Wicked Diving At It's Best

Wicked Diving At It’s Best

Back at Wicked Diving we said our goodbyes to less than half of the guests because eleven of us were on board for another three daze. J My dive group didn’t change much; we lost Andrew and gained www.chasingPhil.com. We still had the lovely Jesna from Slovenia, Theo from Australia, and myself hailing from a confused past and now a very competent photographer, Phil with us. Phil took his monster camera and lights on most dives for some excellent close-ups of whatever struck his fancy. Chris Dyer was head of the next three-day trip to the Similans and we had dived together before, I wanted no other although Inge, Jess, or Line are A LOT prettier and as knowledgeable and possibly more in their area of expertise. I liked Chris’s style on our last round of dives three months prior, he was steady, slow, and if a person was low on air he was more than happy to pass over the octopus to his tank and keep everyone in the water for an hour if possible. Every single guide and instructor would do the same. The lesson is that we are all learning and some learn quicker than others but no one should suffer an education. Enjoy it.

I’m going to say this only once and I mean it whole heartedly; there is chemistry that makes a trip better than another, not to down play one over another but chemistry, you know what I’m talking about. I don’t understand the details myself but when I heard that Tom, Inge, Line, Jesse, Chris, and Hampus were on board I knew we as guests were in for a treat no matter what happens under water. Let me introduce you to a Wicked staff.

Tom is nothing short of a great diver with a passion for his trade no matter where he needs to go to get it. When off-season comes he is most likely looking for another place to dive. I recommend Lembongan, Bali with www.bigfish.com.

The beautiful and talented diver, Inge with a strong will, a vegetarian for life and true to her beliefs. Inge is a curious photographer herself and I’ve seen stacks of her material about the Wicked Dive shop. She is a music person like me and I was more than happy to give her music I had to make her smile one day. That is Hampus to her right giving an awareness talk about the depleted shark population in the Andaman Sea and virtually around the world partially due to eating Shark Fin soup that is actually very unhealthy due to concentrated amounts of mercury in the bigger fish, such as sharks.

Line, wow, where do I start? The Unicorn/Pegasus, if they were around today she’d be riding them or talking to them. 7 languages, ukulele, focused, she’s a full package of knowledge with a witty sense of dry humor. Be careful and think about what you say before it spills out of your face. Respect is due.

Jesse, US born with a nomadic past. Plays a mean guitar in the later hours under the moon light, sings, smiles and altogether focused on the ocean as they all are. She doesn’t like mornings but she can pull a smile out of a beanie hat at hello.

Chris Dyer, Ohio, basically born in the water diving in his early teens and relentlessly diving. Apparently his last camera gave up before he did and so he had to get a new one out of KL, Malaysia. Many of the shots in this blog and the last blog are his. He’s under water and I’m shooting from above. I find Chris to be one of those that can chameleon across the board and make things happen. Willing to give insight without being condescending, none of them have this characteristic, they are all willing and happy to help or explain.

Hampus. Hampus is Hampus. There are really no words for this young lad that would explain his high energy and belief in himself that I could lay down. I watched him and listened to him with great pride knowing there is another generation transforming into talent. Forest is also in this category but from the previous trip; he’s a Banana Slug, team mascot, from Santa Cruz, California. Good guy.

The Captain took us out of the harbor, paid homage to the boat spirit and lit fireworks to fend off any evil spirits we may have hanging around. With that settled we went out in a breeze to the Similan Islands and anchored up a little before midnight. As we left the harbor Chris and crew offered motion sickness tablets to those in need or in question and gave a run down of the boat, safety features, minor rules of respect of others and dinner was served.

Not changing my ways I slept upstairs on the top deck under the stars, with salt air and a breeze for a blanket; Tom, US and Glenn, A BRITISH MAN; I screwed up in the last blog and called him a Aussie and got called for it. This is a mistake I should never have made listening to his stories and knowing him as a partner in a half rack of Singha. Anyway me, the BRIT that historically sent all the ‘crims’ to Australia and another Yank, Tom, slept above deck as well, buried in beanbags and afloat. After the first night Jess drew a crowd of listeners to her guitar and song. Line had my attention with a German song I think; it actually might have been Spanish, where ever. She played her ukulele and sung a song about two grapes that fell in love and spent their formative years trying to figure out how to become one in love and in the end the farmer picked the grapes and smashed them all together with his feet and the two grapes made love and became fine wine. That’s what I got out of it. A’sante.

