Scuba Diving and Liveaboards Phuket, Thailand

Of all the feasts and festivals in Thailand, which are many, the Songkran Festival is the most striking, and it is celebrated not only in this country but also in Burma, Cambodia and the Lao State.
Songkran has traditionally been celebrated as the New Year for many centuries, and is believed to have been adapted from an Indian festival. It is now observed nationwide, even in the far south. However, the most famous Songkran celebrations are still in the northern city of Chiang Mai, where it continues for six days and even longer. In Phuket the main day is the 13th of April, with some starting a day early or carrying on the next day.
The date of the festival was originally set by astrological calculation, but now fixed to the 13th of April which is in the hottest time of the year in Thailand, at the end of the dry season.

Songkran is a Buddhist festival and many people go to a wat (Buddhist monastery) to pray and give food to monks. They may also cleanse Buddha images from household shrines as well as Buddha images at monasteries by gently pouring water mixed with a Thai fragrance over them. It is believed that doing this will bring good luck and prosperity for the New Year. In many cities, such as Chiang Mai, the Buddha images from all of the city’s important monasteries are paraded through the streets so that people can toss water at them, ritually ‘bathing’ the images, as they pass by on ornately decorated floats.

But the most obvious celebration of Songkran is the throwing of water. Thais roam the streets with containers of water or water guns (sometimes mixed with mentholated talc), or post themselves at the side of roads with a garden hose and drench each other and passers-by. This, however, was not always the main activity of this festival. Songkran was traditionally a time to visit and pay respects to elders, including family members, friends, neighbours, and monks. The songkran festival is counted as a new life. The throwing of water originated as a way to pay respect to people, by capturing the water after it had been poured over the Buddha’s for cleansing and then using this “blessed” water to give good fortune to elders and family by gently pouring it on the shoulder.

Among young people the holiday evolved to include dousing strangers with water to relieve the heat, since April is the hottest month in Thailand (temperatures can rise to over 100°F or 40°C on some days). This has further evolved into water fights and splashing water over people riding in vehicles.
In recent years there have been calls to moderate the festival to lessen the many alcohol-related road accidents as well as injuries attributed to extreme behaviour such as water being thrown in the faces of traveling motorcyclists.

Songkran is also celebrated in many places with a pageant in which young women demonstrate their beauty and unique talents, as judged by the audience. The level of financial support usually determines the winner, since, to show your support you must purchase necklaces, which you place on your chosen girl.
In Phuket Songkran starts off innocuously enough but by midday on April 13 streets are lined with pickup trucks with their beds loaded with ice-cold water which is thrown at any passer by. It can be a chaotic scene.

Small children and adults alike delight in using water guns and spraying anyone who comes in their path – no one is safe. It is best to leave leave your cameras and anything likely to suffer water damage behind in your hotel room, because of all the water flying around.

The Mai Khao Marine Turtle Foundation based in the north of Phuket had it’s 4th annual release of 100 turtles on the 29th of March this year. Scuba Cat decided to support this by sponsoring a release of a turtle back into the Andaman Sea. The important annual event is organized to raise funds for and awareness of the plight of Phuket’s critically endangered sea turtles and is supported by the Phuket Marine Biological Center and the Royal Thai Navy, the event sees the release of rehabilitated green turtles back into the Andaman Sea.

Sarah Kench, the GM and Course Director, Kath Ridley the tour leader of Scuba Adventure and Debbie Woods The Customer Service manager all went along to support the event held on the beach at Mai Khao, along with Jade, Debbie’s 1 year old daughter.

There were activities such as batik painting and turtle awareness going on throughout the afternoon along with light refreshments and a monks blessing for the new to be released green turtles.

After waiting to queuing in a busy registration Scuba Cat were allocated number 73 for release, this was a 10 month old green turtle, Sarah was the one elected to release it.

After some training we were called to beach in groups of 5, this allowed the turtles enough space to comfortably be released without big crowds around them which could cause stress. They were taken from holding tanks to the water edge and set free, the waves then helped them out to sea.

Phuket’s sea turtles face multiple threats and their numbers have severely depleted in recent years. Commercial fishing kills thousands of them every year. Many more die from eating or becoming trapped in plastic debris littering the ocean, not to mention entanglement in fishing nets and being hit by speedboats.

Every 2,500 baht raised pays for the rehabilitation of one turtle and its release back into the Andaman Sea. The work done by the Mai Khao Marine Turtle Foundation (founded by JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa), the Injured Turtle Rehabilitation Program (under the Phuket Marine Biological Center) and the Turtle Hatchery Program (under the Royal Thai Navy) is possible thanks to ongoing financial support from the Phuket community.

