Andaman Sea - Thailand

[saltcreep]

Just a few pictures from a recent trip to Thailand. We spent five days on a liveaboard boat diving. It was sad to see the damage on the reef from the 2004 tsunami and then a massive coral bleaching event last year. Many of the dive sites have been closed and many others were literal coral graveyards. However, the diving was still fantastic.

http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz41/wetpets/Thailand/IMG_0864.jpg

http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz41/wetpets/Thailand/IMG_1061.jpg

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http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz41/wetpets/Thailand/IMG_1019.jpg

http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz41/wetpets/Thailand/IMG_1006.jpg

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and my favourite fish in the sea...

http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz41/wetpets/Thailand/IMG_1144.jpg

[Lance]

Wow! Great pics! Got any more? :biggrin:

[Leah]

Those Powder blues are gorgeous. Great photo's for sure. :biggrin:

[fishytime]

dude! those pics are incredible!:surprise:

[lorenz0]

I cannot wait to go diving there now. aww to swim with the PB tangs

[Argentiner]

wow, amazing pics. Love those powder blue tangs and the crazy pipefish!

[Foxface]

Wow!! What great pictures! Love those powder blues.

[saltcreep]

Here are a few more...

http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz41/wetpets/Thailand/IMG_1097.jpg

http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz41/wetpets/Thailand/IMG_1053.jpg

http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz41/wetpets/Thailand/IMG_0918.jpg

http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz41/wetpets/Thailand/IMG_1076.jpg

http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz41/wetpets/Thailand/IMG_1267.jpg

and some of the beaches...

http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz41/wetpets/Thailand/IMG_0962.jpg

[Delphinus]

Wow!! This is on my bucket list for sure. It must be difficult leaving that to return to "real life" afterwards....

[saltcreep]

My wife and I are both struggling with 5c and rain. Not to mention having to work...

[Delphinus]

That beach shot looks a lot of pictures I've seen of the Seychelles with boulders framing the beach like that (another bucket list place for me). Do you recall where that picture was taken? I literally want to put standing at that spot onto my bucket list. :lol:

[saltcreep]

That is in the Similan Islands. It is Donald Duck bay on Similan #8. The chain of islands is about 50km offshore from mainland Thailand and is a protected marine park. You can access the islands on a day trip from either Phuket or Khao Lak which is where we stayed.

Here is another shot of the bay taken from where the large rock looks like it's balancing on the hill. The Similans are made of granite and most places have granite boulders stacked on top of each other. One dive site was like that and you could hear the boulders creaking in the waves.

http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz41/wetpets/Thailand/IMG_0966.jpg

Our home for four nights (the big boat).

http://i812.photobucket.com/albums/zz41/wetpets/Thailand/IMG_0853.jpg

[globaldesigns]

Just one word... WOW!!!

[hillegom]

Thats just incredible. How many dives per day did you do? How many dive sites?
Thanks

[saltcreep]

We did 14 dives total at 11 different dive sites. We were supposed to do three dives at Richelieu Rock but only did two, which is in the top 10 dives sites in the world. It was disappointing due to a massive plankton bloom so visibility was rather poor. On the other hand the conditions were right for whale sharks, but we didn't see any. We did two at another sight where mantas frequent, but again we struck out.

The last dive site where we did two dives was pretty cool. We moored overnight so we did a sunset dive in the evening when all the fish were coming in for the night and then did the same sight in the morning.

There's something to be said for being woken up at 6:30am, getting a dive briefing and then jumping into the water at 7am. Get out of the water at 8am and being fed. Have a nap, wake up for the briefing, dive, and then eat. Repeat it day after day.

[abcha0s]

So, my aquarium sucks... puts it in perspective anyways.

One day.

[saltcreep]

My wife kept commenting that it was like swimming in our aquarium at home....but cleaner.