First Installment of the Christmas Liveaboard!
Day one of the voyage, we got picked up from the hotel and then drove around getting some of the other guests. We were all pretty excited about the up coming trip. When we got to the pier, we could see our new home moored in the harbor. Wow a pretty nice boat! It wasn’t long before we got on board and under way were we having a briefing for the first dive. Now we were still a little tired from getting up early so not really looking forward to a dive. Aside from the thai staff, the western staff is all German. Interesting bunch to say the least! We got our kit setup and off we went into the water. The visibility wasn’t all that great but since it has been a month since we dove last it was nice not to have too much to look at while we get reacquainted with diving and diving with different gear. Oh how I miss my own stuff!! Not that it wasn’t really bad, it was quite new, just got used to my gear! We ended up doing our dives around the island where they filmed the movie The Beach with Leonardo DiCaprio. I am still a little bit of a snob, especially after Borneo and Sulawesi 🙁 Sunset was fantastic, nothing like being on the open water watching the sunset and then slowly seeing the stars come out. There is a place to sit right up front to enjoy the sunset or all the way on the top there is a lovely area to lay around and relax. Very peaceful up there!! During the first day of meals we got a chance to get to know the others on the boat. Pretty international group, a couple from the UK how have been working a bit, traveling, working a bit so living quite the life for sure. There is a German engineer who lives in Japan and has brought a long his Japanese girlfriend. Very happy go lucky. A girl from Crotia who just finished her instructor training at Buddha View in Koh Tao where we did our Dive Master course. Didn’t know her when we were there, but she is cool. Then there is an Australian guy who is a journalist working in Bahrain, small world. So we have enjoyed chatting with him about life in the Middle East! And the last guy is Swedish don’t know much about him other than that he is Swedish and his name is Kenny! Nobody listens more intently then this guy 🙂 Well after a great meal and chit chatting with the Brits (so awesome, plus he is a big windsurfer so loads to talk about) We called it a night to try to get some rest. Well unfortunately we did pay homage to the Andaman Sea Gods or something, because the ride to the Similans was awful!! I don’t mean slight rocking, but swells knocking things around, dishes flying and me spending several hours trying not to fall out of bed! Don’t know the cause of the waves as the sky was clear, tons of stars… I can only imagine the boat captain having an evil look on his face as he steered the boat into every big wave and shouting how much he hates Farangs (what thais call white people)!! I imagine Lt Dan from Forest Gump screaming at God during the storm! Now the rooms are quite small and it is bunk beds. So I had to be on the top and man it sucked!! I was totally rethinking why in the world anyone would want to do this!! We finally got the Similans at 4am so got about 2 hours of sleep at least before they woke us for our first dive! Got up and had some tea where we found out that everyone had a terrible night. Thankfully we learned that it would be the only night which we travel at night. The rest of the time we will be hiding in calm bays, sweet!! Well so far today the diving has been fantastic! Visibility is great probably 25 – 30 meters. Nothing new to be seen underwater just a lot of the fish we are used to but still lovely to see. After the morning dive, we headed to a cove where we got to swim with a turtle. Such a cool thing to see up close especially since it stayed with us for awhile. So Maryanne was in heaven. We asked if we would get to see dolphins and they told us very unlikely 🙁 But Maryanne was happy with turtle! On the second dive there was quite a strong current, but the current did bring a shark and some Napoleon Wrasse. So it was not all bad. Back on the boat to for lunch and the cruise to our next island, what did we get to see right after lunch?? Yep a pod of Dolphins that started swimming along side the boat, they were jumping and having a good time in the wake. By the time I got the camera the boat stop so people could jump in and try to swim with them. I did get a few shots of them at the front of the boat. Maryanne and another girl were just able to jump in to be able to watch them swim away 🙁 Feel very blessed to have seen them at all, and of course Maryanne had a big smile from ear to ear!!
Tags: Thailand
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Jared: Thanks for the update and the great photos…… Glad this is going well and that you have met some neat people. Other than the “rocky” boat, I am sure things will go well.. We look forward to the next installment. Be safe,,,,, love Mom