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Home Sweet Home
The flight was half an hour late. The flight home was very calm and I managed to catch a couple of hours sleep. We arrived in Zurich 07.05 am at the new terminal E, which is connected to the rest of the airport through the Skymetro (the name is a bit misleading, I didn't see a piece of sky on the whole ride...).
A couple of hours later I was safely back home.
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Bangkok the 3rd
I relaxed a bit during my last two days in Bangkok. On the first day I visited the Zoo and later spent some time shopping at Banglamphu Market and in Khao San Road.
I've spent the last day reading a book and writing postcards, before I took an early bus to the airport.
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Good-bye Diving... for now
My last two dives were close to the island (I had to get back in time to catch my ferry).
1. Dive: Table Coral City. It was a nice and relaxed dive and we saw some rare things: A Marble Flounder, which I almost couldn't spot (same color as the sand), a Mantas Shrimp who was completely out of its hole and a Giant Seahorse.
2. Dive: Hin Dot. This is one of the lesser well known dive sites on Koh Phi-Phi. We found an Egg of a Leopard Shark, a Scorpionfish. When we went a little deeper, we found a big fish cage, where a big Batfish and lots of Porcupine fish were trapped. Our divemaster opened the cage, and we hope that they found their way out.
Shortly after returning to the Diveshop, I took the Boat to Phuket. In Phuket Town I switched to the bus to Bangkok, which took 13 1/2 hours... it wasn't very comfortable.
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2 out of the Top 3 Dive Sites in Thailand
By Speedboat we drove to Hin Daeng and Hin Muang, which are recognised together with Richelieu Rock (Similian Islands) to be the Top 3 Dive Sites in Thailand.
1. Dive: Hin Daeng. The Visibility was great, 30+m, unfortunately we didn't see any of the Big Stuff (Manta Rays and Whale Sharks), it was nevertheless a beautiful Dive. We saw lots of big Mooray Eels, a school of Chevron Barracudas, lots of Indian Triggerfishes, a couple of Titan Triggerfishes, a Spotfin Lionfish and a Short-Nose Unicornfish.
2. Dive: Hin Muang. Again beautiful Visibility. We saw dozens of tiny Red-Tooth Triggerfishes (~3cm long), a Great Barracuda, a Titan Triggerfish who was circling a Yellow-Margin Triggerfish and again lots of Mooray Eel.
The return trip was very wet, the current had picked up a little bit and we were soaked by the time we reached the harbor.
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The 'Thai-Tanic'
We were not sure if the Captain'd be able to find the wreck, because some fishermen cut the buoyline and our boat didn't have GPS, but we were ready to take our chances.
The 1. Dive site was Anemone Reef, which was awesome. Close to where we descended were hundreds of different fish swimming in all directions, I never saw so many fish in one place before. It was just beautiful... We saw a Snake Eel, a Mantas Shrimp, which retreated into its whole once we approached, a Boxfish and a Turtle.
Whilst we were diving the captain managed to attach a buoy to the severed line and we could do our second dive as planned.
The Wreck is called King Cruiser and was a ferry between Phuket and Koh Phi-Phi which crashed into Anemone Reef and thereafter sank in 1997. The current was very strong and the visibility very poor, nevertheless I was awestruck, how the wreck was claimed by oceanic life. Unfortunately part of the Middle Deck collapsed last summer and it isn't possible anymore to penetrate the wreck. Through the windows we could see into the car deck (I saw nothing, it was too dark) and into the VIP Lounge, where you could still distinguish the seats.
To round the day off our third dive was at Phuket Shark Point. As usual with those kind of names, there was not a shark in sight... We did see a Great Barracuda, which was approx. 1.2m long, and lots of other tropical fishes.
This night I went to the Reggae Bar to watch a Thai Boxing Match.
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More Local Diving
Because the Dive Shop didn't find enough people for a Trip to the Wreck, we did 2 local dives instead.
1. Dive: Bida Nok. Saw another Leopard Shark, 5 Lionfish, 2 Scorpionfish, a school of Baracuda, a couple Batfish, a few Boxer Shrimps and a Titan Triggerfish 'Family' (4 Triggers in different sizes who swam in a neat formation).
2. Dive: North Point. We found a Frogfish, a big Mooray Eel, a school of Rainbow Runners, a Hawksbill Turtle, and an Orange-Lined Triggerfish.
During Dinner I finally managed to find a restaurant which showed Finding Nemo (it's normally always played in the mornings), which was hillarious.
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Nice Diving
After a 1 week break, I was very happy to finally get back into the water.
1. Dive: Phi Ley Bay. Saw only the usual stuff: Lionfish, Porcupine Fish, Pufferfish, young triggerfish and a big Potato Grouper.
2. Dive: Bida Nay. This one was awesome, we saw a Banded Seasnake, a Leopard Shark (who was sleeping), a Blue-Spotted Stingray, a Scorpionfish, a Hawksbill Turtle, an Indian Triggerfish, and at the very end, a Tiger-Tailed Seahorse!
Since I was still suffering from Scuba Diving withdrawal ;-), I decided to do another Dive today.
3. Dive (Night): Ton Say Bay: We went to the Dive site by longtail boat, which was a first for me.
It was really dark down there and we swam, by mistake, into the entrance of a small cave, fortunately the current was friendly, and we got out again. We saw 2 Great Baracudas, a big Batfish, some Glass Shrimp and a Hermit Crab. By chance I found a Bearded Scorpionfish, I was swimming directly above him.
Afterwards I went to the Hippie's Bar, where I met a couple of friends and we watched a fantastic Fire Show.
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On to Koh Phi-Phi (again)
Not much going on, after taking the early boat, I spent a relaxing day on the beach reading.
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Krabi again
I didn't really know where I should go next, whether back to Koh Phi-Phi or to Koh Tao, so I went to Krabi first and decided to go to Koh Phi-Phi the next day, hoping that the weather would stabilize itself...
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Koh Lanta
I spent 3 Days on Koh Lanta, where I really felt that it was off-season, I was walking along the beach and saw only 2 tourists and a few Thais.
Unfortunately it was raining a couple of times every day, so I spent my time reading and playing Jenga.
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Hanging Around
Since I was troubled by a slight ear-ache I visited the local medical clinic, where I discovered that I had an ear infection, which means I have to stay out of the water for two days... :-(
It got worse, the next day it started to rain really hard and long, this is the first time I felt that it was monsoon season. To spend the time I went to a restaurant where I saw 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen', '28 Days Later', 'The Beach' and parts of 'Any Given Sunday' and 'Two Weeks Notice'.
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