thailand

any recent information on diving in thailand?

there had been some conflicting reports after the tsunami a couple of years
ago.

if we go, how long is it worth going? a week? less? more?

thanks much

On Sun, 7 Oct 2007 18:15:45 -0700, "Veem" <ginmill01@cox.net> wrote:

> if we go, how long is it worth going? a week? less? more?

Depends upon how much you need to travel (time-wise) to get there...
When we go to Coz, I don't feel it's worth it unless I can stay at
least a week and that is with only a 2 hours flight... Actually, it
takes me longer to get to the airport and clear security than the
flight actually takes... I usually figure a day for travel each way to
anyplace in the US, Canada, or Mexico... Sometimes it's a short day,
sometimes it's a long day... From here to Thailand would be a *very*
long day... I doubt that I would even think about it unless I had at
least 2 weeks for the trip... YMMV, of course...

--
"I intend to live forever - so far, so good"

Thanks so much for the great info. We did go to Bangkok last year, with a
side trip to Chiang Mai and Ho Chi Minh city, but did not dive. We were
sort of thinking of going back to dive and a trip on down to Bali. We are
from AZ, so it would need to be 2-3 weeks, but sounds like unless we want to
do livaboard, the diving is not as good as it was before the Big Wave.
Maybe we should do Bali and Tahiti.


"Veem" <> wrote in message news:csfOi.161629$dI1.83767@newsfe08.phx...
> any recent information on diving in thailand?
>
> there had been some conflicting reports after the tsunami a couple of
> years ago.
>
> if we go, how long is it worth going? a week? less? more?
>
> thanks much
>

On Oct 8, 9:15 am, "Veem" <ginmil...@cox.net> wrote:

> Thanks so much for the great info. We did go to Bangkok last year, with a
> side trip to Chiang Mai and Ho Chi Minh city, but did not dive. We were
> sort of thinking of going back to dive and a trip on down to Bali. We are
> from AZ, so it would need to be 2-3 weeks, but sounds like unless we want to
> do livaboard, the diving is not as good as it was before the Big Wave.
> Maybe we should do Bali and Tahiti.

Why bother with overpriced and overfished Tahiti? Spend the 2-3 weeks
traveling around eastern Indonesia if you want unbeatable diving.

Really, wow, thanks!


"Greg Mossman" <mossman@qnet.com> wrote in message
news:1191861801.736850.193980@22g2000hsm.googlegro ups.com...
> On Oct 8, 9:15 am, "Veem" <ginmil...@cox.net> wrote:
>
>> Thanks so much for the great info. We did go to Bangkok last year, with
>> a
>> side trip to Chiang Mai and Ho Chi Minh city, but did not dive. We were
>> sort of thinking of going back to dive and a trip on down to Bali. We
>> are
>> from AZ, so it would need to be 2-3 weeks, but sounds like unless we want
>> to
>> do livaboard, the diving is not as good as it was before the Big Wave.
>> Maybe we should do Bali and Tahiti.
>
> Why bother with overpriced and overfished Tahiti? Spend the 2-3 weeks
> traveling around eastern Indonesia if you want unbeatable diving.

On Oct 8, 10:05 am, "Veem" <ginmil...@cox.net> wrote:

> Really, wow, thanks!

I'll expand that a bit:

Tahiti is very pretty topside, to be sure. Plenty of things to see
and do. It's similar to Hawaii, except French and a tad less
developed. Like Hawaii, it's lacking in certain fish species and soft
corals because of its remoteness. Like Hawaii, there are sky-high
prices, great sashimi, and Mormons. Unlike Hawaii, all the beaches
are topless.

Rangiroa has some impressive currents and potentially more white-tips
than you'll see anywhere else including Cocos, but there's not much
else other than big animal stuff to impress a diver.

In Indonesia, there are still plenty of sites to see big animals. I
saw quite a few sharks during my Bali-Komodo run, was buzzed by a
manta at two different sites, and experienced a great school of
bumphead parrotfish off Lombok. We were even supposed to do a mola
mola dive off Bali but that fell through. The difference is that you
also get a huge species diversity, including some bizarre creatures
found nowhere else on the planet, because all the worlds' fishies
originated from that area back somewhere in the early chapters of
Genesis. Also you get soft corals in colors that even God couldn't
have designed - they must have been put there by aliens. It's quite
unbelievable.