Phuket’s sea turtles are facing multiple threats and their numbers have severely depleted in recent years. Commercial fishing kills thousands of them every year. Many more die from eating or becoming trapped in plastic debris littering the ocean.

Mai Khao beach and the northern end of the adjacent Nai Yang beach are the only beaches where turtles lay their eggs in Phuket . These two locations have a long natural deserted beach stretching more than 17km. They form part of the Sirinath National Park, which is a protected marine and coastal area.

This is a nesting area of the giant Leatherback Turtle, one of the world’s most ancient species. These turtles on average weigh 450 kg. However, the Leatherback population is fast diminishing and its status is very critical. It is the only turtle without a true protective shell, though its outer protection is leathery scale-less skin – hence its name.

The breeding season of the turtles is November to March. The females come ashore just after dusk and return to the ocean as dawn breaks. The nesting site is selected and they dig a small pit using the rear flippers where they lay between 40 and 180 eggs, they try to conceal the nest once they finished by covering it with sand. The whole process takes about 1 hour. If left to nature the hatchlings will emerge after about 60 days digging their way out of the pit , usually at night so it is cooler and run towards the sea. House lights and hotel developments along the beach can disoriented the young turtles causing them to actually crawl the wrong way going away from the sea. Some large Phuket resorts have focused their attention on ensuring that turtles stand a chance of survival in the Phuket region by making the beach area environmentally friendly to the nesting turtles.

At nesting time environment groups and the local villagers of Mai Khao work very hard to protect the eggs. They take the eggs to their hatchery, where the baby turtles are protected from the vagaries of nature as well as human exploitation. During the breeding season, the local villagers patrol the beaches at night and keep records of the eggs that have been laid.

The Mai Khao Marine Turtle Foundation was launched in 2002 and raises funds and awareness for the plight of the critically endangered giant leatherback turtles that nest in the area. It also co-ordinates with the Phuket Marine Biological Centre (PMBC).

Like most scuba divers, you were probably already fascinated with the beauty of both the scenery and marine life of the underwater world from the first dive. The next step is capturing this unique environment by taking some images with underwater photography. Whether you intend to take snapshots to show your friends and family, or create beautiful images of the world below by traveling to exotic destinations, you have to start somewhere.

At some point or another, most divers have thought about learning how to shoot underwater photography, many have taken the adventure dive as part of the advanced open water course. The affordability of digital cameras and the ability to instantly see the outcome of your efforts has reduced the barrier to trying and the learning curve to almost nothing. Add the ability to shoot video clips with even the most basic point & shoot cameras, and you can make scuba diving vacation memories to be the envy of your office and family.

There are many things to think about BEFORE picking up a camera.
Good buoyancy control is an essential skill not only for diving but for taking good photographs too. This needs to be mastered before adding the extra equipment and objective of taking a camera underwater. Taking the Peak Performance Buoyancy certification can do this.
Knowing the marine life you are going to photograph is a pretty big part of photography too, you need to be able to predict the movements and behaviour to get the best images. This can be studied in the underwater AWARE Fish ID and Naturalist specialties.
Obviously you will have new equipment with you, (the Camera) so a course, which teaches the use of this, is a good start point too, the Digital Underwater Photography course will cover this for you.

You may be a competent or experienced photographer on land but moving this experience underwater has a whole different set of issues to think about.

The first step to understanding any kind of photography is understanding your camera. If you have a new camera and housing, take the time to read the manuals. It may seem like a simple thing to do, but many people don’t.
As with any new diving equipment that you purchase, you should try out the photography equipment in a pool prior to diving, whenever possible. You will also want to take new camera housings underwater without the camera to ensure they are functioning properly. You don’t want to find problems with the housing while your camera is in it, this could lead to an expensive lesson.
No matter what camera you have, from an entry-level digital “point & shoot” to the most expensive dSLR , there are ten rules of underwater photography that should always be remember. Many of these rules are related to composition in the underwater environment and every photographer can benefit from proper composition.

1) Get Close, and when you think you are close enough, get closer again

Underwater photography differs from conventional wildlife photography, as it needs to be conducted up close. To get the best results you have to put as little water between your lens and the subject as possible.

The water holds small particles in it that reduce the contrast and sharpness of your image by dispersing light, this is called backscatter.

Water absorbs the light very quickly, and the most common complaint for new underwater photographers is the dull colours of their images.by getting closer and therefore removing the amount of water between the camera and the subject will mean a clearer, sharper, and more colorful image.

2) Shoot Up

Pointing the camera down as you take an image is often easier but will not result in the most interesting images.

Often the subject is lost in the background of reef as it is a more cluttered area. Pointing the camera more up can lead to clearer backgrounds and much more interesting images as you have contrast between the foreground and background.

