Archive for the 'Diving' Category

A small sea snake outside Koh Samet?

Published by
NK
at August 28, 2008 in Diving and Thailand. 0 Comments
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I have already been writing about my dive outside Koh Samet (Thailand) back in April 2006 - a dive where we spottet at huge bluespottet stingray - the size of the stingray was a bit more than 1, 5 meter for the body….
On my second dive outside Koh Samet the divemaster Theep suddenly reacted and turned around to me holding something looking like a small sea snake…..  I did of course take some pictures of this little snake or?
But no, a bit of Googling and the mystery isnt that much of a mystery anymore - the small fellow is a Pipefish (Syngnathinae) who is part of a subfamily of small fishes, which in fact is in family with the seahorses.
The Pipefish does in fact look a bit like a straight-bodied seahorse with its tiny mouths, right?

I joined the 3rd Underwater Cleanup at Koh Chang in March 2007

Published by
NK
at August 27, 2008 in Diving and Thailand. 0 Comments
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One of the great things about being a diver is that you always meet some fellow divers who are open and friendly - and suddenly you are full of new ideas for the next dive.
Back in March 2007 in Thailand I barely got of the ferry from the mainland to Koh Chang before I was talking with an English diving instructor called Matt. Matt told me that the next 2 days on Koh Chang was dedicated to the 3rd Underwater Cleanup - a project sponsored by the Thai Government and arranged by Project A.W.A.R.E - in brief a Underwater Cleanup is a 2 days cleaning the beaches and underwater event by the local Dive centres, their staff and some invited guests and thats where I come in - Matt suggested that I should join in, which I found a great idea! Matt told me first to contact Don the owner of the local dive centre White Sand Dive Centre, where I was planning to stay around…  Matt was going further down south Koh Chang, but I was of course also welcome to do the Underwater Cleanup with the dive centre Dive Point that he was working for…
Anyway I rushed to the White Sand Dive Centre where I meet Don for the first time - what a great guy! Don did managed to include me in the Underwater Cleanup on his boat and furthermore Don was really helpfull in finding a place to stay for the next couple of days! If you’re staying and diving at Wind Sand Beach on Koh Chang there’s only one Dive operation to dive with, if you ask me…
Participating in an Underwater Cleanup was certainly something different - no time to look at fishes and corals, but a lot of hard work cleaning after the fishermen who unfortunately dump such a lot of shit…
The Underwater Cleanup started early in the morning and ended with me getting tired home around 20.30.

After a cermony we went to the first dive site, which wasnt really a dive site, but rather a place where Thai fishermen dump all their shit…  nets, hoses, bottles, tires ect..  there we a such LOT of junk, and we quickly got our bags filled up…  I went up and down 5 times on that dive…

The next one was regular dive site and we did find some trash there, but fortunately its was in small amounts.

We found on the sites everything from whole tired to a toilet and on the first day the 16-18 particioating dive centres, their staff and guests did in fact gather (and remove) 5 ton of trash from the sea - I’m sure they got just as much home the next day, too…

The 3rd Underwater Cleanup at Koh Chang was started by a small cermony

And then time for a team photo before we went out - t’s Don with the shades in the middle, first dive since his surgery!
Can you find me?

And the it was time for the briefing before the first dive

My dive buddy on one of the dives - check out his bag…  we went up and down with sooo much shit from down there

And of course a picture of me in the nice blue water

So next time your in an area with a Underwater Cleanup I can only recommend you to join it and I wil for sure join any Underwater Cleanup I will be close to…  just say when!

Thomas Szlavik holding on to a coral??!!!

Published by
NK
at May 15, 2008 in Diving. 1 Comment

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??!!
Thomas Szlavik holding on to a 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…….

Whale Sharks around Koh Chang

Published by
NK
at February 18, 2008 in Diving, Thailand and Wishlist. 0 Comments
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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.

Koh Chang again!

Published by
NK
at February 17, 2008 in Diving and Thailand. 0 Comments
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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?

March 2008 could be time for Mexico again!

Published by
NK
at January 13, 2008 in Diving. 1 Comment
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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.

Table Coral outside Koh Tao

Published by
NK
at December 17, 2007 in Diving, Pictures and Thailand. 0 Comments
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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…

Table Coral

And another Table Coral outside Koh Tao

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…

Fiding Nemo outside Koh Tao

Published by
NK
at November 19, 2007 in Diving, Pictures and Thailand. 0 Comments
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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…   ;-)

Clownfish Nemo outside Koh Tao

Isnt this Clownfish cute?
Clownfish Nemo outside Koh Tao again

Not all Titan Triggerfishes are aggressive

Published by
NK
at November 14, 2007 in Diving, Pictures and Thailand. 0 Comments
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On our last dive at Koh Tao was at the divesite Twins where Benjamin discovered that not all Titan Triggerfishes are aggressive…. Benjamin had the camera and suddenly both Benjamin our Divemaster and I spottet a Titan Triggerfish deeply engaged in eating from a coral – the only difference between our observation was that Benjamin didn’t recognise the ‘fish’ as a Titan Triggerfish, so the next thing we saw was Benjamin hanging 2-3 meters vertical on top of the Triggerfish! Usually not the most clever move in the book…  ;-)  But luckily this Triggerfish was not aggressive at all.. or just to busy eating, so Benjamin did in fact manage to get some shots pretty close from above.
Btw Benjamin does recognise Titan Triggerfishes now… ;-)

From above - by Benjamin
Titan Triggerfish from above

Titan Triggerfish leaving….
Titan Triggerfish leaving us

A huge bluespotted stingray

Published by
NK
at November 13, 2007 in Diving, Pictures and Thailand. 0 Comments
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I have already been blogging on my personal blog klintoe.org about this huge bluespotted stingray I saw in April outside Koh Samet, Thailand, but I do think that it deserves to be on diveblogging.com, too.

Back in April 2007 I was some days at Koh Samet and why not test the dive situation there?
So I went out diving one day and it was pretty good. The visibility was from pretty good to bad (3 meters) because of the tide and it gave a lot of particles in the water, but the rather shallow dive sites were really nice. Koh Samet is certainly also a place to take a couple of dives when your there, but I wouldnt make it my only dive spot on a Thailand trip…
I went diving with Ploy Scuba Diving and Dive Master Theep…. and his guys were great! Thanx!
Theep was very honest and did in fact warn me about the visibility in April and I had the dives alone with him - great service. We went out in their speedboat at 13 and were back around 16, a nice way to do it!

On one of the 2 dive the great thing happened - we suddenly we found ourselves on top of a resting bluespotted stingray - a huge bluespotted stingray!! its pretty difficult to see from the picture, but this big guy had a body a little more than 1,5 meter in diameter and then comes the tail… Theep went close to it an touched it just a bit… to make it move a little…

A huge bluespotted stingray

So try out Koh Samet - it’s certainly nice and might bring in a huge bluespotted stingray