My alarm was sunrise and a cup of tea or two before anybody else began to stir. It’s the most beautiful time of the day and Captain got up at the same time and motored over to Anita’s Reef for our gear check dive. We had thorough safety briefing followed by then a dive briefing and into the water we went.

Most people wear wetsuits but the water isn’t ‘That’ cold to me. The standard temps range from 25 in the cold and an average of 27 C. But on almost every dive there was what is called a ‘Green Monster’ that looked like a lime green colored fog bank on the move carrying 25 C water and made most dive guides alter their course out of pleasure and not pain. The green Monster would pass for the most part or stay put as we swam ahead or out of them back to the warms.

Our second dive site is called West of Eden and the water temp was 27 C for the most part and our third dive was Turtle Rock where Chris Dyer took a great shot of a solo Harlequin Shrimp. Apparently what they do is drag a starfish into their crib and eat a leg and then move on to another leg while the last one grows back and so on. Nice image, eh? We did a few granite swim threws and I recognized others I had done in the past. All in all it was a dive like no other. Whilst on this dive our dearly beloved snorkel guide, Line, descended on us to say hello. We’re at 17 meters and she’s free diving. What an angel.

The following day, a day of four dives including a night dive was an early wake up for the lot. We were told more than once to pay special attention to our decompression time and stay within a safe range, above 10. If your DC got round 10 it was time to shallow up or just stay above your group by 5 meters, there’s lots of ways to sort it out and keep you safe. If you go to zero or below you don’t dive for 24 hours and that my friends just won’t do.

During the day and in between dives the upper deck became a place to dry your suit and find a beanbag in the shade and take a nap. I’m not much of a nap guy or sleeper so it was a photo op I couldn’t pass up. Again I didn’t do the night dive, I enjoy the quiet on the boat more.

We dived Elephant Rock and Christmas point for the second dive and then came this third dive of the day, my favorite by far, we dove 3 Trees. Someone every dive has to go find out which way the current is going so the Captain can drop us off on the right side of it and expect us on the other. The verdict was in and we all plopped into the water in two groups. But looking at the fish facing in the opposite direction Chris realized there was a problem. We were drifting out to sea into the big blue. We went straight to the bottom, hit the deck and swam into the current for about 5-7 minutes using a little more oxygen than expected but we climbed the slope until we got picked up by the island’s coastal tide current and we began to drift the way we were intending. I’d breath in and rise over a coral outcrop swarming with fish and exhale and drop down and skim over the sand in between. Chris spotted an eel not well hidden. The eel moved out and we agreed, he was quick in the open. Our dive still ended up about 54 minutes from plunge to surface and we had covered more than a kilometer, more like a mile ( (1 kilometer = .6 mile, 10 kilometers = 6 miles, give or take.) I have drift dived in Borneo, Sulawesi, the Philippines, and now Thailand. This rates among some of the best dives I’ve had. Thanks Chris.

Since 11 people had been on the 1^st 3-day trip Chris changed the night dive site and I still wasn’t keen. I took a shower, shaved, and enjoyed the night watching the lights in the water move about. There were actually a couple other boats doing the same thing but hey, what did I care. I was in the right place at the right time and I am in the Similan Islands for bloody sake. Ha. Heaven is not far from these shores.

The sunset gracefully dove into evening with the stars and wind coming down and smiles brimming from all of us. Jess took center stage on the top deck with an assortment of tunes from Johnny Cash to the Black Crows. The boys were drooling with live music. She had a lot of fun throwing out the random song of another time. A few stragglers kept the fire burning, clinking cans, playing cards, and assorted games.

We motored back to Koh Bon for our last two dives the next day and many of us were excited because it has everything from high biodiversity to the weird little critters many divers over look at first or don’t know what to look for. The more I dive the more exciting the little creatures become and yeah I want to see the big ones too like a whale shark or a tiger in Nepal but everything in time. I’m going back to both so stay tuned and enjoy the ride. Some things are coming that you should all pay attention to if you’re interested in the world today.

I think 8 people got their Advanced Diving Certificate on these 6 daze. JThe two French boys, a woman from America with Thailand heritage, and a bunch of others but I want to say congratulations to the two French boys and their parents for allowing the boys to grow.

www.davidcdagley.com

Wicked Diving In The Similan Islands, Thailand

Wicked Diving Similan Islands, Thailand

We had just completed 9 dives in 3 days including a night dive in the Surin Islands just north of the Similan Islands and headed into the harbor for a Wicked Diving crew change and to let those off who had signed up for a three day-9 dive trip and pick up new guests. Four of us remained for the second three day-9 dive trip to the Similan Islands. I’m not going to go into detail about the boat because I did it in the last blog. This is more about the differences, what we saw and the experience.