That said, the downsides are malaria, political insecurity, and
personally I don't like Indonesian food as much as Thai or French-
Polynesian, but there are some world-class resorts and liveaboards
there, it's really not that unsafe, and malaria is 99% preventable if
you plan ahead and stick to your plan. And I did get a bit addicted
to waking up to mie goreng (fried noodles) with an egg and a helping
dollop of sambal every morning. My next visit there, I'll try
Wakatobi or one of the North Sulawesi liveaboards, or maybe a
liveaboard to Raja Ampat. It's all good.

I don't know of any dedicated dive resorts in Tahiti, though the Kia
Ora in Rangiroa did have a nice dive shop on the premises. Most of
the hotels and dive shops run diving the European way, i.e. one tank
at a time. There are at least a couple shops that do 2-tank trips,
but I believe the Tahiti Aggressor was the one and only really dive-
dedicated operation and they left a few months ago for better climes.

I wasn't that impressed with Thailand and I did do the preferred
trip: a liveaboard up to the Burma Banks, and including sites along
the way in the Andaman Sea. We missed diving much of the Similans
because of the tsunami, but with all the boats that dive there, I
can't believe they're still in such great shape. On that trip,
besides the tsunami, we also experienced a post-dynamite night dive
that was the most depressing dive I've ever done. Again, like Tahiti,
there are great land-based attractions (though worlds apart from
Tahiti), but the diving is just something you do while you're there,
not a real reason to go there.

If you're up for experiencing a new and interesting part of the world
and doing a few dives along the way, then Tahiti or Thailand are both
great destinations worth traveling to. But if you're mainly
interested in a mind-blowing dive trip, I'd strongly suggest Indonesia.

Well you sold me on Indonesia. We're not especially into food (if we plan on
diving), because often great food and great diving don't go together. The
one exception was when we went to Yap and Palau in Feb. In Palau, there is
an Indian restaurant, The Taj, which was wonderful.

Thanks again for all the helpful info.


"Greg Mossman" <mossman@qnet.com> wrote in message
news:1191865731.220441.248770@50g2000hsm.googlegro ups.com...
> On Oct 8, 10:05 am, "Veem" <ginmil...@cox.net> wrote:
>
>> Really, wow, thanks!
>
> I'll expand that a bit:
>
> Tahiti is very pretty topside, to be sure. Plenty of things to see
> and do. It's similar to Hawaii, except French and a tad less
> developed. Like Hawaii, it's lacking in certain fish species and soft
> corals because of its remoteness. Like Hawaii, there are sky-high
> prices, great sashimi, and Mormons. Unlike Hawaii, all the beaches
> are topless.
>
> Rangiroa has some impressive currents and potentially more white-tips
> than you'll see anywhere else including Cocos, but there's not much
> else other than big animal stuff to impress a diver.
>
> In Indonesia, there are still plenty of sites to see big animals. I
> saw quite a few sharks during my Bali-Komodo run, was buzzed by a
> manta at two different sites, and experienced a great school of
> bumphead parrotfish off Lombok. We were even supposed to do a mola
> mola dive off Bali but that fell through. The difference is that you
> also get a huge species diversity, including some bizarre creatures
> found nowhere else on the planet, because all the worlds' fishies
> originated from that area back somewhere in the early chapters of
> Genesis. Also you get soft corals in colors that even God couldn't
> have designed - they must have been put there by aliens. It's quite
> unbelievable.
>
> That said, the downsides are malaria, political insecurity, and
> personally I don't like Indonesian food as much as Thai or French-
> Polynesian, but there are some world-class resorts and liveaboards
> there, it's really not that unsafe, and malaria is 99% preventable if
> you plan ahead and stick to your plan. And I did get a bit addicted
> to waking up to mie goreng (fried noodles) with an egg and a helping
> dollop of sambal every morning. My next visit there, I'll try
> Wakatobi or one of the North Sulawesi liveaboards, or maybe a
> liveaboard to Raja Ampat. It's all good.
>
> I don't know of any dedicated dive resorts in Tahiti, though the Kia
> Ora in Rangiroa did have a nice dive shop on the premises. Most of
> the hotels and dive shops run diving the European way, i.e. one tank
> at a time. There are at least a couple shops that do 2-tank trips,
> but I believe the Tahiti Aggressor was the one and only really dive-
> dedicated operation and they left a few months ago for better climes.
>
> I wasn't that impressed with Thailand and I did do the preferred
> trip: a liveaboard up to the Burma Banks, and including sites along
> the way in the Andaman Sea. We missed diving much of the Similans
> because of the tsunami, but with all the boats that dive there, I
> can't believe they're still in such great shape. On that trip,
> besides the tsunami, we also experienced a post-dynamite night dive
> that was the most depressing dive I've ever done. Again, like Tahiti,
> there are great land-based attractions (though worlds apart from
> Tahiti), but the diving is just something you do while you're there,
> not a real reason to go there.
>
> If you're up for experiencing a new and interesting part of the world
> and doing a few dives along the way, then Tahiti or Thailand are both
> great destinations worth traveling to. But if you're mainly
> interested in a mind-blowing dive trip, I'd strongly suggest Indonesia.
>

