Phuket by Ian Phillips

Phuket, Thailand
Author: Ian Phillips, St.Kitts Scuba

This was supposed to be a trip report about Bali, Indonesia. But things didn't work out that way.

We had booked a small 4 star resort on the North coast of Bali, Puri Bagus Lovinia, because of a recommendation from some good friends of ours. We booked about 3 months ago and things looked great. Because of the devaluation of most of the Asian currencies, this was going to be a really cheap trip. In fact, we decided we could afford to go in style on this one, because things were so cheap. We actually booked business class for the flight. Of course, we weren't expecting the population of Jakarta to go bezerk a couple of days before we were supposed to go on vacation.

We should have figured it out for ourselves I suppose. About two days before we were scheduled to fly, our local agent called to inform us that Garuda had re-arranged their plane assignments and we could no longer have business class on the return portion. She had to re-issue our tickets.

Our next surprise came at about 8:00 PM the night before our departure. Our tour wholesaler called us directly to inform us that Garuda had cancelled our flight to Jakarta. The best anybody could offer us was economy class with Cathay Pacific, through Hong Kong and then on to Bali. As we were checking in with Cathay Pacific we were informed that the German External Affairs Department (We live in Germany) had issued a travel advisory concerning Indonesia. Because we had been watching the news fairly carefully, we knew that most of the troubles were confined to the island of Java and the city of Jakarta in particular. We decided to press on.

The flights went well and our arrival in Bali was very smooth. As a quick note, don't let anyone tell you that Cathay Pacific is any better than anybody else. CP service is as good as anybody else, but the food we were offered was the same kind of crap you get on every other airline in the world. Economy seat size and legroom is pretty much the same too. We were escorted to our own van for the transfer to the hotel. But that wasn't for security reasons. They didn't want us to get lost in the crowd. Our guides were local and even spoke German. The transfer took 2 and 1/2 hours, so we were pretty happy to finally get to the hotel.

BUT, at about 3:00 AM in Bali, our tour wholesaler called us from Germany to tell us that we were to be evacuated. We had a choice of going home or going to Phuket, Thailand. We could stay, but they warned that we were on our own, and that most major airlines had cancelled their flights to Jakarta. Not wanting to be stuck, we took the Thailand option. They sent us another van early that morning, and we went back to the airport, all 2 and 1/2 hours away. We were loaded onto a chartered plane (Kampuchea Airways, now doesn't that just make your heart stop.) with about 200 other Germans and flew on towards Phuket.

The plane landed in the early evening and everything was very quickly handled on the ground. Everyone was directed to very comfortable coaches and escorted to our respective hotels. We wound up in a very classy section of 5 star hotels in the Bang Tao Beach area. A quick look at the prices at the hotel restaurants was another heart stopper. So much for the really cheap vacation we were expecting.

It took us a good part of the next day to track down the local dive operators. We didn't know much about the local diving because we weren't expecting to be in Phuket. We had to ask a lot of questions. Unfortunately, the average dive shop employs a little Thai girl who can speak English reasonably well, but knows absolutely nothing about diving. One of them got back to us quickly and that is who we wound up diving with. One company took 3 days to get back to us about the simplest of questions, How long can we expect to be allowed to dive when using computers? (H2O Sportz - 40 min, with or without computers) Needless to say, we didn't dive with them.

We found out that the monsoon season was approaching. In fact, a couple of people told us that the rains were late this year. We were told to expect sudden squalls, higher winds and more wave action. In fact, the beach at our hotel was closed to swimmers. There were many days that the closure could have been lifted, but the hotel doesn't have any lifeguards on the beach, so they weren't taking any chances.

We dove with Fantasea Divers. The company is run by a couple of Dutchmen. Most of the Instructors and Divemasters are Europeans. All of them spoke English very well. But, because of the added expenses of eating and drinking and just getting around, we decided to cut back our diving a bit in order to save money. Phuket may be in South-East Asia, but the local price structure is very westernized. Too many tourists I suppose.

Our first day out was a three-tank trip at a total price of 3300 Thai baht per person (at the locally offered exchange rates, about $90US or 165DM.). Two tank trips were priced at 3000 baht. (about $80US/150DM) We were met at the hotel by a maniac driver with a pleasant smile, whose name I have deliberately forgotten. From Bang Tao Beach to the boats in Chalong Beach is about 35 minutes.

