14 Jan: Back to Thailand to Khao Lak
This morning we left Siem Reap by plane to Phuket in Thailand,
with an immigration stop in Bangkok. We were
surprised we had to pay
a passenger fee to
leave
Cambodia (we
didn't have a Cambodia guide book
...).
Fortunately
we had
just
enough
dollars to
pay !
Not a
cheap
country to
visit
for a
few days,
what
with
the
visa
cost
and
departure
cost...
Fortunately
there's no
departure
tax to
pay in
Bangkok as
we pass
through
the
airport 5
times
!
The bungalow in the Pho Khao Lak Resort is very
basic (not even a flush toilet, but a bucket
of water to flush the
loo with!) but the
setting in the middle
of
a coconut grove
and
neatly
mowed
lawn
is
idyllic.
First
we
went
to
the
dive
centre
to
get
all
our
diving
equipment
prepared
and
then
we walked
down
to
the
beach
for a
swim
and snorkel.
The
beach
is a 5
minute
walk from
the hotel
and is
lovely
with
large granite
boulders,
white
sands,
lots
of spiral
shells
with hermit crabs and
rock
pools
full
of
life,
including
a small
white
starfish.
The
girls
snorkelled
around a bit
with
François,
before we
enjoyed a
drink in a
beach
bar watching the
sunset...
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| Beach in Khao Lak |
Bungalow in Pho Khao
Lak Resort |
15 Jan: First day of the Similan dive cruise
An early start this morning to travel out to the
Similan Islands in the dive
boat. A 4 hour journey
and
unfortunately there
was
quite a bit of
wind,
and
hence
waves...
There's
apparently
a
tropical storm
in
Indonesia
at
the
moment
and the
Thai
coast is
on
the
edge of the
storm.
Everybody
took
sea-sickness
tablets,
but
that
didn't
prevent
Gaelle
from
being ill 3
times
and
Sophie and
François
from
feeling
very quezy...
Our
first
dive was at
14:30 at
Honeymoon
Bay. It
was a
colourful
dive;
there was
quite a
lot of
coral,
beautiful
clear
turquoise
waters,
lots
of
tropical
fish
and a
moray eel.
Unfortunately,
one
of
the
divers
breathed
their
air twice
as
fast
as us and we
had
to end
the
dive after
only 32
minutes.
Quite
frustrating when we
still
had
110 bars
left
in our
bottles...
The
second dive
was a
disaster for
me.
I
had
trouble
equalising
my
ears on the way down,
thanks to my sore
throat
that had
been
bugging me
for a
few
days. On
the
way back up, my left
ear
wouldn't
equalise
properly and
when
I
managed to
surface
I
had a
bit
of
blood
in
my
ear
-
diagnosis
a
damaged ear
drum,
antibiotic
ear
drops
and no
more
water
in the
ear for 2
weeks...
In
other words,
that was
the end
of my
diving in
the Similans
:-(
On the
bright side
of
things,
the dive
was
really
beautiful; lovely
soft
coral and
gorgonians
and the
highlight,
a
puffer
fish
!
The girls enjoyed their afternoon on the beach with Filip (a
Belgium snorkelling guide) who took them
snorkelling and played with
them on the beach
all
afternoon.
The night on the boat was awful. François and I hardly slept a
wink because of the waves rocking the boat and
the
noise
of the
boat's
generator.
It
was
so
rough
that
we
were
worried
that
Gaelle
would
fall
from
the
top bunk
in
her
cabin,
so
François
swapped
beds
with
her in
the
middle
of the
night.
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| Similan
Islands |
Granite
boulders in the Similan Islands |
16 Jan: Second day of the Similan dive cruise
It was a big dive day today. François had 4 dives to
do starting at 7 in the morning. The girls had
a
more
leisurely
start
at 10
o'clock for
snorkelling.
A
guide lent
Jenny a diving
mask
with
ears in order to
keep
her ears dry to
accompany the girls
snorkelling.
That
put a
smile back on
her
face!
Unfortunately
it
leaked
though,
so her
joy
was short
lived...
Gaelle,
Sophie,
Jenny and
their
snorkelling
guide Filip
went
to the
beach,
Donald
Duck
Bay, in the
afternoon. It was
spectacular,
lovely fine
white
sand
and
large
granite
boulders with a
jungle
backdrop
and
beautiful
turquoise
fish-filled
waters. The
divers came
to
join us for a
hike
up
to
the
top
of a stack
of
boulders
called S
ail Rock
,
where
we had a
magnificent
view
of the
bays on both
sides
of
the
island.
There's a
campsite
with
tents on
the island
and we were
offered a
couple
of
tents for the
night
in
order to
get a
better
night's
sleep. We
jumped at
the
chance
! The
dinghy boat
took us to shore after
dinner and we
inflated
our mattresses and
settled down for a
good
quiet night's
sleep.
A turtle swam by the boat in the evening - the girls
first turtle sighting !
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| François on
his second dive
|
The girls
snorkelling in Donald Duck Bay
|
Sail Rock |
17 Jan: Third day of the Similan dive cruise
Another early start to the day, the dinghy boat came to pick us
up from the beach at 6:30... First dive and
snorkelling for Gaelle
at 7:45 (Sophie wasn't
in the mood). Gaelle had
a very nice snorkel
outing - the
visibility
was
very good
and she
saw a
moray eel, giant
purple clams, mackerel,
Nemo's cousins (clown fish), Dory
(powder-blue
surgeonfish),
clown
triggerfish
and
fire
coral.
We did a second dive and snorkelling session on another
island (Kho
Bohn) before lunch with the hope
of spotting a
manta ray
(3-4 metres wide). Unfortunately there were no
manta
sightings, but
pretty
reef walls and
large
Napoleon fish (Giant Wrasse) were
seen.
Third and last dive of the day on the ship wreck PromChai (9th
dive in 3 days), with a very good visibility
for this site situated
so close to the coast.
The wreck was inhabited
by a huge quantity of
tropical fish, in
particular lots of
scorpion
fish and lion
fish,
including
babies.
Then back to the port in Khao Lak and farewell to our guides
and fellow
divers.
François returned to
the bungalow in
Phu Khao
Lak Resort
with
the
girls, whilst
Jenny went
to the
doctors to
get
her ear
checked out
to
evaluate the
damage (fortunately
it wasn't painful,
just
a constant whistle
in
the ear).
We will retain beautiful images of this, our first dive cruise,
but for Jenny it was a big disappointment.
We both
have
the
certitude that
diving is great fun, but
even better when you have a room on firm
ground for the night
!
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| Sophie on the
boat overlooking the first dive and
snorkelling spot |
Kho
Bohn island |
18 Jan: A lazy day in Khoa Lak
Today we chilled out on the beach and at the pool at the
hotel in Khao Lak. The girls found a dead
scorpion
in the swimming
pool - arrrgh !!
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