For one thing the islands are more granite than limestone and boulders seen above waterline are identical to those below but obviously the flora and fauna and environment are very different. There are lots of narrow corridors and a few swim through spots about that are always fun. Our dive guide Nack is a young buck with one more year of high school to go. He was as comfortable under the water as he was above. He looked for anything and everything and landed us on some incredible sights. Cop Khun Cop.

I do have to mention that in the last four years of traveling about I hadn’t been with such a large group of Americans. There were at least 8 including myself. I hadn’t seen 7 Americans at the same time in years besides in the U.S. We did talk about our lovely political candidates. (Tongue in cheek). The rest of the guests and staff again were from all walks of life and everybody got on smashingly. The dive and boat staff was experienced and knowledgeable and willing to help out whenever however they could. Some short film clips coming, here's one below.

I do have to say ‘kudos’ to the kitchen crew and the Captain for another awesome trip. They were jovial and fun to chill with and my little Thai and their good English were enough to laugh together and constantly smile in passing. Again the food was phenomenal.

There were two trainees on board for Wicked Diving, both engaging and passionate about diving like the rest of us. Tom led the Wicked Diving introductions and every time I called him Thomas he thought his mother was coming after him. Each scuba dive session began with a pre-dive briefing, what to expect and what to look for while below. I can't take you below because the film files are too big but I'm working on a solution. Here's another shorty;

Join me in Khao Sok National Park

www.davidcdagley.com

Wicked Diving Surin-ity

Wicked Diving Surin-ity

Almost every afternoon at this time of year in Khao Lak the rain comes down into the microclimate formed between the mountains and sea where the gray clouds drench the town and flash the night with lightening for an hour or two. I checked out of the Traveller Lodge at noon and the owner/manager invited me to leave my gear until it was time to go to the Wicked Diving office just up the road and go diving. I checked into Wicked Diving and filled out the last minute paperwork and had the afternoon to check out town, grab a late lunch and get any last minute supplies that Wicked doesn’t offer on the boat, peanuts, chips, chocolate and beer if you don’t like Singha or Tiger which they sell on board. If you want something stronger this is the time to acquire it. I thought about it and decided to wait to the last minute and go to the closest shop two doors down from Wicked.

I met two folks that were having last minute Pad Thai and picking up a case of Singha. I introduced myself and picked up a case Chang. Chang is like picking up a case of Russian roulette, it says 5.5% alcohol but there’s a variance of 1.5% above. It turned out the two were going out for six-night scuba dive trip as well. After everyone gathered we hopped in two vans and drove an hour and half up the coast to the pier and the boat. We ate around 8 pm and were given an introduction to the Captain, his wife, kitchen crew, knowledgeable and experienced dive staff, rules, and were given roommates - 2 per stateroom unless you are coupled. The boat departed and once out a ways firecrackers were lit to ward off any evil spirits we may have intentionally or unintentionally brought with us. It was an internationally broad group of people from around the world with at least one common interest, diving.

Chris, head of the first 3-day program, informed us we were diving the Surin Islands, the most remote islands in Thailand and southern neighbors of the Burmese Islands. The Andaman Sea is and has been the home of the Moken people for thousands of years. The Moken are what we now call ‘sea gypsies’. The Moken have relatives in the Burmese islands and are related distantly to the sea peoples all the way down to the Mentawi Islands off the west coast of Sumatra. In their folklore stories are told of ‘Laboon’, the force of the ocean, also known as a Tsunami. Before the Tsunami of 2004 the Moken were somewhat told that they needed to settle on land and the Thai government set some of them on the Surin Islands where they’d be close to the ocean and remote enough to live without much outside influence. When the tsunami hit, they knew what to do due to the elders and their stories and they headed for the hills or to take their ‘kabang’ boat, out to deep water. When all was said and done the village survived with no casualties. That was not the case for the Moken living in tents at the Surin Island National Park Headquarters for a project. December 26^th 2004 at 8:30 the water dropped severely at high tide and the first wave hit followed by a bigger wave and then another. Those that made it to sea picked up those in the water and the Moken that ran into the jungle and up the granite or limestone hills survived. Through out history the Moken have had a rough go of it when it comes to foreigners entering their waters. Typically they prefer to disperse out of fear running their boats into mangrove narrows where they can’t be easily followed and eventually recollect when the coast is clear. They also used the Mangroves for protection from monsoons. Monsoon time seems to be the only time they live on land and even then build houses at the edge of the sea, their mother, their guardian, and their savior.