We were met by a half dozen locals and 3 divemasters. They quickly loaded the gear and guests onto local canoes and we headed out into the bay to meet the dive boats. The guests were divided up more or less evenly between two boats, the ReefRunner and ReefDiver. Both boats appeared to have been built locally and were reasonably well thought out for the local diving conditions. Both were deep Vee-hulls and were a little bit under powered for the distances they were asked to cover in a day. ReefDiver can carry up to 15 divers comfortably and ReefRunner, 20. ReefRunner was the faster of the two and was used for the three tank trips and longer distance two tank trips.

The two ladders were mounted at the stern swim platform. There was a fresh water rinse by each ladder and a fresh water tank for cameras and computers only. Both boats had two, 3.8 cfm compressors mounted on the dive deck. Which was sort annoying because this was the only shady spot on the boat. If you wanted to sit in the shade, you had to listen to two compressors for half the day. They asked you to setup your own gear upon arrival, but after that you never had to touch it. The dive briefings were pretty good and included maps. Computers divers were allowed their own depths and 50 minute bottom times on three tank trips, and 60 min bottom times on two tank trips. Guides were in the water, and you could follow if you wanted to. On most dives, the boats were not moored up. But rather, they stayed live and picked you up where ever you came up.

Lunches were included and typically consisted of rice with two local dishes, usually a spicy mystery meat dish and a spicy mystery fish dish. On one day we were offered spaghetti with a very spicy meat sauce. It was pretty good. There was coffee and tea and doughnuts in the morning, and fresh fruit was available all day long. Soft drinks were available at 20 baht (50 cents US) and beers were on ice and available after the diving was done for only 60 baht ($1.50). Because the average travel time to Chalong Bay from the dive sites is over an hour, we typically enjoyed a couple of beers on the way home. Because most of the guests were European, tipping was not common.

As for the dive sites:

Day 1, Three tank trip,

Koh Dok Mai: A small, uninhabited island about an hour from Chalong that lies almost north/south.

The west wall drops to about 24m/80feet and you typically dive this side. Which end you start at, north or south depends on the current. The most spectacular of the items we saw were 2 different species of nudibranches, several species of scorpion fish, and their much prettier cousins, the lionfishes. These all became regular features during our diving. There were large schools of fish and the variety of fish was a pleasant surprise. The fishermen haven't had the same kind of effect that they have had in other well-known dive destinations. The wall was densely covered with clams and sponges and various hard corals. Visibility wasn't worth spit, between 5 and 10 meters/15 to 30 feet.

Shark Point: A three reef group with depths between 5 and 18m/15 to 60 feet deep.

After a 50 minute surface interval, we were dropped on the central reef of a three reef group. We circled this reef in about 35 minutes but we could have gone a whole lot more slowly. We then crossed a sandy patch in mid-water, as the channel between the central and south reef is somewhat deeper than the reefs themselves. We spent the last 15 minutes of the dive in fairly shallow water on the south reef. The three reefs lie almost directly north/south. There were large numbers of soft corals here. You know you're not in the Caribbean when you are looking at a soft coral. It is kind of a nice change.

There were large numbers of anemones, with and without clownfish in residence, and again large schools of fish that you could swim right through. The highlight of this dive was a cuttlefish. These animals are closely related to squid, but are at least as smart as octopi. They are really, really rare, and this one wasn't bothered in the least that we found it. It was evidently hunting, because it was repeatedly digging into a crack in a hard coral. It was after something. We only left because we ran out of time. The visibility was a whole lot better here, as much as 12m/40 feet.

Anemone Reef: A pile of rocks extending above sea level, covered in anemones and soft corals.

The structure of Anemone Reef is very similar to Shark Point, except that there is only one reef not three. You can swim around the whole thing in about 20 minutes if you move slowly. And that is exactly what we did. The thing is roughly circular and narrows as you get shallower. Basic arithmetic says that we swam around this reef 3 times. We found a brand new mask and snorkel in the deeper water. Other than that we just enjoyed looking at a lot of anemones and soft corals. Oh ya, we found an octopus too. Visibility was about the same as Shark Point.

This is one of the few sites where a mooring is used, which makes a bit of sense. The place is so small, that by placing a mooring into the top of the reef everyone is guaranteed to come back to the right spot.

Day 2: Three tank trip,

We agreed that the dives that we had done were good enough to see twice. Which is good, because the next day of diving that we signed up for was going back to the same places.

Koh Dok Mai

Just as good as previously described. In addition to all the usual suspects we found a yellow seahorse and another octopus. Visibility still sucked.