On Mon, 8 Oct 2007 11:59:06 -0700, "Veem" <ginmill01@cox.net> wrote:

> Well you sold me on Indonesia. We're not especially into food (if we plan on
> diving), because often great food and great diving don't go together. The
> one exception was when we went to Yap and Palau in Feb. In Palau, there is
> an Indian restaurant, The Taj, which was wonderful.

Different tastes, I guess... I've never been one to associate "great
food" with Indian cuisine... Probably because I don't have much of a
taste for curry...

--
"EARTH FIRST! We'll strip-mine the other planets later"

On Mon, 08 Oct 2007 10:48:51 -0700, Greg Mossman <mossman@qnet.com> wrote:

>On Oct 8, 10:05 am, "Veem" <ginmil...@cox.net> wrote:
>
>> Really, wow, thanks!
>
>I'll expand that a bit:
>
>Tahiti is very pretty topside, to be sure. Plenty of things to see
>and do. It's similar to Hawaii, except French and a tad less
>developed. Like Hawaii, it's lacking in certain fish species and soft
>corals because of its remoteness. Like Hawaii, there are sky-high
>prices, great sashimi, and Mormons. Unlike Hawaii, all the beaches
>are topless.

Not all of them.... Not Bora Bora.... I saw no topless people whatsoever...

Not Moorea either that I could see. And in the Sheraton Moorea resort, females
had to wear a saroong everywhere except the pool area itself.

>I don't know of any dedicated dive resorts in Tahiti

http://www.topdive.com/

It's where I stayed. It's where I got both OW and Rescue.

____________________________________________
Regards,

Arnold

On Oct 8, 4:52 pm, mag3 <zmpmag3-plon...@yahoo.com> wrote:

> >Tahiti is very pretty topside, to be sure. Plenty of things to see
> >and do. It's similar to Hawaii, except French and a tad less
> >developed. Like Hawaii, it's lacking in certain fish species and soft
> >corals because of its remoteness. Like Hawaii, there are sky-high
> >prices, great sashimi, and Mormons. Unlike Hawaii, all the beaches
> >are topless.
>
> Not all of them.... Not Bora Bora.... I saw no topless people whatsoever...
>
> Not Moorea either that I could see. And in the Sheraton Moorea resort, females
> had to wear a saroong everywhere except the pool area itself.

How odd. I went in the off-season and still saw plenty of
toplessness, though it's supposed to be peak season in July and August
when all the French arrive en-masse.

> >I don't know of any dedicated dive resorts in Tahiti
>
> http://www.topdive.com/
>
> It's where I stayed. It's where I got both OW and Rescue.

Hmm. According to the website, "The Bora Bora Dive resort is the one
and only dive resort in French Polynesia." so I was pretty close.

What makes it a dedicated dive resort other than the name and the fact
that there's a dive shop on the premises? I didn't even see any
mention of dive packages on the hotel's rates page.