There were three dives scheduled for the first full day with the first dive being a check out dive sorting divers with others using the same amount of O2 and also ability such as Open Water divers with the like and Advanced divers would be grouped together unless requested differently. This is the dive you are introduced to your guide and sort out your gear in case something doesn’t fit right or needs adjusting. You keep the same set-up for 9 dives in three days or 18 dives in six days; in actuality it’s three nights-four days, six nights-seven days. Wicked Diving also offers numerous courses that you can take on the boat such as Open Water graduating to Advanced Open Water. In the case of the Open Water course Wicked Diving prefers to do the theoretical on land before you get on the boat so plan a couple days in Khao Lak prior.

The Captain of the Mariner has been doing this a very long time and is well respected by the rest of the dive boat Captains. On numerous occasions when we arrived at a dive site a boat would already be on the choice buoy and would relinquish his spot and we would pull in. It’s all about respect. Talking about respect, the food on the boat is better and more consistent than food I’ve been eating in restaurants across Thailand. The Captain’s wife is head of the kitchen and knows her business well. There is usually a lavish western breakfast but most everything else is Thai. The boat buys its vegetables from an organic farm and the honey, eggs and biodegradable soaps are purchased from an orphanage.

Wicked Diving has a strong policy about conservation and ecology with 2% of a guests fees going to projects in the area such as the orphanage, buying chickens so the orphanage can sell the eggs, working with the Moken people in some well thought out and preplanned way for the betterment of life.

I grouped up with Edwin, Jacqueline, and her husband Marshall. Our guide Chris was also the trip lead and has been diving since he was around thirteen. We dove 3 dives the first day, 4 dives on the second day with the last being a night dive and 2 dives on the 3^rd day before heading into the harbor to change crew and guests and then back out heading for the Similan Islands for another 3 days and 9 more dives.

We rarely dove in the same spot but one particular place we did and it was worth every pound of air per square inch.

The boat was spacious enough to find a place to relax, read, sunbathe, listen to music, chat with new friends. The sun deck is half covered because the sun can be brutal but the views are spectacular so the covered area was a favorite and the beanbags were always occupied. A few of us opted to sleep on mats on the top deck under the bright stars and a warm breeze for a blanket. The only light that interferes with the stars is the fishing boat lights outside the National Park and they don’t usually last the night. Sunrises are my favorite.

The main deck was used for pre-dive briefings explaining the topography, what you might see in way of Flora and Fauna, current direction and limitations if any. All meals were served here and there was plenty of food. Wicked has gone as far as cutting down on their plastic bottle consumption by offering their guests refillable water bottles from two 5 gallon hot/cold dispensers. This practice saves thousands of plastic bottles seasonally from entering the National Park, recycling centers and inevitably landfills. Fruit, tea and coffee, juice, yogurt, electrolytes, are on the boat and offered freely. After the last dive and dinner the open-air area ultimately turns into a game center where people can buy assorted sodas or beers and enjoy the evening. The lower deck is state rooms and dive deck.

If only the Wicked Diving attitude could be shared and incorporated into all dive boats around the world offering the same commitment to awareness and policies to protect the environment in which they we all work and live. All of this leads to leaving a smaller footprint so we could all enjoy it and watch it flourish before our eyes and in front of our cameras. Touching coral leaves oils that are detrimental eventually growing a mold that will inhibit or kill it. Touching a turtle shell will do the same thing so the hands-off policy is a good one for everybody to follow.

The Surin Islands are out there and the wind has carved and molded the plant life with strong winds. There are monkeys, pigeons, sea eagles, among others living in the trees and calling the islands home. The islands are a product of tectonic plate activity. The islands are, for the most part, either limestone or granite. We went ashore for an afternoon of Frisbee and have a swim in the blue-blue shallows. There is camping available.

Below the surface the tsunami’s power is apparent and yet life goes on. Whale Sharks and Manta rays, Dolphin, Marlin, Sailfish, Sharks and Whales and flying fish among many others inhabit these waters. Snorkeling is a favorite past time between dives just make sure the boat isn’t leaving anytime soon.

I was lucky to have chosen Wicked Diving having not been on a live-aboard before and not knowing one from another. It was my birthday on board and I felt immediately like-minded and knew I was in good hands. This blog is about our trip to the Surin Islands. The next blog is about the Similan Islands. 

A special thanks to the Captain of the Mariner and his wife, the boat crew who refilled my tanks everyday, and the Wicked Diving staff for putting a memory in the bank that I will not forget easily.

www.davidcdagley.com