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Similan Island Scuba Diving — Khao Lak, Thailand — Sea Dragon Dive Center



 
 
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Old November 29th, 2003, 09:10 AM
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Default Similan Island Scuba Diving — Khao Lak, Thailand — Sea Dragon Dive Center

Similan Island Scuba Diving — Khao Lak, Thailand — Sea Dragon Dive
Center

In November 2003 a friend and I got our PADI Open Water Diving
Certification in Thailand. Our open water dives were from a liveaboard
boat in the Similans. Fantastic experience!

I don't like the Burger Kings, Dunkin' Donuts and overwhelming
commercialism of Phuket, so we spent our two on-land nights in Khao
Lak, a quiet, less expensive beach resort an hour north of the Phuket
airport. If you seek discos and wild nightlife, Khao Lak may not be
for you. But it has a small main street with many restaurants (Thai
and foreign—there are a lot of German and Swede expats), small shops,
a night market, four or five ATMs and money exchange counters, and a
number of bars. It would be a good place to come with a family (or for
romance). More on Khao Lak at
www.khaolakonline.com/khaolak-attractions.html

We spent two nights at the Nang Thong Bay Resort
(http://www.thaisouth.com/nangthong/) a bungalow-style resort on a
long white sand beach in a beautiful bay. The resort is quiet but
right in the heart of the commercial strip and a five minute walk from
Sea Dragon dive center. We liked our clean, spacious, newly renovated
950 bhat bungalows (exchange rate was about 40 bhat to the US dollar)
with fan, refrig, hot shower, attached bath, porch, and comfortable,
big beds (but no TV or swimming pool). They also have air con rooms if
you prefer. The beach is beautiful. Our bungalows were in the garden;
seaside units cost B 1450. Breakfast wasn't included—it costs B 100 at
the beachside restaurant which has a full menu of Thai and foreign
food. The resort staff are friendly and accommodating. For example,
our liveaboard didn't depart until 9pm so the Nang Thong let us store
our bags after checkout (and while we finished our classroom and pool
dive training sessions), then let us take showers and clean up before
heading to the boat. There are many other hotels and resorts
nearby—some much more expensive, some much less—so if you wanted to
switch accommodation for some reason, it would be easy.

The Phuket airport taxis charge B 1300 for the drive to Khao Lak and
our driver was a bit aggressive and obnoxious. We should have asked
Nang Thong to send a car for us (B 800 for two passengers; B 1000 for
three or four). We used them to head back to the airport—the driver
was safe and courteous.

We chose Sea Dragon Dive Center (www.seadragondivecenter.com) because
I'd found a few positive write-ups in the newsgroups. Sea Dragon is a
German-run, professional, friendly, environmentally aware and
price-competitive outfit. As novice divers we felt we were in good
hands but many experienced folks dive with them too. Sea Dragon has
four boats. We chose the M.V. Mariner which does a three day, three
night liveaboard trip to the Similans and Ko Bon with three dives per
day (each time a new site), as much snorkeling as you wanted in
between and, once, the option of a night dive). The four divemasters
on our boat were German, Polish, British, and Thai (all good). My
friend and I had an excellent teacher and divemaster to ourselves
(Dave Allen) for the two classroom/pool dive days and on the
liveaboard. The boat can handle 16 passengers, but fortunately there
were only 9 of us this time out (it would have felt a bit crowded with
a full house). Our companions came from England, Austria, and Finland
(plus we two Americans). The Mariner cooks serve a Western breakfast;
lunch and dinner are good Thai cuisine with lots of variety. Food and
drinks (except beer) are included in the trip price, as is equipment
if you need it. Sea Dragon has nice t-shirt designs too, if you want a
souvenir. Getting our Open Water Certification + the liveaboard (eight
dives total, using their equipment) cost about B 20,000 each ($500)—a
lot cheaper than if we'd done it in Hawaii!

The diving was great—we saw sharks, octopi, morays, sea snakes, a 6
foot barracuda, cuttlefish, triggerfish, scorpion- and lionfish,
flying fish, turtles, and a marlin, along with lots of beautiful
smaller fish and hard and soft coral. Unfortunately no mantas this
trip, and the orcas that had been spotted in the area didn't stop to
visit us.

I would definitely dive with Sea Dragon again—next time to the Surin
Islands and Richelieu Rock to swim with the whale sharks—and I'd like
to do the one-day Wreck Dive near Khao Lak. By the way, you don't have
to dive to go on the liveaboard—the Finnish husband was a diver but
his wife just snorkeled every day and still had a good time.

One suggestion: there is a video setup on the boat but they only used
it for PADI vids—why not stock some episodes of Blue Planet or
something else from Discovery or Nat Geo? It would have been great to
watch a documentary on octopi or sharks in the evening!

If you want to know more, email me at swittetATpathDOTorg.

Scott Wittet
 




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