Koh Tao Diving

Salty wrote:
[snip]
> (to American standards) rustic. Tioman for one has some great sites
> and is cheap. We went several times but ultimately decided we
> preferred to travel elsewhere (personal preference, we know many
> people in S'pore who go every weekend).

I did my open water certification there as well as my Divemaster
certification years later. I love the diving when done from Kampang
Salang (only!) DiveAsia is a PADI 5-Star shop with great boats never
having more than 6-8 people on them, their DM's are friendly and know
the sites, and they let experienced divers using computers dive their
own profiles. By the way, this is where the "Bali Hai" sequence was
filmed for the movie 'South Pacific.' If THAT doesn't give you an idea
about the beauty of the place nothing will! But again, this is from the
village of Salang. The other villages on the island are not nearly as
idyllic.

Steve Kramer
Chiang Mai, Thailand
http://www.photoenvisions.com

--
"The voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new horizons,
but in seeing with new eyes." - Marcel Proust

Steve Kramer <steve@seatraveler.com> wrote in message news:<3FD34420.C12F4E4E@seatraveler.com>...

> I did my open water certification there as well as my Divemaster
> certification years later. I love the diving when done from Kampang
> Salang (only!) DiveAsia is a PADI 5-Star shop with great boats never
> having more than 6-8 people on them, their DM's are friendly and know
> the sites, and they let experienced divers using computers dive their
> own profiles. By the way, this is where the "Bali Hai" sequence was
> filmed for the movie 'South Pacific.' If THAT doesn't give you an idea
> about the beauty of the place nothing will! But again, this is from the
> village of Salang. The other villages on the island are not nearly as
> idyllic.
> Steve Kramer
> Chiang Mai, Thailand
> http://www.photoenvisions.com

Hey Steve, nice to see you. I hope that you, your wife and family are
doing well for this holiday season.

Salty wrote:
>
> Steve Kramer <steve@seatraveler.com> wrote in message news:<3FD34420.C12F4E4E@seatraveler.com>...
>
> > I did my open water certification there as well as my Divemaster
> > certification years later. I love the diving when done from Kampang
> > Salang (only!) DiveAsia is a PADI 5-Star shop with great boats never
> > having more than 6-8 people on them, their DM's are friendly and know
> > the sites, and they let experienced divers using computers dive their
> > own profiles. By the way, this is where the "Bali Hai" sequence was
> > filmed for the movie 'South Pacific.' If THAT doesn't give you an idea
> > about the beauty of the place nothing will! But again, this is from the
> > village of Salang. The other villages on the island are not nearly as
> > idyllic.
> > Steve Kramer
> > Chiang Mai, Thailand
> > http://www.photoenvisions.com
>
> Hey Steve, nice to see you. I hope that you, your wife and family are
> doing well for this holiday season.

Very well, thank you! And to you and yours as well. I just wish I had
more time to spend in the water. I have assignment shoots and photo
safaris scheduled well into January. I wish another client would book
another beach shoot and some underwater photos! One client sent us down
last month for a week's fun in the sun, but I wouldn't mind another one
this month. Most are taking us north into the jungles along the Burmese
or Lao borders for landscape shooting with the acres of blooming
sunflowers that are just popping out now, and photographing Hill tribes.
Not much diving to be found in those mountains...

Steve Kramer
Chiang Mai, Thailand
http://www.photoenvisions.com
--
"The voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new horizons,
but in seeing with new eyes." - Marcel Proust

Steve Kramer <steve@seatraveler.com> wrote in message news:<3FD3D28E.A9A1D56B@seatraveler.com>...

> Very well, thank you! And to you and yours as well. I just wish I had
> more time to spend in the water. I have assignment shoots and photo
> safaris scheduled well into January. I wish another client would book
> another beach shoot and some underwater photos! One client sent us down
> last month for a week's fun in the sun, but I wouldn't mind another one
> this month. Most are taking us north into the jungles along the Burmese
> or Lao borders for landscape shooting with the acres of blooming
> sunflowers that are just popping out now, and photographing Hill tribes.
> Not much diving to be found in those mountains...
> Steve Kramer
> Chiang Mai, Thailand
> http://www.photoenvisions.com

Well, not much diving for you maybe... but from what I've seen of your
pics, the local shots that you do will be wonderful. You have a talent
Steve. I'm sure it will work out to be in your favor. So, here's to
2004... and hopes that it will be both of ours favor. :) Cheers.

Eric Edwards wrote:

> IMHO, trying to do 6-8 dives a day is just plain nuts. Most people only
> do the 3 boat dives and maybe a night dive. As a backpacker, this is a
> drawback to Sipadan. I would prefer to dive 2-3 times per day for maybe
> 2 days, take a day off, and repeat.

