, amazing seafans and corals.....and then while they were on the plateau on 12 meters suddenly 10 huge black mackerels approached, escorting the feeding biiiiig Manta! Henning took his regulator out of his mouth and kept on smiling. Hanging on the rope during the safety stop, they were in hundreds of blue fusiliers and yellow stripped snappers.
The last day - once again - Richelieu Rock. Some where jumping early, others skipped the first dive and enjoyed only two until one o clock.
But everybody was more than happy, great vis, almost no current and so much fish, sometimes you had trouble to see the rock.
Beside the diving we learned how the bubbles in a Leo beer are build, some of us couldn't believe how beautiful life can be once you are out on the sea, others were eating all the time, some where sick and had to sleep a lot and others recovered from being sick and had a great trip!
Thanks to everybody it was a awesome time! Hope to see you again, travel safe and have fun!
Surin, Koh Bon, Koh Tachai and Richelieu Rock
3 divers, 3 snorkellers, 1 student
1 Instrcutor, 1 divemaster, 1 divemaster trainee and 4 crew who did an extremely good job
Maybe you are wondering why there is no blog from the 3 day Surintrip last week....it is quite simple: the blog writer didn't join the trip, she was on vacation in Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai. But what the others told her is basically said in one word: current!!!!!
This time I was again on board and was more than looking forward to spend 3 days on the boat and do some diving together with Melanie, Andreas and Henning. Mischa was supposed to teach Kati the diving but ended up with teaching Tine. Congratulations to be an Open Water Diver.
Kati and Mischas parents enjoyed the trip with snorkelling, eating and sleeping.
But what about the diving? Current? Bad Vis? Anything to see? NO - NO AND YEEEEEEEEES!
We started out in Surin where we had relaxed diving around Koh Chi, Yellow Rock and Hin Kong. The second day, everybody in big expectations of the Mantas, we did 2 dives on Koh Bon, the first dive with a lot of fish but no Manta and the second dive again, with a lot of fish and a Manta. Luckily all the groups, even Tine as still not certified diver, saw the impressive animal and came up with a big smile.
Then we moved north to Koh Tachai where - at least Henning with his guide - had one of the best dives in his careers ever. Even the guide said so. The pinnacle was surrounded with fish, big tunas, barracudas, jacks...all hunting for the thousands of small fish, a turtle sleeping in a small cave, lobsters, amazing seafans and corals.....and then while they were on the plateau on 12 meters suddenly 10 huge black mackerels approached, escorting the feeding biiiiig Manta! Henning took his regulator out of his mouth and kept on smiling. Hanging on the rope during the safety stop, they were in hundreds of blue fusiliers and yellow stripped snappers.
The last day - once again - Richelieu Rock. Some where jumping early, others skipped the first dive and enjoyed only two until one o clock.
But everybody was more than happy, great vis, almost no current and so much fish, sometimes you had trouble to see the rock.
Beside the diving we learned how the bubbles in a Leo beer are build, some of us couldn't believe how beautiful life can be once you are out on the sea, others were eating all the time, some where sick and had to sleep a lot and others recovered from being sick and had a great trip!
Thanks to everybody it was a awesome time! Hope to see you again, travel safe and have fun!
Monday, February 7, 2011
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Burma 31.1.2011
5 days in Burma
31.1.-5.2.2011
People come with different expectations on a trip; some are into Macro, want to take a lot of pictures, others only want to see big stuff like Mantas and Sharks and then there are some who want to dive as relaxed as possible without current, not too deep and they want to enjoy coral reefs with lots of fish.
Burma is different...you get a lot of Macro, you can be lucky and have big stuff but you have to be aware, that the diving can be challenging and the conditions can be rougher than in other places you have been before. There are many pinnacles, sometimes the top is on 16 meters, there can be current or strong surge, that means sometimes you have to do something to see something. But if you are up for this challenge, you will have great diving, this is something we can promise.
We have done 19 dives (not everybody was doing all the dives besides
Point) in 5 days and I dare to say, that the divers who were aware of the difference in Burma, got what they were coming for. Ok, Point would have loved to see Whalesharks on every dive, but we all know this is not possible. So he had to live with Black Tips, an Eagle Ray, Nurse Sharks and lots of Blotched and Marbled Rays. The ones who came for the small stuff like Seahorses, Nudis, Ghostpipefish and Cowries had enough to look at. Especially the night dives @ Shark Cave and Western Rocky are every time a highlight. It's hard to stick to the announced 45 minutes and because it is so fascinating most of us forget how cold it is ;-)
The returning customers are showing us that we are doing a good job! We dive with passion, all the time and we are challenging ourselves every dive to find even more special things for you! Come along and you will see yourself.
31.1.-5.2.2011
People come with different expectations on a trip; some are into Macro, want to take a lot of pictures, others only want to see big stuff like Mantas and Sharks and then there are some who want to dive as relaxed as possible without current, not too deep and they want to enjoy coral reefs with lots of fish.
Burma is different...you get a lot of Macro, you can be lucky and have big stuff but you have to be aware, that the diving can be challenging and the conditions can be rougher than in other places you have been before. There are many pinnacles, sometimes the top is on 16 meters, there can be current or strong surge, that means sometimes you have to do something to see something. But if you are up for this challenge, you will have great diving, this is something we can promise.
We have done 19 dives (not everybody was doing all the dives besides
Point) in 5 days and I dare to say, that the divers who were aware of the difference in Burma, got what they were coming for. Ok, Point would have loved to see Whalesharks on every dive, but we all know this is not possible. So he had to live with Black Tips, an Eagle Ray, Nurse Sharks and lots of Blotched and Marbled Rays. The ones who came for the small stuff like Seahorses, Nudis, Ghostpipefish and Cowries had enough to look at. Especially the night dives @ Shark Cave and Western Rocky are every time a highlight. It's hard to stick to the announced 45 minutes and because it is so fascinating most of us forget how cold it is ;-)
The returning customers are showing us that we are doing a good job! We dive with passion, all the time and we are challenging ourselves every dive to find even more special things for you! Come along and you will see yourself.
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