The second day was an impromptu day
of diving based on David wanting to try SCUBA diving in the ocean. He tried
diving in the pool a few weeks ago on a mini-vacation in Pattaya and he loved
it. So he was incredibly excited about getting in the water. (And for all you
skeptics out there, Devin will verify that this was not me pushing David to get
in the water. He was genuinely excited about it. Really.) So we headed on a
speed boat to Koh Racha Yai where we transferred to a nice big boat for a fun
day. They put us in a longtail and took us to shore where David got geared up
with Marcia. David had previously only wanted to snorkel from shore, so he
wanted to try diving from shore. It worked. We got him started and Marcia took
him out for his dive. I tagged along and took pictures and vide and had a blast.
Devin came long to snorkel and observe it all. It ended up being a great family
day and one of the highlights of the entire trip for all of us. David got tired
after about 20 minutes so we headed back to shore where the longtail was waiting
for us. Back to the big boat to take care of gear, then back in the longtail for
the ride to shore and the walk to lunch. Then back to the boat for our second
dive. Marcia and I did a fun dive along Koh Racha Yai...maybe something like Bay
1...Bay 2...heck, I don't remember. But it was a fun dive...nothing special.
Then the third dive would be David's second dive of the day. He had gone
snorkeling with Devin during our second dive and jumped off the boat (a first
for him!) so he was willing to try it again. Once he was settled, he and Marcia
descended but he had trouble clearing his ears and wanted to abort the dive. He
felt bad for thumbing the dive, but I told him about the rule that my dive buddy
Tim and I developed: Anybody can call any dive on any day at any time for any
reason. So he went back to the boat and Marcia and I dove Homerun Reef. Another
decent dive...nothing spectacular, but fun to be in the water. Back to the
speedboat, back to Phuket...and the long ride to our hotel. It was Songkran
today in Phuket so the crowds were crazy. But we made it.
For my last two days of diving, we
drove up to Khao Lak to dive with Big Blue. They are one of the few shops (if
not the only shop) that offer speed boat trip to the Similans. Thursday we
headed to Richelieu Rock in search of a whale shark or two. A few other boats
spotted a whale shark, but we didn't... But the dives were good anyway, even if
they were a bit current-swept. The site is interesting because it has an
interesting combination of small critters and big pelagics. I wasn't
particularly sharp with my picture taking, but I've included some anyway to give
you a taste of the life on the reef.
The second day was another speedboat
trip, this time to Tachai Pinnacle and Koh Bon. Tachai Pinnacle is an
interesting site with unique topography. It's a big dome, with some smaller
boulders/pinnacles around it. The highlight of this dive was a leopard shark
(zebra shark according to some). It was just sitting on the bottom letting us
get close for the shots. But my NDL time was running low so I took a few shots
and headed up to shallower water. On the way to the mooring line, a few batfish
made the end of the dive just as cool. After a delicious lunch on the boat, we
set sail for Koh Bon. A nice diversion along the way was a pod of dolphins that
decided to play around us. We jumped in the water like little kids, trying to
see them underwater. But they just kept their distance, only to return after we
were all back in the boat. Once at Koh Bon, the plan was to wait for the Manta
Rays to come in, and hit the reef if we weren't successful. Luckily, we got to
do both. After about five minutes a beautiful Manta made a pass through our dive
group. It was amazing, majestic, awe-inspiring, regal (to borrow a word from my
sister Evie) and simply awesome. I'm out of superlatives. But it made the entire
trip worth it. My first manta...hopefully not my last. We hung out for quite a
while waiting for another pass, unsuccessfully. So we tooled around the reef for
a while. I stayed up high just kind of taking it all in, and of course peeking
over my shoulder out into the blue to see if a manta would revisit. All in all,
it was a magical day and a great way to cap my dives in Phuket.
Below are some pictures from the diving. A few of them turned out alright. Click on the image to
see a larger version.
(Note: All of the images are straight
from my camera...a Casio Exilm...with no cropping or photoshopping.)