Then you'd better be careful on some live-aboards. When we dive Palau
with a live-aboard, we make at least five dives a day. Six if we do a
night dive too. But in Palau it worth the effort! It's wake up, dive,
eat, dive, sleep, dive, eat, dive, sleep, dive, sleep, eat, night dive,
sleep. By the third day we have people literally scattered all over the
decks sound asleep between dives. At that point my wife usually skips
one or two of the next day's diving. I start skipping dives after the
fourth or fifth day. Once, when we were staying on Mabul, there was some
guy staying on Sipadan who made nine dives in one day. He started before
dawn and finished up around 11pm. We did three per day, or four if
doing a night dive as well. One of the nicest things about now living
closer to our favorite dive sites is that we can come back more often
and not feel the need to cram in so many dives each day simply to
justify the cost.

Steve Kramer
Chiang Mai, Thailand
http://www.photoenvisions.com



--
"The voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new horizons,
but in seeing with new eyes." - Marcel Proust

"Salty" <babette7401@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:e673a058.0312070424.737bc201@posting.google.c om...
> "chilly" <slarson@shaw.canada> wrote in message
news:<E5Pvb.461479$6C4.276885@pd7tw1no>...
>
> > searching for a dive component for my vacation. Something idyllic, with
> > great diving and a bit of nightlife. Know any place like that,
relatively
> > easy to access from Singapore or Jakarta?
>
> chilly bean, my sources have this to say :

Thanks for this Salty.

>
> There are some really fabulous places that have both but that is their
> monsoon season so that nixs them. If she really wants night life I
> guess I'd have to say Bali or Caines, Australia would be the only
> places I can think of.

I've been to Bali and Caines is too far out of the way.

>
> Kuta Beach is Bali's hot spot, but that's where the bombing was too.

Yes, but New York is where the planes went into the towers. So should
people consider not going to New York? My last trip over to SE Asia was
within a few days of 9/11. I don't let things like that worry me. If it's
your time, it's your time.

I qualify those statements by saying, I don't travel into war torn countries
and wouldn't travel to Bali, if they'd continued to have followup bombings.

> Bali's diving gets mixed reviews. From friends of ours dove there,
> some loved it, some said it wasn't worth it. We do have a friend who
> used to teach there if she ends up wanted recommended dive sites.

The diving I did there was not all that, however, I have friends that dove
with Mola Mola. I'm sure my opinion would be quite different, had I had
that experience. I love Bali though for everything else that it offers. It
is one of the world's treasures and everyone should get there while they
can. It is already being ruined by tourism and it's not going to get any
better. Prices are probably not too bad right now either, with all the
tourists staying away because of the bombing.

>
> On the other hand, great diving who's night life would depend on who
> else is around when you get there is all around here in May. Our
> favorites for bang for the buck at that time of year were Manado and
> Sipidan.

I looked at Manado quite seriously for this trip. But when I found the
airfare to be almost double that to Sipidan, my outlook changed a bit. :^)

>
> Sipidan of course everyone has heard of and I think you heard us rave
> about the marine life we saw there (the reefs though are phaa). We
> never felt unsafe, there was alot of military presence.

Right now it is between Sipidan and Layang Layang. I might have some
friends that will be in Sipidan while I'm over in the neighbourhood and so
that would certainly influence the decision.

> There are also alot of places closer to S'pore at that time of year
> that can be pretty great too, but some of their accommodations can get
> (to American standards) rustic. Tioman for one has some great sites
> and is cheap. We went several times but ultimately decided we
> preferred to travel elsewhere (personal preference, we know many
> people in S'pore who go every weekend). I can give you more if you
> want.

Actually, it had occurred to me that I might slide up to Tioman for a couple
of days and get some diving in there too.

Please thank your friend for all of her input. I appreciate it very much.
And thank you again for going to the trouble of asking her for me.

"chilly" <slarson@shaw.canada> wrote in message
news:U26Db.702474$6C4.182077@pd7tw1no...

> The diving I did there was not all that, however, I have friends that dove
> with Mola Mola. I'm sure my opinion would be quite different, had I had
> that experience.

You can do that in California. Big deal.

"chilly" <slarson@shaw.canada> wrote in message news:<U26Db.702474$6C4.182077@pd7tw1no>...
<snipping some>

> I've been to Bali and Caines is too far out of the way.

That's probably my fault for not narrowing it down specifically to
places close to Bali / Sing.

> > Kuta Beach is Bali's hot spot, but that's where the bombing was too.