Anemone Reef

There were two other boats on the mooring when we arrived and I figured we were going to be sharing a small dive site with 70 other people. But, everything worked out. Both the other boats were serving lunch, so we got in immediately and ate later. As we dropped onto the reef we passed through a school of about 50 small squid. We found a beautiful, but still living, Cowrie. I wouldn't hesitate to take it if it was already dead, but as it was, I hid it where it could get out on its own. That way one of the other 70 tourists wouldn't take it home with them. We found another octopus too.

Shark Point

I don't know why we reversed the order of the last two dives, but we did. Most of the people on the boat were pretty happy about it though. The visibility was more than 10m/33feet and several divers reported seeing Leopard sharks. From the descriptions later, it sounded like there were at least three in the area, although we didn't see any of them. But, we did find another octopus. I guess we just got used to having our heads down in the reef.

Day 3: Two tank trip to the Phi Phi Islands

Phi Phi island itself is said to be an idyllic retreat from the real world. It may have been at one time, but these days it's just a hangout for hippies who refuse to admit defeat, and other assorted dropouts and drug users. But the diving around the surrounding islands is pretty good. Koh Bida Noh and Koh Bida Nai are twin islands or underwater pinnacles that stick up out of the water and have a few trees growing on them. They are less 500m/550yds apart.

Koh Bida Noh

We dropped into the water on the opposite side from the other island. The dive briefing suggested that we would be diving along a wall and that if we simply kept it on our left hand side we would see the best of this particular area. I don't know if it could have gotten much better. We limited the dive to 24m/80feet and then slowly worked our way back up into shallow water. We came across several flat ledges that had lots of hidey-holes. So we just stuck around and looked in a few and it didn't take long to find several Morays and yes, another octopus. Along the way we also found two different species of nudibranches, and towards the end of the dive, the only turtle of the whole trip.

There aren't too many turtles in these waters. There is an indigenous tribe of Thai known as the Shau-La. This translates to "Sea People" in English. No one knows where they came from originally. Their language and religion and customs are quite different. Many of them would like to integrate but there is a lot of prejudice against them in the Thai culture. Consequently, they eat what they've caught and sell what they don't need for themselves. And they eat turtles too.

Koh Bida Nai

After a spaghetti lunch, (Texas chili is nothing compared to Thai spaghetti sauce) we dropped onto the flats between the two islands. There is a narrow, deep channel on the Koh Bida Noh side, but most of it is fairly flat and only 10m/33feet deep. There are a couple of pinnacles at the edge of the flats. These were a lot of fun to explore. We found two more octopi and an unusual lion fish, a zebra lionfish. This fish was probably invented just specially for photographers who only use black and white film. Later on the dive we found the leftovers of lunch. The leftover spaghetti hand landed in and around a bunch sea urchins. The fish were having a heck of time trying to eat it, without getting stuck by a spine. It was kinda funny, but I guess you had to be there.

Day 4: Two tank trip to Racha Yai Island.

The trip out to Racha Yai was about an hour and a half. It was quite rough that day with some swells over 5 feet. Obviously, we dove on the leeward side of Racha Yai. There was a couple of other dive boats already there. I could tell that this was going to be a popular dive site during the monsoon season.

There was quite a number of fishing vessels in the bay too.

The dive briefing included that fact that it was new moon and that the tide change would produce a pretty good current for the dive. We were dropped in a small shallow bay at the eastern end of the island and once into the current we just drifted along looking at Stag Horn Corals. I suppose it should have been really impressive, but I got tired of looking at it. In fact, the most interesting part of the dive was the next bay where we were to meet the boat. We got there almost exactly at the 60 minute time limit, but when we surfaced, the boat was no where to be seen. Since the bay was only 4 or 5 meters deep (15 feet max) we went back down and explored until we heard the engines of the boat. They had been busy picking up people along the way. They boat tied up to mooring in the bay and we got onboard, much to the surprise of a couple of the other guests who had gotten a little worried. We just smiled and ate lunch.

The second dive was a continuation of the first. Fortunately, the miles and miles of stag horn corals had ended. This one was a little more interesting. But, the current had picked up in speed, and it had picked up some very cold water along the way. We stayed really shallow for this one. There was quite a variety of stuff to see, including yet another octopus, and a variety of sea urchin I have never seen before. It had very short, but sharp, spines with blue stripes. Its underbody was segmented much like a seastar. I am sure it was an urchin but it had some very weird characteristics.

That ends the diving portion of the trip. Our trip back to Chalong Bay was very rough. The winds had come up and we watched several squalls raining down all around us. The next day, it rained on and off all day. So we decided to do some of the other tourist stuff.

If anyone has any specific questions, please feel free to contact me at indigo-alien@rocketmail.com.

Ian