16th - 18th: May IDC 2009

Saturday, 16th May
Dive 048:Raya Noi Bay
Max Depth: 5.7m ; Bottom time: 29 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 20-30m

Dive 049:Banana Bay, Raya Noi
Max Depth: 8.2m ; Bottom time: 46 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 20-30m

Monday, 18th May
Dive 050:Lucy's Reef, Raya Yai
Max Depth: 22.8m ; Bottom time: 52 min
Water Temp: 28c; Visibility: 15-20m

Dive 051: Bay 1, Raya Yai
Max Depth: 8.2m ; Bottom time: 49 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 15-20m

a Day with Andrew Johnstone

Dive 045: King Cruiser Wreck
Max Depth: 31m ; Bottom time: 39 min
Water Temp: 29c; Visibility: 15-20m

Dive 046: Shark Point
Max Depth: 18.9m ; Bottom time: 46 min
Water Temp: 29c; Visibility: 10-15m

Dive 047: Koh Doc Mai
Max Depth: 22.2m ; Bottom time: 46 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 10-15m

Comment: A fantastic day diving in May, the weather was cloudy and the sea was flat. We arrived on the King Cruiser just in time for almost slack tide, which meant no current. Andrew is retired, and recently fell in love with diving. He held his air usage very well as my dive buddy, thus allowing us to extend our bottom time on all 3 dives. Amazing fish life at the wreck, leopard sharks are back at Shark Point (we saw three), and the red frogfish and white seashorse are still on the wall at Ko Doc Mai. Few photos of the day are on my Picassa album.

19th: Reef Monitor Project

Dive 044: Kata Beach Reef - North Side
Max Depth: 9.4m ; Bottom time: 71 min
Water Temp: 31c; Visibility: 1-4m

Comment: Big thanks go out to Nico, Tomo, Chris, and the 2 ladies dive instructors from Kata Diving Service for joining us this morning. Appreciation also to Liam (our surface support) and Taku for driving. Data were gathered, tallied and submitted to coralwatch.org. We'll return in October to see what has changed after the surfing season complete.

15th - 16th: Phi Phi & Shark Point Area

Wednesday, 15th April
Dive 039: Koh Bida Nok
Max Depth: 20.1m ; Bottom time: 59 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 10-15m

Dive 040: Pilong Wall, Koh Phi Phi Le
Max Depth: 17.6m ; Bottom time: 58 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 10-15m

Thurday, 16th April
Dive 041: koh Doc Mai
Max Depth: 23.4m ; Bottom time: 57 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 15-20m

Dive 042: King Cruiser Wreck
Max Depth: 23.4m ; Bottom time: 44 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 5-15m

Dive 043: Shark Point
Max Depth: 21.0m ; Bottom time: 45 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 5-15m

comment: Hanni & Joey from singapore, Nuala & Andy (my open water students from 2002) dropped in for a visit and a few dives. Bida Nok was great as a first dive, easy condition, nice viz and great show of fish. We spotted a green turtle feeding on corals at Pilong Wall. Nuala & Andy went to the Similans on the second day, leaving me diving with the 2 beautiful but goofy :-) gals from Sing. We found a couple of Leopard sharks at Shark Point (Joey's main objective of diving in Phuket was met), low Viz didn't allow us any good photo opportunity. See some of the photos at our Picassa Album. And, enjoy a video clip of the girls clowning around on the King Cruiser Wreck.

11th April: Raya Yai Island

Dive 037: Staghorn reef
Max Depth: 12.8m ; Bottom time: 22 min
Water Temp: 29c; Visibility: 10-15m

Dive 038: Siam Bay
Max Depth: 10.6m ; Bottom time: 43 min
Water Temp: 29c; Visibility: 5-10m

7th - 8th April: Sharkpoint & Phi Phi

Tuesday, 7th April
Dive 032: King Cruiser Wreck
Max Depth: 31.4m ; Bottom time: 39 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 15-20m

Dive 033: Shark Point
Max Depth: 18.2m ; Bottom time: 50 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 10-15m

Dive 034: koh Doc Mai *
Max Depth: 19.2m ; Bottom time: 55 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 10-15m

Wednesday, 8th April
Dive 035: Koh Bida Nok *
Max Depth: 24.6m ; Bottom time: 56 min
Water Temp: 29c; Visibility: 10-15m

Dive 036: Pilong Wall, Koh Phi Phi Le
Max Depth: 16.1m ; Bottom time: 63 min
Water Temp: 30c; Visibility: 10-15m

Comments: Two days of diving with Mikael, came back to visit for the umpteen times from Denmark. After so many dives at our local sites, I am still in awe of the amazing life I see each time I go under... We literally swam into a couple of Leopard sharks, swimming around, unfortunately, to current and low Viz didn't allow us any photo opportunity. See the latest dive condition and marine life at My Facebook photo album.

25th March: Nusa Penida, Bali

Dive 030: Manta Point *
Max Depth: 13.7m ; Bottom time: 67 min
Water Temp: 28c; Visibility: 10-15m

Dive 031: Ped *
Max Depth: 23.7m ; Bottom time: 69 min
Water Temp: 29c; Visibility: 30m

Comment: A little escape to Bali for me to recharge the system. After much searching for a confirmed dive trip anywhere for 2 days, I was able to joined Atlantis International Bali for a daytrip to Nusa Penida (with the help of Emmanuel & Virginie, our Beuchat Asia Pacific Team). Jerome, of Atlantis, was gracious host. Guy was my dive guide, and did try his best to keep me in check from straying "solo" throughout the dives. Well, Manta Point did not disappoint, as 4 various sized mantas come by often during the 64 minutes dive. They were as friendly to divers as fish can get, hanging in the surge & current for the crowd to take photos. Ped was a nice dive site, with fantastic visibility. The drift dive took us across some of the healthiest reef I've seen in the region. Only sad part of the dives were the amount of plastic bags floating on the surface and caught on corals underwater... the need to educate the evil of plastic bags continue to be a challenge for so many of us dive pro in the region.