> Yes, but New York is where the planes went into the towers. So should
> people consider not going to New York? My last trip over to SE Asia was
> within a few days of 9/11. I don't let things like that worry me. If it's
> your time, it's your time.
>
> I qualify those statements by saying, I don't travel into war torn countries
> and wouldn't travel to Bali, if they'd continued to have followup bombings.

I understand perfectly. You see though, this is somewhat of a C&P of
what my sources had to say. They don't know you and they don't know
how you feel about the terrorism stuff. They were just trying to
'cover that base' by being certain to mention the Bali incident.

> > Bali's diving gets mixed reviews. From friends of ours dove there,
> > some loved it, some said it wasn't worth it. We do have a friend who
> > used to teach there if she ends up wanted recommended dive sites.
>
> The diving I did there was not all that, however, I have friends that dove
> with Mola Mola. I'm sure my opinion would be quite different, had I had
> that experience. I love Bali though for everything else that it offers. It
> is one of the world's treasures and everyone should get there while they
> can. It is already being ruined by tourism and it's not going to get any
> better. Prices are probably not too bad right now either, with all the
> tourists staying away because of the bombing.

I'm told things are generally half-price now as to what they were when
I was there in 2001. I wish to go back and buy furniture there, then
have it shipped back via a crate. <g> If only I could.

> > On the other hand, great diving who's night life would depend on who
> > else is around when you get there is all around here in May. Our
> > favorites for bang for the buck at that time of year were Manado and
> > Sipidan.

> I looked at Manado quite seriously for this trip. But when I found the
> airfare to be almost double that to Sipidan, my outlook changed a bit. :^)

Ahhh. That isn't good. Where would your starting point be though ??
You might be able to be flexible on that, right ??

> > There are also alot of places closer to S'pore at that time of year
> > that can be pretty great too, but some of their accommodations can get
> > (to American standards) rustic. Tioman for one has some great sites
> > and is cheap. We went several times but ultimately decided we
> > preferred to travel elsewhere (personal preference, we know many
> > people in S'pore who go every weekend). I can give you more if you
> > want.

> Actually, it had occurred to me that I might slide up to Tioman for a couple
> of days and get some diving in there too.

> Please thank your friend for all of her input. I appreciate it very much.
> And thank you again for going to the trouble of asking her for me.

I'll thank both her, him and my other source too. :) Let me know if
you want me to ask about specific places to stay / dive ops in Tioman,
Spidan, Layang Layang.

"Salty" <babette7401@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:e673a058.0312142113.7879343a@posting.google.c om...
> "chilly" <slarson@shaw.canada> wrote in message
news:<U26Db.702474$6C4.182077@pd7tw1no>...
>
(snip), this is somewhat of a C&P of
> what my sources had to say. They don't know you and they don't know
> how you feel about the terrorism stuff. They were just trying to
> 'cover that base' by being certain to mention the Bali incident.

No worries. Under those circumstances, I'd likely have mentioned it too.

>
(snip)> > better. Prices are probably not too bad right now either, with
all the
> > tourists staying away because of the bombing.
>
> I'm told things are generally half-price now as to what they were when
> I was there in 2001. I wish to go back and buy furniture there, then
> have it shipped back via a crate. <g> If only I could.

I have some furniture, carvings, etc. from Sing and Bali. They dry out
pretty fast up here, very hard to care for.

>
> > I looked at Manado quite seriously for this trip. But when I found the
> > airfare to be almost double that to Sipidan, my outlook changed a bit.
:^)
>
> Ahhh. That isn't good. Where would your starting point be though ??
> You might be able to be flexible on that, right ??

I am flexible from the standpoint, that I could fly into Manado from either
Jakarta or Sing, but the price was virtually the same.
So it won't be this year. Maybe next time, when I save a bit more money
(ha).

> > Please thank your friend for all of her input. I appreciate it very
much.
> > And thank you again for going to the trouble of asking her for me.
>
> I'll thank both her, him and my other source too. :) Let me know if
> you want me to ask about specific places to stay / dive ops in Tioman,

I might do that for Tioman. Thanks.

> Spidan, Layang Layang.

There is only one place to stay on Layang Layang. :^) Thanks again.

"Greg Mossman" <mossman@qnet.com> wrote in message
news:3fdd00a1$0$75801$6c56adcd@news.qnet.com...
> "chilly" <slarson@shaw.canada> wrote in message
> news:U26Db.702474$6C4.182077@pd7tw1no...
>
> > The diving I did there was not all that, however, I have friends that
dove
> > with Mola Mola. I'm sure my opinion would be quite different, had I had
> > that experience.
>
> You can do that in California. Big deal.

Have you ever done it?