3) Focus On The Eyes

A focused image is obviously important, but where you focus is too. Try to keep the eye of the subject in sharp focus, use this as the centre of the camera’s focal point.

4) Keeping Yourself Focused
Diving with a camera and diving without a camera are two totally different activities. After diving with a camera, you may find that those dives very different.
Patience is an extremely good quality to have when doing underwater photography, you may need to wait for divers to move out of the frame area, or for the subject to become used to you and start to behave in a more normal manor.

As a casual underwater photographer you dont need to be obsessive, but a level of personal focus and attention to detail will take your photography a long way.
Try to focus on a particular type of underwater photography, such as close-up or scenic and perfect your skills before moving on to the next type of shot. Avoid the shotgun approach of trying to capture everything that you see.

5) Use a Strobe

All divers know that water absorbs light, and therefore reduces the colour of the images you take, a strobe can be a way of restoring this.

Adding artificial light can give instant results to the photograph, but it is important to get the exposure right. Now most units come TTL ready and should give the correct light in all, but the most difficult conditions.

The photographer though has to ensure it is pointed in the right direction. Sounds simple, but if it is incorrectly positioned not only does it alter the quality of the image, but it also refracts the light so your subject appears closer and larger than it really is.

6) Shoot, Review, Adjust, Rinse, Repeat

Be patient, even though the digital photography gives us instant access to images, they still take time to perfect. The learning curve is shorterned by being able to see the image you have taken instantly on the screen. Take advantage of this by reviewing these images immediately after the photo has been taken, correct and re-take the image, adjust for composure, light, colour etc.

7) Go Manual
Starting off in auto mode is not a problem. But auto settings can only get you so far in underwater photography. To really control the exposure, colour and sharpness of your images you’ll need some degree of manual controls.

8) Maintain Your Equipment

Water and electronics don’t mix well so it is important to take your time when setting up your camera and housing. Make sure o-rings are clean and greased, but not over greased. A strand of hair or spec of dirt can be the difference between flooding your camera or using it. Always rinse your camera gear off with fresh water after every dive,never let salt water dry on your equipment.

While out on the dive boat be sure to keep camera gear out of the sun and away from heavy dive gear like scuba tanks and weight belts.

9) Respect the Environment

Remember, we are privileged guests in the underwater world, respecting the environment and marine life should be one of your top priorities. Before you start taking your camera underwater it is important to have excellent bouyancy skills, this will help protect both yourself and the environment around you. Keep all of your gear streamlined as to minimize the potential of a gauge or hose getting entangled or damaging the reef. Never harass or touch marine life. virtually everything you could touch is alive, touch it and it will damage it or even worse.
It can too often be seen the photographers who want a shot no matter what they have to break, kill or damage. It is important to stress to anyone who is keen to start underwater photography that as well as learning how to take a picture, you must also be environmentally aware.

If you have to damage anything to take a shot – don’t take it. Sometimes it is better to look and enjoy than try to take a photograph.

10) Have Fun

Don’t forget that underwater photography is supposed to be fun. Don’t get too caught up in the technical side. Start off with the basics, get a feel for it, and learn the technical side later.
Most of all, remember what you learned in your scuba diving class. You are a diver first and then a photographer. Your safety and that of divers around you depends on keeping this in mind at all times.

When diving over sand area’s of a dive site there are so many interesting critters that are often not seen or ignored by divers, one of these is the symbiotic pairing of the goby and shrimp.

Almost all of our dive sites by there nature have sandy bottoms and instead of passing quickly over them it is good to swim slowly and enjoy watching the behavior of these interesting room mates.
The sandy bottom of the reef is full of interesting creatures and fascinating methods have been devised for survival techniques used by reef inhabitants to prevent becoming food to predatory fish. Often this results in some interesting partnerships between marine creatures. One of the more curious relationships that most divers could have come across is that between the goby fish and the shrimp.
The little goby that firmly stands his ground outside his burrow belongs to a very special group of gobies called “shrimp gobies”. There are 70 or so brightly coloured shrimp gobies recorded worldwide in tropical waters and the western Indo Pacific is home to most of them. Their uniqueness is that they live in partnership with “pistol shrimps”. Pistol shrimps are so named for the loud snapping sound and the jet of water that comes from the rapid closing of a modified claw.

The gobies spend their day near entrance ways keeping their eyes peeled for predators, such as jacks and lizardfish, while the hard-working shrimp bulldoze sand into the open from the burrow below.
The front entrance of the burrow is often reinforced with bits of shell and coral put in place by the shrimp.

