Reading a Danish website the other day I saw an article about swimming and diving in China, which seems pretty cool, but what really caught my eyes was the author Thomas Szlavik in the picture telling that he’s holding on to a dead coral??!!

(source: http://ekstrabladet.dk/ferie/article1006513.ece)

What the f*** is he thinking? nice of him going to China to bring back a nice article, but that doesnt mean he should ruin the corals by holding on to them – even dead corals are ‘no touching’!
Buoyancy training Mr. Thomas Szlavik, buayancy training Mr. Thomas Szlavik…….

So soon – Cant wait to arrive and start diving. And enjoy the beach, sun and seafood, just love it!

One of the interesting things about Koh Chang is the fact that there is sometimes Whale Sharks around…. and I would really really like to be diving with a Whale Shark, this huge but harmless shark… not a ‘man-eater’, but a filter feeder…
The dive centre BB Divers reports that the Whale Shark has been spotted at the dive site called Hin Raab South (the locals call it Hin Laab) 5 km south of Koh Chang, which is a unterwater rock – I will definately have a dive or 2 at Hin Raab South!
And if you’re not sure what a Whale Shark looks like then check this YouTube clip of a Whale Shark in the waters around Koh Chang – its incredible.

Hin Rang Yai
And it seems like Hin Rang Yai should also be included – I found this text about it:
A great place for pelagic spotting is Hin Rang Yai, a set of pinnacles starting just below the surface and descending to 27m on the west side features mainly rocks with overhangs and boulders. For instance leopard and whale sharks along with black blotched stingrays provide fairly regular encounters. At 14m on the south side of this spot is a soft coral garden with resident triggerfish, sweetlips and potato grouper. There are numerous examples of both hard and soft corals in the area, and the marine life is both plentiful and diverse. Blue-spotted stingrays as well as hungry reef sharks and turtles are all also seen along the reefs.

Its now for sure – my vacation in March will not be Sharm el Sheikh or Playa del Carmen, but the beautiful island Koh Chang in Thailand close to the Cambodian border. Koh Chang is not that known for its diving, but its certainly not a bad choice either – I was taking a couple of dives there April last year. In fact I was participation in the 3rd Under Water Cleanup which was great to join!
This time I’m not planning to join any Under Water Cleanup (but I wasnt planning for that last year either..), but more to get some fun dives around Koh Chang and see what it has to offer….  and I’m pretty sure I’m gonna do the diving with Don from White Sand Dive Centre – he’s a great guy with a cool crew!

And checking out the Elefants and maybe the dolhins outside Trat on the mainland.

Anybody got some good suggestions for diving around Koh Chang?

Just got a new idea for my March 2o08 vacation – why not go back to Mexico where I was shortly together with Benjamin back in the summer 2000 on our trip to Belize and a bit Tical in Guatemala…
Anyway I now considering Playa del Carmen and Cozumel instead of Sharm el Sheikh.
Around Playa del Carmen diving Cenote’s should be really big (diving underground lakes) and the island Cozumel should have access to some of the best reef diving it the world.
And then I could of course combine it with a trip to the beautiful Maya city Chichén Itzá with the big Mayan pyramids.

I have already been to Sharm el Sheikh 5 times, but I just cant stop coming back to such a great place for diving… The weather is always nice, I once heard the rumour that it rains not more than 5 days a year and I do really believe thats true… I’ve once experienced rain for around 5 minutes.. not more… it also mean that diving always is great around Sharm el Sheikh… nice sea, LOTS of fishes and sealife, one of best coral reefs in the world and great visibility…
And did I forget to tell that the Red Sea also has one of the best wreck dives? The SS Thistlegorm, a British merchant ship used by the British Navy in World War II, was hit by 2 bombs from 2 German bombers around mid June 1941 and these 2 bombs hit so perfect that SS Thistlegorm went down immediately… nice for us divers, because the SS Thistlegorm is a very well preserved wreck just waiting for divers at around 23-33 meters. I was diving it once and I do plan to dive it again in March…

I’m planning to stay at a hotel (Hilton Sharks Bay) with its own house reef in Sharks Bay, a place I once was diving with a dolphin – such an amazing experience… so I will certainly be snorkling around the reef every day and then some diving… will go at least once to the underwater nationalpark Ras Muhammed and once out to the dive sites at the Straits of Tiran close to Saudi Arabia.
Really looking forward to March!

Merry Christmas diving…

One of the corals I like the most is the Table Coral – especially when you hover above it or when you can see it from below as on my picture…

And another Table Coral outside Koh Tao

When you see all the fishes around the corals you really understand how important the coral are for the sea life.
I just hope more people would take care of the these beautiful and usefull corals and not walk on them as some people do just outside the beaches at Sharm el Sheik (Egypt). In Thailand I didnt experience any kind of problems like that, but the behavior of non-divers at Sharm el Sheik is unfortunately very bad and not taken care of by the autorities… a sign is not enough…

O yes, we found Nemo…
Koh Tao also has its own couple of Clownfishes at the house reef Twins – or in fact just beside the house reef Twins. On every dive at the Twins the Divemasters has the habit of straying a little away from the pinnacles to a circle of stones around some anemones where the local pair of Clownfishes (also called Anemonefishes) are living. The circle of stones has been place there to protect the anemones and give the Clownfishes just a bit of privacy, so every diver is being told not to come closer to the anemones than the circle, but that doesn’t keep the Clownfished coming closer to us…  its really amazing as the clownfishes are coming around to greet us…  

Isnt this Clownfish cute?

As its very clear from my blogging about Koh Tao and diving in general in Thailand I do really love being there among the very nice Thais and the great sea life. But sometimes things can get rather out of hand also in Thailand, which my friend Thomas and I did experience back in April 2007 – the manager at Wild Orchid Villa in Bangkok really showed us how things can get out of hand and Thomas and I was pretty much only saved by a Police officer… for details check out my posting about the bad experience at Wild Orchid Villa on my blog klintoe.org.