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Day 1 - Koh Phi
Phi Ley, Turtle Rock |
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Mantis shrimp carrying a brood of eggs. |
Some fan corals. |
Bubble shrimp. |
A turtle with a passenger on its shell. |
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Sea snake |
A Lamellarian (often misidentified as a nudibranch), Coriocella hibyae. |
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Day 1 - Koh Bida Nai |
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Feather star |
Longfin Grouper, Epinephelus quoyanus |
Blackspotted Puffer, Arothron nigropunctatus |
Phyllidia varicosa |
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And with a purple and gold fan coral, I couldn't resist taking a picture. |
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Day 1 - Shark Point |
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At the end of our dive, we came across a pair of cuttlefish. The larger one
(female, I think) was feeding by searching the reef. The sequence here shows
the feeding behavior. |
Very cool to observe. |
And the cuttlefish hovering. You can see a small part of the other
cuttlefish in the background. |
Ornate Ghost Pipefish, Solenostomus paradoxus |
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Moray peeking out of the reef. |
Nemo! |
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Day 1 - Koh Dok Mai |
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When I saw this featherstar, it reminded me of a dreamcatcher. |
Three eels. The front (top) one is a Barred-Fin Moray, Gymnothorax
zonipectis. The back two are White-eyed Morays, Siderea thysoidea. |
Variable Thorny Oyster, Spondylus varians |
Urchin, Echinothrix calamaris |
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Standing next to the statue in the front of the Sea Bees Dive Shop. |
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Day 2 - David's Bubblemaker at Koh Racha Yai |
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Link to the video from
David's day. (Note: It's quite large...so be patient for the
download.)
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David with Marcia. No, he's not thumbing the dive...I just haven't taught
him yet what that means...hehehe. |
David writing on Marcia's slate. "Can we go back to the boat now?" He was
tired after all that swimming around. |
Giant Clam
There were a lot of these on David's dive. |
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Day 2 - Koh Racha Yai (Two dives) |
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A pair of flounder eyes hidden in the sand. |
Feeding polyps of a soft coral of some sort. |
Spotted garden eels in the sand. (I know, it's not a great picture.) |
Ocellate Phyllidia, Phyllidia ocellata |
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Ocellate Phyllidia, Phyllidia ocellata |
Sea snake |
School of juvenile barracuda |
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Day 3 - Richelieu Rock (Two dives) |
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Actinopyga lecanora |
Mespilia globusus |
Common Lionfish, Pterois volitans |
The big mass of divers...just looking in one
direction. |
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The feeding polyps of an unknown soft coral. |
Zebra Moray, Gymnomuraena zebra |
Wentletrap Snail, Epitonium billeeanum |
Tigertail Seahorse, Hippocampus comes |
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Common Reef Octopus, Octopus cyanea |
Two Harlequin Shrimp, Hymenocera pica ,
preying on a sea star arm. |
Unknown urchin. I laughed when I saw it, as it made
me think of spiked hair on a punk rocker. |
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Day 4 - Tachai Pinnacle |
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Two horseshoe crabs on the BBQ by the
pier. |
Choriaster granulatus |
Blue-Spotted Stringray, Dasyatis kuhlii |
Zebra Shark, Stegostoma fasciatum |
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Longfin Spadefish, Platax teira |
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Day 4 - Koh Bon |
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The highlight of the dive trip! Manta
Ray! Woohoo!
See some
video here. (Be patient.
It's a big download.)
Note: The picture is an image-capture
from the video. |
Blue-Ringed Angelfish, Pomacanthus
annularis |
Indian Triggerfish, Melichthys indicus |
Unknown fish hanging out on some coral. |
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Tsunami Memorial |
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On the way back to Phuket after our
last day of diving, we stopped at this Tsunami Memorial just outside the
city of Khao Lak. This police patrol boat was swept inland about 2 km during
the tsunami and has been left as a memorial. Over 4000 people died in the
province of Phang Nga where this is located. The pictures of the devastation
were overwhelmingly sad. |
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