Phuket

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Well, folks. I made it to Phuket. It's a lot bigger than 5 years ago when I was here last. Lots of changes - it's getting a lot more built up. Starting to look like Miami with all these beach side hotels and resorts. Very swanky and all. Not exactly what I am looking for. On the plus side - Bangla Road - the red light district is still here and going strong. The beach is still fantastic. The water is super warm and blue. Topless euro babes. Hotels off the beach are still cheap, so is food and drinks. The night life is great.
So for the first couple of days after getting here, I just went to the beach and slept a lot. It's really hot up here - everyone is saying it's been unseasonably warm. Takes a bit of getting used to. It's 11 hour difference with NY, so it reeking havoc with my bio clock. Then on the 17th I got on a 4 day dive boat to the Similan and Surin Islands. 14 dives in total. It was amazing. We got to see all sorts of marine life - Manta Rays, Leopard Sharks, Octopuses, Turtles, Giant Murray Eels, crabs, shrimps, tons of differential coral and a lot of fish. These islands are paradise for marine life. They are mostly uninhabited, marine park protected. Some have amazing beaches with no one there. At one point, the boat moored 300 feet of the most amazing beach I've ever seen, and we swap to the island. It is as close to paradise as it gets. Clear blue waters, jungle behind the beach, fine white sand. And no one there except me and 3 of my shipmates! The sand was literally as fine as flour - I've never seen it like that. I will post the pictures at a later time. Great snorkeling right of the beach too.
Got back form the boat yesterday. Trying to recuperate a bit. Moving to Ko Lanta tomorrow. It's supposed to be super chill island with amazing beaches. Kind of looking forward to a beach front bungalow and some peace and quite.
On the side note, while on the boat, the dive guides said that there is a shortage of English/Russian speaking dive instructors. With the New Russians having money to spend, apparently they are spending a lot of it in Thailand. So when I get tired of being a beach bum, I am might get a dive master license and help separate the New Russians with their cash. LOL. It would be cool to dive and get paid for it. Will see what happens, but it might be a cool opportunity. Unfortunately, I left my dive logs in storage, so my poor brother might have to dig them up for me if I do decide to do it 😊
The pictures from the dive can be found here.

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Comments

[richie]

Go For It
Are you kidding me, go for it, you would be living the dream. Doing what you love and getting paid for it. Dive On.