Easter Sunday, 23rd: Racha Yai Island

Dive: 35
Dive Site: Staghorn Reef
Max Depth: 33.2m
Bottom time: 40 min
Water Temp: 29c
Visibility: 15-20m
Activities: Deep dive with Danny, logging his deepest depth in the sandy bottom of Staghorn Reef. We touched 33 meters, mild thermocline, and fantastic viz to help us navigate back to the reef.

Dive: 36
Dive Site: Home Run, Bay 1
Max Depth: 22.8m
Bottom time: 46 min
Water Temp: 29c
Visibility: 15-20m
Activities: Practice Marking the re-location of the Andaman Princess wreck out side the bay. A mild thermocline keep the temp around 28 at depth. An easy current drifted us for the rest of the dive, giving Danny the opportunities to spot the usual reef suspects for his photos collection. A small pod of Bottle nose dolphins cruised pass the boat & hung out for a good 10 minutes near bay 1.

Saturday, 22nd: Kata Beach

Dive: 34
Dive Site: Kata Beach North Reef
Max Depth: 5.7m
Bottom time: 34 min
Water Temp: 29c
Visibility: 15m
Activities: Navigation, Search & Recovery skills practice with Danny. He did very well on lift bag use, however, the jackstay search practice was slightly off course. Map is courtesy of my friends at Pocket Divesite.

Tuesday, 18th: Phi Phi Overnight (Day 2)

Tonsai Beach at dawn, Phi Phi Don Island.

Dive: 31
Dive Site: Ko Bida Nai (*)
Max Depth: 30.4m
Bottom time: 51 min
Water Temp: 28c
Visibility: 20-25m
Activities: Best dive of the trip! Spectacular viz after we left our sandy bottom at the start of the deep dive. Blue spotted stingray, yellow lip sea krate, a couple sighting of leopard sharks & a green turtle wedging itself in between layers of a table coral were in the first 10 minutes of the dive.


Dive: 32
Dive Site: Shark Point
Max Depth: 18.5m
Bottom time: 53 min
Water Temp: 29c
Visibility: 5-10m
Activities: typical shark point, beautiful coral life & school of fish returned. The eel rock still reward us with gang of white eyes morays swimming & feeding. Current picked up, thus the drift dive went a bit quick from pinnacle 1 to 2.


Dive: 33
Dive Site: Ko Doc Mai
Max Depth: 17.6m
Bottom time: 48 min
Water Temp: 29c
Visibility: 15m
Activities: Stronger current, but manageable. It's the usual wall dive without any spectacular spotting this time.

Monday, 17th: Phi Phi Overnight Trip (Day 1)

Dive: 28
Dive Site: King Cruiser Wreck
Max Depth: 30.7m
Bottom time: 39 min
Water Temp: 29c
Visibility: 5-10m
Activities: Deep dive with Danny & Jisook, Danni also came along for a fun dive. Condition was quite good, mild current, and Greta was the only boat on the wreck when we got there. More debris fell off the ferry, littering the port side with more hiding places for common lionfish. A school of juvenile yellow tailed baracudas swirling near the bow, creating quite a cool spot to hover & watch the feeding action.

Dive: 29
Dive Site: Ko Bida Nok
Max Depth: 21.3m
Bottom time: 52 min
Water Temp: 28c
Visibility: 15m
Activities: Viz improved when we descended down on the west side of Bida Nok. A mild current moved us along, blue spotted stingrays, soft anemone corals, school of yellow tailed tuna cruised the reef & fed on glassfish. A relaxed easy dive ending in the bay between the Bida islands.

Dive: 30
Dive Site: Maya Wall, Phi Phi Le (*)
Max Depth: 16.4m
Bottom time: 60 min
Water Temp: 29c
Visibility: 10-15m
Activities: I have not dive this dive site recently, the last time was quite a few years ago. boulders, deep canyon, & swim through were the typical topography at the north end of Phi Phi Le. The dive is changed to wall, with whip corals, gorgonian seafans, and various types of hard corals lining the wall and boulders. We spotted a leopard shark chilling out at 12m, Jisook, Danni & Danny first encounter with this specie. A must dive site for those who frequent PP, if you can persuade a dive operator to take you here.

Sunday, 9th: Kata Beach

Dive: 27
Dive Site: Kata Beach Reef
Max Depth: 5.7m
Bottom time: 47 min
Water Temp: 28c
Visibility: 5m
Activities: So, I got my camera ready, as the previous day, the reef was just absolutely gorgeous. Well, my battery died with just 2 test shots at the surface, and condition changed dramatically in just 25 hours. Green water returned, and viz went to 5m or less. Either way, Gayatri & Danni got to play with lift bags and compass, with Dave Purkeypile joined to play student.

Saturday, 8th, Kata Beach

Dive: 26
Dive Site: Kata Beach Reef (*)
Max Depth: 5.7m
Bottom time: 35 min
Water Temp: 28c
Visibility: 20m
Activities: Open Water Training Dive Presentations & Practical training with our March 08 IDC candidates. It's a "Girls Rule!" program, with Gayatri from India & Danni from China. Windy condition created a bit of choppiness for the surface skills, but both candidates prepared well, and handled the condition beautifully. My current Jedi in training, Danny Pilling, played the DM role very well... The action continues tomorrow with lift bag use and navigation workshop.