diving in Thailand

[spieszak]

Did some diving in Thailand last week. Some photos to share below.

http://s1221.photobucket.com/user/spieszak/library/dive?sort=3&page=1

 

[tike]

Coolpics!!! Looks like a lort of fun.

 

[loohunter]

Thailand is on the bucket list. How deep was the wreck?

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[spieszak]

30m. The vessel was intentionally sunk. The thermocline was at about 28m. The water is so warm a wet suit isn't really required, so it was kind of neat to finally encounter cold(ish) water.

 

[loohunter]

I'm a fair weather diver. Wreck dives are scary. Did you go inside? Do you dive the sound?

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[spieszak]

I did go inside, though it wasn't much scary since it was intentionally sunk. They had done a lot to make it easy to go in, and it wasn't much more than a small dive boat anyway. The bat fish owned the wreck, and they were the coolest part of it.... I certified the day before basically (or on the trip in general, the wreck was my 6th dive), and we did the wreck as an 'adventure dive' mostly just to get me to 30m, so I would be able to 'claim' that depth in the future...
I was in the sound for about half of a certification dive before I just couldn't do it. The 11mm wet suit wasn't something I could handle, especially since I'm not a small person, and the wet suit didn't really fit all that well. The lack of flexibility scared the crap out of me. I am considering doing my dry suit cert in the next few weeks so that I can consider diving here though.

 

[Scooterman]

That looks so cool, that turtle probably was like, ok you guys need to go LOL

 

[spieszak]

That is one of the things I dislike about diving/snorkeling.
The turtles get pretty used to it, but there are times when people just surround them, and it feels like trapping them. They of course are masters in the water, and have no problem getting away, its just sucks sometimes when people 'force' them too

 

[loohunter]

That is one of the things I dislike about diving/snorkeling.
The turtles get pretty used to it, but there are times when people just surround them, and it feels like trapping them. They of course are masters in the water, and have no problem getting away, its just sucks sometimes when people 'force' them too

That happens a lot with the nurse sharks in Mexico too. People try and get closer and closer and it ends up pissing off the sharks and they leave

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[spieszak]

Its hard not to check them out. I was lucky when I swam up on the dolphins, no one else was around, so the dolphins got to control the whole thing basically.
I saw a baby nurse shark. I'm still holding out for a really good shark encounter though.

 

[loohunter]

I absolutely love sharks. There are an abundance of big nurse sharks in cozumel. A shark cage off of Guadalupe island is on the bucket list, but it's not cheap. Even seeing some of the puget sound six gills would be cool. I do always try to respect their space though

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[spieszak]

I have been eyeing a Capetown South Africa trip for a while. If I keep throwing my pennies in the jar, maybe one day!

 

[loohunter]

That would be so amazing!

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[spieszak]

Groupon keeps sending me this. It is sooooo tempting

https://www.groupon.com/deals/ga-gate-1-travel-cape-town-limpopo-3?p=1&utm_source=abandon_cart&utm_medium=email&user=7438f012eea352a0a5bb08d5a452aab573f0d277fc1474265f821af24c823332&date=20170602&CID=US&s=body&c=image&d=deal-page&utm_campaign=groupon_abandon_checkout_20170603

 

[timco355]

wow its good to see that the reefs are still healthy

 

[spieszak]

Kind of strange you say that... on the dive boat I met a bunch of folks from Australia. They came to Thailand to dive because of the poor state of the reefs in Australia. Said that reputable dive shops won't even take you out the the GBR anymore, at least not in the north.
The Australian government just released an updated report on that
http://www.aims.gov.au/reef-monitoring/gbr-condition-summary-2016-2017

 

[Catalin]

Kind of strange you say that... on the dive boat I met a bunch of folks from Australia. They came to Thailand to dive because of the poor state of the reefs in Australia. Said that reputable dive shops won't even take you out the the GBR anymore, at least not in the north.
The Australian government just released an updated report on that

That is so sad...

Nice Thailand pictures, by the way.

 

[SantaMonicaHelp]

Wow, great pictures! Thank you for sharing!!


-Paola