Thailand – Ko Lanta – diving

2010 January —–

I’ve been doing a lot of diving the past week or so.  Ko Tao was good, but the visibility was a bit murcky due to winds.  The last 2 days that we were there the boat didn’t even go out to the best spot due to the rough water.  We weren’t going to stay in Ko Tao for much more than a week anyway, so we moved to Ko Lanta, on the west side of the mainland.  The island of Ko Lanta doesn’t have much to offer as far as activities, except laying on the beach or diving. Ed went for a long walk into town and back, which is 10 miles away,  and managed to get a nice sunburn, complete with white stripe where his bag was slung over his shoulder and across his chest.  His chest looks like a reverse diving flag.  LOL  I kind of feel bad about leaving him alone while I go diving, but not bad enough to stop diving. 

 I’ve been out to a few dive spots, two of which are considered part of the top 10 in the world.  I was really hoping to see a manta ray, like Lenny did, but had no luck.  There were LOADS of colorful fish to make up for not seeing the rays, however.  Yesterday I went to a couple other sites and saw a leopard shark.  That sounds ominous, but in reality it is a member of the shark family that lays on the sandy bottom and waits for something to swim by, It doesn’t even have teeth…..  But I did see a lot of other colorful fish, different than the day before.  I think the most exciting fishes that I’ve seen have been a seahorse, a box fish, puffer fish and a giant moray eel.    That is besides the gray reef sharks back on Ko Tao.

 The very BEST has been the clown fish!  They are so unbelievably cute!!   they are very territorial and if you are just swimming by they don’t much care, but if you stop to observe them for a few moments, they will come out and challenge you.  But they are only the size of a mid-size goldfish.  Yesterday, one kept coming up to me, even though I was backing off, but not enough for him, I guess. It was so close, and a bit under my mask that I could not see it properly.  One of the other girls on the dive said it looked like it came up and kissed me, it was so close to my face. 

I purchased a guide of the marine life in the Asian Seas, so if anyone is really interested, I can show you all the critters that I saw on this trip.

The current yesterday was quite strong.  The dive master was about 2 meters in front of me and I could see the water was weird looking, kind of like when you see gas vapors rising and it distorts everything.  He turned around and make the sign for “strong current” and also made the sign for “swim hard”.  Well, I hit that current and it damn near ripped my mask and regulator off.  Holy crap!  I was really glad that I am a decent swimmer and gave it my all.  There were times that I felt like I was still going backwards, despite my forward efforts.  It was not a long swim, only about 10-15 meters, then around a big rock and calm water again.  We hovered in that little sheltered area for a few moments to catch our breath then carried on.

Today is a day off from diving.  Tomorrow I go to a sunken car ferry (King Cruiser), then on Wednesday to Ko Haa – all of these sites have been raved about by fellow divers, so I am quite looking forward to them.  Then on Thursday it is back to Bangkok, then Sunday back to Canada   😦   not enough time…. not enough time……

Dive shop:  Blue Planet Divers