The goby will usually sit at the entrance of the burrow maintaining a constant vigil against potential predators, while the shrimp is clearing gravel from the burrow. Whenever the shrimp needs to dump gravel outside the burrow, it is usually exposed to potential predators. However with the Goby keeping lookout, the shrimp places one tentacle on the Goby while exposed, so if the Goby darts inside the burrow, the shrimp is instantly alerted of the presence of a predator and it too darts back inside the safety of its burrow. Often pairs of gobies or pistol shrimps will inhabit the same burrow.

They work between sunrise and sunset, resting with the gobies, inside the burrow at night. And like most homes, burrow construction varies according to its inhabitants. Scientists have even found that the sizes and shapes of burrows depend on the type of sediment available and to some degree on the species of shrimp. So the goby gets a professionally constructed and safe house away from predators, and somewhere to lay its eggs.
Gobies eat micro-fauna and sometimes tiny fish they find near the bottom, the shrimps feed on what they find in their burrowing and hence they do not compete for food.

The special relationship that exists between these two species is called symbiosis. Symbiosis literally means “living together” and can take more than one form but it is always between individuals of different species. It can mean, for example, that only one of the species benefits with no effect on the other, or that one species of the pair benefits but the other is harmed in the process. In the shrimp-goby case both species gain equal benefit and they significantly increase their chances of survival in a hostile world. This particular type of symbiosis is called “mutualism”. Their relationship is one that has developed through a mutual need and benefit to both species.

These animals are dependent on each other. Remove the fish, and the shrimp stops burrowing; the shrimp forage while burrowing, so without a fish, they grow more slowly. The shrimp need their guard goby, and the guard goby needs its shrimp: deny the goby shelter in a burrow, and it will promptly be killed by predators (someone did the experiment). The shrimp keep the goby clean, too: they groom it.

So how do the Gobies and Shrimp find each other in the first place? Shrimp-goby researchers have been trying to figure out this one for a long time, and have conducted numerous experiments to determine whether the Gobies find the shrimp, or vice versa, and also to determine whether they locate each other optically or are attracted chemically. There has been no definitive answer as to who spots who in this symbiotic relationship but it appears that the short sighted shrimp uses chemical senses, and the goby uses it’s much better developed visual sense for finding each other at a very young stage of their life.

Find out more about interactions and partnerships by taking the underwater Naturalist  specialty course with Scuba Cat and see the goby and shrimps at many of our dive sites both by daytrip and liveaboard.

Scuba Cat organized a Finathon and underwater clean up event on the 16th of Feb 2013 under the banner of ‘We Belong to the Sea’.

This is the concept of Quang one of our sales and Marketing interns who is with us for 6 months on a placement from his school in Holland.
The idea is to develop more knowledge about factors affecting the sea and the marine life in our local area, by promoting conservation and raising public awareness through events and collaborations with local businesses.
We belong to the sea incorporated a sponsored fin and an underwater clean up at Paradise reef in the South of Patong on Phuket.
Scuba Cats owner and General manager Sarah Kench, donated the boat MV Scuba Fun for the day, along with providing food, the crew and drivers free of charge to make the even possible.

For the past 6 weeks Quang has worked very hard to promote the event getting the local newspaper. The Phuket News, and Live 98.5 Radio involved. There were several articles in print and a live radio interview with Quang and Kathryn Ridley the tour leader of our liveaboard MV Scuba Adventure.

From this we got some of our divers who took part in the day.
We decided to also include a treasure hunt to encourage divers and snorkelers to take part in the day. For this we needed some prizes, we got these in the form of vouchers and goods from some of the local businesses on the island.

We need to thank the following people and organizations for their involvement in this.

2C Phuket Residence
Dive Supply Phuket
Phuket Lager Beer
Fun Mags Media
Phuket Guide by Southern Three Media.

Prizes ranged from crates of larger to a nights accommodation in a hotel, to food and drinks vouchers in local restaurants.

We also need to thank the following organizations for cash donations for the finathon, get swimming to stop shark finning. This is a way to raise awareness of Shark Finning by Project AWARE.

Amazing Thailand Maps
Sonya’s Guest house
Asia Pacific
Aquamaster Phuket

The day started at our shop in the Kee Plaza with Quang introducing the event and welcoming the participants. We had 15 divers and snorkelers in total. regional manager Tony Andrews was there to see the opening.
Everyone then went to our Boat MV Scuba Sport which was a platform for the day.
The divers did the first dive removing bags of fishing lines, lead weights, bottles and cans.

During the surface time we completed the Finathon, this was the sponsored snorkel, everyone on board took part in this and completed the 1km swim in no time.

The second dive saw more lines and weights brought up, along with fishing lures, bottles and a broken fish cage.

After the event everyone was invited back to Molly Molones Irish bar who put on free food and gave a discount on drink for those who took part.

Everyone also won a prize with the treasure hunt, even Josh who won an xs ladies wet suit:) (he is an XL man).