latest student from manta queen 1

daytrip to boonsung wreck

a very easy diving day is a trip to the wreck. Last week i went together with four other divers with a longtailboat to boonsung wreck. As this is very close to shore, there is no need to get up too early, we were leaving the dive center around 9.30am. After driving 10 minutes, hour longtailboat was awaiting us at pakarang beach. Equipment, tanks, food and drinks were loaded, and here we go :-) after only half with nearly no waves, we reached the dive site. Two other longtails were around, but it was not really busy, nice.

Around 11.15 we jumped for the first dive. My very first dive at the wreck. And it was great! The dive site is only 18 meters deep, and the different parts of the wreck are overgrown and so many schools of fish are around! There are heaps of lionfish and many many scorpionfish and uncountable moray eels, and... and... and...

After the first dive we had our lunch and chilled for one and a half hours on the boat, before we jumped for the second dive. Even after the second dive, it felt like we could have spent much more time at this dive site without getting bored.

Around 4pm we were back at the dive center, exchanging signatures and stamps in the logbooks. Mission wreck dive successfully accomplished!

Summary of the season so far

Let’s have a look back how the first two month of the season were working out so far…

In general many companies in Khao Lak are complaining about not enough tourists, and that it's worse than last year… and so on. I don’t think this is true. We had a very good and busy november and the complains are every year in december the same, everybody remembers that last year at this time it was much more busy. For some reason not many are remembering the complaining last december about not enough tourists and that everything was better the year before. This might be because humans rather remember the good stuff and forget about the bad. But the ‘pre-christmas-down’ is an established enemy.

For us at KSA it still looks very good, we have a lot of internet pre-bookings, many walk in’s, boats are filled but not uncomfortably crowded, the christmas and new year trips are fully booked since weeks.

The forecasts for January are ranging from ‘desaster’ to ‘it will be soooo incredible busy!’. Let’s face it; we gotta wait for january for knowing for sure.

Let’s have a look at the diving so far;

against all expectations, there is a lot of big fish around already. The Manta Rays around island number nine are a common picture already and it’s worth to have an eye on the blue at Richelieu Rock for the Whaleshark. The Liveaboards are bringing back happy divers, as well as Sea Horse and white dolphin from the Daytrips. Conditions and visibility are great, the speedboat rides are not too bumpy and it rarely rains.

Summary; Diving at the Similan Islands this season is awesome and it seems like we are avoiding the ‘pre-christmas-down’. No reason to complain for us… so far so good :-)

dolphin express getting ready for the Similan Islands and Richelieu Rock

MQ1_12, MQ1_13 and MQ2_10

coming up soon: the new speedboat for Daytrips to Richelieu Rock and Koh Bon

well... maybe not tomorrow :-)

latest students

Guest feedback from Alec L.

Hi everyone,

I'm just back from my Similan Islands boat trip and on solid land in Khao Lak.

A friend,Jeurgen(sorry for the spelling,if you read this) is working for a Dive Shop in Khao Lak.....Khao Lak Scuba Adventures...and put me on the list for the next trip,so arrived on the 18th,then headed off to the Islands on the 19th with Jeurgen as my dive guide.

Reading in the reports about the Similans,they always say that they are beautiful.Unfortunately,this usually means pretty scenery,shame about the diving!!!

I was totally mistaken-----the Islands themselves are breathtakingly beautiful,the Dive sites are nearly all, absolutely stunning.The visibility underwater was usually 40 to 50 metres (almost like a swimming pool) and the scenery was often more like a mountain range than anything else,often covered in fabulous soft and hard corals.

The animal life ranged from good to incredible.Others on board saw Mantas,but I wasn't lucky this time.That said,I have not been disappointed at all---so many close encounters with fabulous beasties.Morays,Octopus,Barracuda all within touching distance(in fact,on occasion,they have actually bumped into me,or my camera lens,at least!!) On top of this,there was the more unusual stuff,harlequin shrimps,pineapple fish (no photo though,dammit!),a strange little pipe horse fish,stone fish and more scorpion and lion fish than I could count---we even had a white tipped reef shark come visit during a night dive!!

To any diver thinking of doing the trip---don't hesitate---it will not disappoint.

Unfortunately,I'm having problems uploading photos and video at present.I've managed a small selection of photos,but some of the videos are real "wow" jobs(not boasting---the creatures are definitely the stars!!). Worse comes to worst,I'll upload them when I get home-----only a week and a bit (Boohoo!)--I've really enjoyed the whole of this 3 months trip,but I guess all good things must come to an end,Eh?

Have no idea what to do with the extra time.I may well stay here,fabulous beach and my accomodation is cheap(but good)--and there's even a bar that sells Kilkenny Beer!!(at an exorbitant rate,but so nice to taste REAL beer again!).Money is running worryingly low,so options are a little limited.Still,only an hour or so to Phuket Airport (for flight to KL on the 2nd) and the resort is....well...a resort---the usual tatty souvenir shops,and bars...but fortunately,still a few local food places----60p for a bowl of delicious spicey noodle soup.YumYum!!!---have a bowl for breakfast,and you're not hungry until the evening.

Well,I've rambled on enough,

See you later,

Alec.

some pics from Manta Queen II thanks MQ2 Crew!!!