CORALREPUBLIC

 

Thailand 2002

 

 

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Trip dates:

28 December 2002 – 8 January 2003

Boat / resort:

Cruise on board MV Le Mahe to the Similan Islands and Richelieu Rock. Overnight in Phuket. 3 nights at the Bangkok Marriott Resort and Spa.

Dive centre:

Cruise arranged with Siam Dive n’Sail. They do not seem to sell this boat any more (might as well).

Photo-friendly?:

Not really. Thank God for my handy Olympus C-4040Z with its internal strobe.

Number of dives:

17 over 5 days of diving.

Diving conditions:

Cloudy and rainy most of the time, but not very choppy. Visibility variable depending on sites. In Richelieu Rock we had a disappointing 10 m only, about the same in the manta sites around Koh Bon. Water temperature ranging from 26 to 29°C.

Comments:

We wanted a cheap option for a 5-day cruise and we got exactly that. Facilities on board can only be described as basic. We did not mind much and had a group of 4 Austrians and another of 4 Japanese with us (12 divers in total, 2 divemasters), with whom we had a lot of fun.  The three groups dove separately and that made for non-crowded dive sites.

We found a very strong surface current on Richelieu Rock and the Austrians drifted off helplessly. Our group threw lines to the mooring and made it safely to very calm waters at depth, but no whale sharks. We went for a night dive on new year’s eve under pouring rain (that was a laugh!) then came back to the worst new year’s eve dinner one could ever imagine (unless you like refried chicken and vinegary wine).

On the last day, Carmen lost her balance when the boat rocked at quay and fell through a trap on the floor of the boat that the crew had kept open while re-supplying the boat.  She was in a lot of pain, got bruises all over and probably a fissured rib.

We spent a night in a nice enough resort in Phuket and headed for three lovely days in Bangkok at the wonderful Marriott hotel by the Chao Phraya river.

 

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