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Thailand
Diving Thailand with the Emerald Sea Dive Club (Seattle).
 - (319)
2005-10-09 - rec# 4
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Last October I got to return to Thailand. I had been there in 1999 right after my dad died and I had told everyone I met that if I ever ran away from home that Thailand would be the place to look for me.
Loogpla organized an ESDC dive trip to Thailand and I jumped at the chance. On 14 October Mark and Laura, Jack and Jill, Robert and Nicole, Linda Perry, John Laggart, Phil Morgan-Ellis, Loogpla Cowden, Mary Lou Hernandez, Norman and Clarice and Erin arrived at SeaTac airport to begin our adventure. We flew into Bangkok and then bussed into Pattaya.
Our first two days incountry were dedicated to adjusting to the loss of 10 hours and getting to know our way around our part of town...Jomtiem Beach. On day three it's off to the boat! Pickup at 8:30am. We ride down in a "taxi" (read pickup truck), everybody uses them... Our first three dives are simple. You could say elementary. I'm sure Max (our dive master) is just checking us out...I HOPE Max is just checking us out. Max depth about 30 feet, we all move about in one large "flock". With all my experience diving in a dry suit it's very strange feeling all these small fish swimming around my legs. I keep checking to see what's gotten into it. Lunch is served on the boat. We discover that if we throw rice overboard that it really brings in the fish. Then a large turtle swims by and goes under the boat. We're clearly not in Washington waters.
Our next day of diving is a bit different. We started out with a magnificent coral dive. and then dove the wreck "HTMS Kram" a landing craft that was sunk two years ago to act as a reef. Our first drop was easy on the vis was great. After an hour out of the water we went back down on the Kram. Then we discovered what the currents could be like. Everything had changed. It was like diving in a hurricane. We could only keep track of the wreck by holding onto it. Nobody wandered far from the rope, all returned, Max was clear he wasn't diving with a bunch of wimps. WE ARE WASHINGTON DIVERS!
Day three...More coral dives. These coral formation are really something. You would see forms that looked like mushrooms, brains, leaves, rock crystals, sticks. Hard coral, soft coral, coral out eating. Always fish...hiding under and in the coral, eating from it, cleaning it and the Nemo fish.... Just like the move. Playing like cats in the anemones. We ended the day with a night dive. During a thunder storm!! The weather was a bit threatening when we went in, but soon you could see the flashes of the lightning and hear the thump of the thunder under water. Quite a trip!
All our dives were either coral or wrecks. We also dove on the SS Petchburi Bremen, a cargo ship that sunk after an engine room fire in 1942 and the "SS Hardeep", which had been taken by the Japanese during WWII and was bombed in 1945 on it's way back to Thailand.
Next two days were time off... We took a trip with Max to see the Nong Nooch Tropical Garden and Wi Han Sien (Chinese Antiquities). There's so much to see above water in Thailand!! So much history and art. There was also a trip to Bangkok to sight see.
After our break it's back to the boat. We started the second week with an overnighter. We got a late start and ended the day with a night dive. Again things were getting a bit stormy. We planned to spend the night on the boat, but didn't plan the storm. The wind blew all night and the rain never stopped. Everybody got wet. It was just like camping out as a boy scout. I suspect I was the only one who enjoyed it, but c'est la vie... We had an early morning dive and then decided to head back to port doing only one more dip.
By now we were pros! We were working just like we were a part of the crew. Our dives were mostly repeats of past dives, all well worth repeating!
Our trip to Thailand ended with two days to offgas and explore the town. By now we knew our way around and could navigate and explore the night life. And there's so much to explore!!! But we'll keep those stories among ourselves!
Now that I'm back I want to run away to Thailand more than ever. Who knows, perhaps I will... |
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