Phayam Divers Liveaboard - day 1 - 4 dives at Koh Tachai and Koh Bon

We dropped the anchor at around 4 AM and the engine stopped making it a lot easier to sleep. At 6 AM we got up and were ready to jump in the water at 7 AM - Mikkels first real dive. We spent the next 45 minutes diving off the coast of the island looking for fish - and hoping to see manta rays.

Mikkel and his instructor saw one just before they got out the water. This big fish weighing more than 1000 kilos look so elegant when they float in the water. Off to a good start. Malenes dive was also great with lots to look at. And once again a manta ray was spotted. Koh Tachai is not as busy with divers as some of the other places. Fantastic dives to start the live aboard with. No need to say that everybody had big smiles on their faces.

Then it was time to go into the liveaboard-mode which basically means dive, food and relax. And of course tell stories about just how big that fish was. It was a mixed group of mostly men on the boat, some having done a few dives and one doing his dive number 300 during our trip.

We had breakfast, and then we got ready for the 10:30 AM dive on the pinnacle at Koh Tachai. Another slightly deeper and really good dive with lots of fish and reef to look at. We got deep - 20 metres and spent almost 45 minutes in the water again. Once again Malene was lucky to see mata rays. Not as close as at Koh Bon on the last live aboard but still fantastic.

Back on the boat, lunch and time to relax while we did the short transit to Koh Bon, the place we snorkelled and dived last week when we were in Khao Lak. We had two dives in the afternoon. One at 2 PM and the other at 5:30 looking for manta's but they were a bit reluctant to show up this afternoon. But lots of other good things to look at and also some time for Mikkel and his instructor to do more exercises underwater for the PADI course.

We went to bed early, the boat not moving tonight since we are going to dive at Koh Bon in the morning - 7 AM first dive.

6 AM sunrise at Koh Tachai

Malene ready to dive

One happy diver returning to the boat

Lazy morning on the boat

Diving and snorkelling of the island of Koh Bon - liveaboard day #2

We woke up to a beautiful morning. No waves and the sun rising out of the ocean. Malene was ready for her 7 AM dive - the same schedule as yesterday doing three dives in one day. The mornings means busy time for the fish so there was an immense amount of fish swimming and drifting along the rock. Rush hour under water.

Once back on the boat it was time for a nice breakfast, wait for the speed boat to arrive from the main land and then back to the same routine as yesterday. Once the speed boat was there it also meant that Mikkel could go snorkelling today with a buddy since one of the girls on the boat had decided to not dive today.

So we were dropped off the speed boat once Malene was ready for her second morning dive and then we swam around for about one hour looking a fish and the one turtle patrolling the shore.

Once back on the boat Malene was very happy. They had managed to meet up with the big oceanic manta rays on their dive and the big ones measuring 6 metres across were very impressive and they managed to get close to them. They saw the mantas both from the side and above, impressive sights. It sounded promising for the last dive of the day.

After lunch Malene did her last dive, Mikkel his last snorkelling, also being a bit lucky since the guys on the speed boat suddenly shouted that there was a manta ray in the bay where he snorkelled. So he also got to see one of those amazingly big fish. Not close up as Malene who came back to the dive ship and told about having been with several mantas. The mantas came really near only a few metres from Malene and the kept circling around. Even though they're huge they swim quietly and gracefully around in the water. It has to be one of the biggest experiences ever. Diving here is amazing.

In the afternoon we packed all of our stuff and headed back to the main land with the speed boat. A bit tired but snorkelled and dived "out" having spent more than 4 hours in the water in the past two days.

We made it back to Khao Lak before sunset, checked in for our one night stay on a small but very modern hotel, had a nice hot shower and headed out for some dinner, shopped some snacks for our bus ride tomorrow. The hotel had good wifi so we also managed to call home and say hello to parents and friends. Going to a small island for the next week or so probably means less reliable internet.

Morning at Koh Bon - Malene is down there somewhere

Another dive boat arriving at Koh Bon

Perfect snorkelling spot

Hello fish

See you later, maybe

Khao lak sunset from the hotel

Diving and snorkelling of the island of Koh Bon - liveaboard day #1

We were ready for pick up at 7 AM. The van arrived and we had a couple of other stops on the way to pick up more divers before heading to a pier outside Khao lak. There we boarded one of the big speed boats and spent the next 1½ hours going towards our liveaboard boat that was moored off the coast of one of the islands.

