Phi Phi SCUBA

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Last night was Friday and I took it pretty easy after my adventurous day and knowing that I was doing two dives today. I dinner right next to water, actually shortly after I left my spot was in the water. I had my favorite Thai soup of chicken, coconut milk and different Thai herbs. I know I know, I should be eating seafood here, and I have been, it is okay to divert once or twice I think. I met my first American at dinner also. Larissa and her husband Hedrick are here on holiday as well. They both live in NYC now, Hedrick is originally from Sweden. It was nice to talk with a couple on familiar things. After dinner I walked down to a bar, really just a hut that serves Mai Tai’s and beer with a few tables out front, I had a couple of beers and made friends with two couples. The first from Mainz, Germany, which was cool that I had been there and we could talk about that. The second from Johannesburg, South Africa, very nice people. At the restaurant next door, Sawadee, a mother and daughter from Paris were having trouble communicating with the Thai server and I heard them mention it. So I went over and helped translate in from French to English. They were grateful and it made my night. After listening to quartet of Aussies butcher a few old and poorly done American tunes I decide to do some karaoke as well. After I was finished and had sat back down they came and talked with me. After a brief conversation, and much chiding about my karaoke skills, I was off to bed.

I woke up at 5:30 to be sure that I could catch the sunrise, go for a run, take in breakfast, and still have plenty of time before we left to go SCUBA diving. My dive leader is Paula. Paula is a young and gorgeous Brazilian woman who became an instructor, bought a boat and a bunch of equipment, and moved to Thailand to take people diving. Rough life right? Along with Paula came a second young and gorgeous Brazilian woman, Daniela. Daniela met Paula here on Phi Phi, Daniela is looking to become a master diver as well and decide to do it in Thailand. So she left her husband for six months and moved to Thailand and happened upon another Brazilian. I found the story interesting enough to summarize. Anyone else feel like they have chosen the wrong life path about now? I was thinking maybe I had.

Our first dive was off of Bamboo island at a large circular reef. Our dive depth went to a maximum of about 40 feet and was pretty spectacular. The reef here was like out of a movie. After we entered the water our decent took us to the bottom and then we swam upon the reef which raised up about 10 feet off the ocean bottom and was teeming with life. My favorite was watching Paula “sneak” up on a pair of cuttle fish, the fish moved between her hands as she moved them back and forth on either side of it, changing colors as it did so. Paula took us this dive first so that she could check on coral that she is trying to grow together with a Thai University. It was pretty incredible to see. They had attached coral “saplings” to metal grids and had them laid out across the ocean floor measuring the growth, seeing if the coral is “taking.”

After about 45 minutes we surfaced, ate lunch, and prepared for our second dive. This dive too place at Mosquito Island. The current here was awesome! We didn’t even have to kick to move where we were going. It was like a fish highway down there. One only had to make sure that they did not get pushed into something or someone. Paula had seen leopard sharks on this dive only days earlier, unfortunately, we did not see any on our dive. I took a ton of pictures on both dives, but one of my favorite was of a huge fan coral. I will be sure to post it. This dive lasted about the same amount of time and we went about the same depth. I really am hoping for something spectacular tomorrow.

Diving kind of took it out of me so I grabbed a towel and claimed a spot on the beach. Listening to the water and the waves is a perfect sound to fall asleep to. So I had a short nap, took a swim, and am now going to meet a couple from Australia who were going out diving today as well. Tonight will most likely be another early night as I have two dives again tomorrow.

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Photos

My blog spot
Just so you can see what I am looking at as I write these. Enjoying a Tiger beer while doing so.

Mullet!
There was a mullet sighting last night. He has been championing his look for a long time. Rock it dude.... rock it.

Bird
I saw this crane in the water and thought it looked great, but then I saw it fly.