A longtail dive boat, on the way to the dive site.
We had planned our trip to Thailand to end with a few days of fun in the sun and and some well needed time under the ocean. The scuba diving hot spots in Thailand are too numerous to count, spanning both the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand, and are home to some of the world’s most famous dive destinations. Shore diving, house reefs, day trips, and live-aboards offer diving for everyone from first time snorkelers and those looking to get certified to experienced tech divers, and everyone in-between. We weighed our options and decided on Khao Lak, a small beachside town North of Phuket. The diving looked fabulous, it was away from the hubbub of Phuket, and was only a few hours from the Similian Islands. Khao Lak would allow us access to Whale Sharks, Giant Manta Rays, and pristine reefs without having to be confined to a boat during our off time. It was the perfect compromise. We were certain we had found the perfect way to cap off our trip.
Settling down with a few cocktails. Khao Lak has a number of picturesque beaches and is not as densely packed with tourists as more popular destinations.
We had emailed with the shop for several weeks prior to our arrival, putting together a customized package. We decided on four consecutive day trips instead of a liveaboard (my wife was looking forward to moonlit walks on the beach), locked in our dates and what dives we wanted (dependent on conditions of course), what equipment we would need. Our first day, we showed up to the dive shop early; we wanted to make sure that all our paperwork was complete, try on our rental fins (we brought the rest of our gear), and find out what time we should expect to get picked up from our hotel the next morning. From our first moment in the shop everything seemed amiss. They weren’t prepared for us, there was no easy way to identify who was working at the shop, who was a DMT (divemaster trainee for you surface-dwellers), and who was a customer. It felt like there was some other priority than the divers. I chalked it up to a busy business morning. Sea Dragon’s website had been well put together, and my email conversations with them had been professional with timely responses. I told myself this was a busy dive operation, not a suburban storefront. I worked to convince my wife, and to an extent myself, that the shop would really shine once we were in the water.
That wasn’t to be the case…
We met up with a few of our fellow divers after completing our paperwork, loaded into a van, and were off towards the dock. The boat was well equipped, clean, and spacious. After a quick orientation by the dive crew, breakfast and coffee were served and the boat was underway towards the Similian Islands. We met up with our divemaster and settled in for the ride to Turtlehead Rock with a well worn copy of Reef Fish Identification and talked about all we hoped to see on our dive.
Leisure Deck on the M/V Nam Sai – dining room and briefing deck rolled into one
Before long the boat was slowing and we were on the bottom deck gearing up, doing our buddy checks, and making sure our GoPro was ready to capture our adventure. (Our GoPro died on the first dive. I’ve since invested in an Ikelite housing for a DSLR and cannot recommend GoPro for travelers who rely on their cameras to capture once-in-a-lifetime shots).
Dive Deck of the M/V Nam Sai
The fish were as spectacular as we had imagined, the reef was overall healthy, and the visibility was good. But we were underwhelmed. The dive felt rushed: our divemaster was inexperienced and was in a hurry to cover a lot of ground. Meanwhile my wife and I were trying to soak in the beauty and depth of life on the reef. Back on the boat the crew was serving lunch. We settled into our table with our penang curry and our identification guide: our post dive tradition since our first dive has been to record all we could remember and try our best to find the names of the most memorable fish. We reviewed the dive, and hoped our afternoon would feel less hectic.
The afternoon brought another dive, a long ride back to Khao Lak, and more confusion at the dive shop. We waited over an hour before anyone would help us. No one could tell us where our gear was, where the wash bins were, or where we should store everything. We were frustrated with the disorganization, but we had come to dive, and were determined to do just that. With the local reef, Khao Nayak, on our schedule for the next day we were excited to dive off a longtail boat, and our optimism was undiminished.
A customer draws portraits of divemasters on the way back to port
A fishing vessel before Sunset
The following morning we noticed be an improved sense of organization at the dive shop, and the chaos from the previous day seemed to be a distant memory. We were off to a later start, and looked forward to a short boat ride and seeing the local reef. Back at the docks we helped load the boat and settled into the shade of the thatched roof as the boatman headed North, maneuvering us past the much larger vessels. We made small talk with our companions for the day and learned the confusion the day prior at the dive shop was due to an inspection from the Thai government, and that many of the dive guides were working illegally. I was disappointed the shop was skirting the laws. I imagined being able to dive with a Thai guide rather than the DMT we’d had the previous day. But the ride to the dive site was short, and my mind was more occupied with doing our pre-dive gear checks before we got to the dive site.
Our Longtail Dive Boat, waiting to head out to sea
Checking my wife’s tank I noticed an unusual and concerning level of wear on the valve o-ring. I let our divemaster know and was greeted by one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever seen and heard from a dive professional. Grabbing a ball point pen she dug the o-ring from her own tank, and doing the same to ours swapped them out. With a condescending tone she told me it would probably be fine. “They are normally good for a few years.” I was aghast. We were on a dive boat with no save-a-dive-kit, and divemasters who took safety to be a hassle. I pulled an o-ring from my regulator bag and quietly swapped it out.
(For those who don’t own their own gear, it’s normally expected to service and inspect tanks and valves once a year, or more often if subjected to harsh conditions, like tanks used by dive operations. At a few cents apiece, they are a critical connection between your regulator and your air source, and should be checked before every dive and replaced when worn, cracked, or showing checking from age.)
I would spend the remainder of our dives with safety questions forefront in my mind, making relaxing near impossible.
Fishing and diving boats moored in the bay north of Khao Lak
A longtail fishing boat moored just off shore, expect to wade out to your boat if diving from a longtail
The next two days were filled with more scheduled dives: another day on the M/V Nam Sai, and our final day back on the longtail, diving the Bang Sak wreck. We would see beautiful fish, octopi, massive moray eels, and awe-inspiring Giant Manta Rays. We saw schools of pacific lionfish, scorpionfish, dogface pufferfish, and seasnakes. I was attacked by a remora and watched triggerfish defend their nests from passerbys. We saw all the reef life any Discovery Channel addict could wish for: moorish idols, batfish, angelfish, sea slugs, urchins, and countless varieties of nudibranches, on only a single dive.
We had come to Khao Lak with the major goals of seeing Whale Sharks and Giant Manta Rays, and while the Whale Shark remains on our list, we had the honor of having two giant mantas fly in from the deep blue at Koh Bon, circling only a few feet overhead as cleaner-fish tended to their needs. I am still in awe of their size and grace.
An island cave at Koh Bon comes and goes with the tide. The island is a cleaning station for Giant Mantas and Whale Sharks
Despite the underwater beauty, the hours-long delays waiting for boats, abhor-able safety standards, being expected to load and unload boats while divemasters watched on, and allowing DMs and DMTs to skirt local labor laws, I left Khao Lak wishing the dive operation had been as amazing as the diving. The Similian Islands are a wonderful destination, and any diver who has the chance should take the opportunity to make bubbles in such a protected location. I would happily dive the Similians again, just not with Sea Dragon.
Hermit crabs devour a coconut while we wait for our delayed dive boat
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- Diving in Khao Lak - November 11, 2015