Once there we had a small information meeting about the dive plans and the general rules on the ship and what to do with the lonely snorkeller - Mikkel. Mikkel went off in his own speed boat and spent the next hour off the coast looking at the reef and the fish. Great snorkelling,

Then there was a dive briefing for Malene and this time our for a so called fun dive - just diving, no topic, no studying, no answering question. A good dive and several stingray were spotted.

Once back on the boat there was a nice lunch and some time off on the upper sun deck. In the afternoon a repetition of the morning - dive briefing, Mikkel sent off with "his own" speed boat and Malene going out to do some drift diving with the rest of the dive group and time to see shrimps and big trigger fish.

Back on the boat there was the big "change of guards" when all the day trippers and those ending their liveabord left the ship with the speed boat and the place felt a little empty. One last dive for Malene in the sunset but this time no speed boat for Mikkel since it had left for the main land, so he stayed on the ship, enjoyed the sunset and had Malene's detailed report on her dive once she got back on the ship. This dive included lobster spotting and lots of stingrays. Then it was time for dinner and hanging out with some of the other guys on the boat.

Getting to our cabin was a bit of a surprise. Initially we were happy to have a big cabin but it turned out to be right next to the kitchen so we happened to share it with a big family of cockroaches. We tried sleeping with the lights on but the roaches were still active and in the end Malene left the room and decided to sleep outside.

Breakfast

Early and quiet morning at the hostel-mall

Healthy breakfast - pomelo

Ready for first dive

And down they went

Wonderful sunset

Taking notes for log book

PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course at Koh Haa Lagoon and Koh Haa Yai (Blue Planet Divers)

Malene left early this morning to go for more diving. This time to get the PADI Open Water Advanced certificate. Spending all day off the the island of Koh Haa today also included seeing a sea horse and trumpet fish. The visibility was much better today so yesterday must have been bad luck. Two really fantastic dives.

The dives consisted of "Peak Performance Buoyancy" and "Underwater Navigation". Normally you would read about the subjects and answering some questions before going out on the boat, but Malene didn't have the book because the dive shop is placed in another part of the island, so before the first dive and between the dives all the time was spent on reading, answering questions and discussing it with the instructor. Both dives and exercises were completed successfully. Buoyancy is one of the most important things to train when diving and navigation skills are always good to know so definitely to useful dives.

Katrine and Jeppe and Karl left for Koh Yao Yai early in the morning - we'll be at Koh Lanta for another couple of days. While Malene did her diving Mikkel spent most of the day taking it easy, staying in the shade a reading a good book.

With Malene back in the afternoon we had a swim in the ocean, drinks for sunset and nice dinner.

Great diving off the small islands

Broken boat on the line

Diving at Koh Bida Nok and Koh Bida Noi, more relaxing on the beach - and celebrating Cecilies birthday

Malene and Katrine went diving this morning. Early. Pick up at the resort at 7:15 AM to go for a couple of dives at Koh Bida Nok and Koh Bida Noi. Jeppe, Karl and Mikkel spent the morning together enjoying a slow and late breakfast - and then it was beer time, nap time, lunch time and before we knew it the girls were back at the bungalows. They had two dives and saw turtle, great barracuda, trumpet fish, lion fish and puffer fish among other things. The feedback wasn't too impressive since the visibility had been somewhat limited under water due to lots of plankton in the water.

We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening hanging out on the beach and just taking it very slowly. Mikkel brought out the bottle of Nicaraguan Flor de Cana rum for the sunset drinks. We celebrated Cecilie's birthday and went down the beach to a place that did bbq'd sea food and had mixed seafood to share. Cecilie lit one of the paper lamps and we watched it going up and slowly drifting away from the shore.

Malene had signed up for more diving action tomorrow starting her PADI Open Water Advanced course so another early morning for her meant early to bed also.

Hello Denmark - it's my birthday

Heading out for some underwater action

Back on the beach with drinks

It's going to be a good sunset

Katrine, Karl and Jeppe

Sharing is caring

Malene and Cecilie

Light the candle and make a wish

Dinner on the beach

Old enough for a Nicaraguan Cigar

....almost