Scuba Diving and Liveaboards Phuket, Thailand

On the beautiful SUNday of the 16th of December the Scuba Cat team had a great day with Go-Eco Phuket with a dive site cleanup at Paradise Reef.
“Scuba Diving for Cleaning” was in the sequence of events during the “Environmental Day”- the second day of Phuket Carnival at Patong 2012. Together with the beach cleanup by local inhabitants, rubbish-recycling was also competed by the school children, “Scuba Diving for Cleaning” involved scuba divers in Phuket.

On the morning of the event, 12 divers consisting of recently certified dive instructors from our last IDC, tour guides, fun divers from our previous trips and Quang- our marketing intern attended the kick-off on the beach.

There were also a total of 70 volunteer divers from Royal Thai Navy, Go-Eco Phuket, and other dive centers in Phuket.
There was a welcome speech and a chance to meet the other divers during photograph sessions before the start of the event at 9:30am.
The long tail boats arranged by the Thai government took us to our half day boat MV Scuba sport, which was waiting to take the group to the local house reef at Paradise beach.

Gary- our tour guide- briefly introduced the boat, the dive site and the program of the day which included the 2 underwater clean up dives.

Thank to our divers, we have collected more than 10kgs of fishing lines and fishing lures, lot of fish nets, many bottles and cans, plastic trashes, shoes, batteries and many wooden lantern frames which were probably released from Loi Krathong Festival few week ago.

We returned to the beach at 1PM where the closing ceremony for the event took place with music, dancing and magic acts. Everyone involved in the event received a Scuba Cat wristband from us, a lovely medal and an honoured certificate from the Thai government.

At the end of the day the collected rubbish was weighed and the divers collected a total of 250kgs of debris. Moreover, it was great to know that this was the first time Patong organized the beach and diving cleanup with a major involvement of government and entrepreneurs in the region. Congratulation to Thai nation for their timely awareness of the ocean protection and environmental educations for kids!!!
Scuba Cat felt honoured for participating in the event, as did our volunteers. Many of them shared that they had enjoyed the event with ScubaCat and would like to come back for future events we are arranging.

We would like to thank all volunteers for the willingness and kindness and look forward to see you at our brand-new “We Belong To The Sea” in February and April 2013.

In Thailand we have many “special days’ or festivals as the Thai people as a nation love holidays.

Loi Krathong (or Loy Krathong) is probably the most beautiful event in Thailand. The time of year it takes place depends on when the full moon of the 12th month in the Thai lunar calendar is, for this year it is on the 28th of November.

It is a festival of quiet celebration, which the whole family enjoys together. The origins of Loy Kratong are unclear, but it is believed that it started in Sukhothai to the north of Bangkok, which was one of the most powerful cities in Asia around 800 years ago. The festival is believed to originate from the ancient practice of paying respect to the spirit of the waters.
Loi literally means ‘to float,’ while krathong refers to the lotus-shaped receptacle which can float on the water, the krthong is made from the cellulose trunk of a banana tree. Great care is taken to decorate the kratongs with flowers and banana leaves, leaving room for the candles and 3 sticks of incense, the act of floating away the candle raft is symbolic of letting go of all one’s grudges, anger and defilements, so that one can start life afresh on a better foot.

At sunset on the 28th, take your krathong to the nearest beach, lake or similar watery area and release it with the outgoing tide or current. The belief being, that if the krathong floats away from you, the coming year will bring good fortune, if it floats back towards the shore, then perhaps your luck may not be quite as you had wished.
On releasing the kratong, you can help your fortunes along a little by placing personal items on the floating platform. Some put nail clippings or strands of hair into the krathong, in the belief that the sins of the past year will be washed away; coins too are often placed inside as a way of making merit. It’s believed the “boat” will carry your bad luck into the distance, and enable a better start to the following year. Loy Kratong is a big night for lovers. Couples who make a wish together on this day will enjoy long-lasting love, especially if their kratongs remain together on the water.

Thai’s and tourists alike usually set the kratongs on the sea, creating a scene as thousands of candlelit kratongs bob on the waves. All of Phuket’s major west coast beaches take part in Loy Kratong festivities. Nai Harn Lake and Patong Beach usually have the most activity with locals visiting beaches like Kata and Karon.

On the same evening you will also see many lanterns sent up into the sky, this is due to the festival of Lama which coincides with Loi Krathong. The lanterns which are made of thin fabric such as rice paper have a candle inside which when lit heats up the air and sends the lantern upwards. This means we have lights floating in the sea and lakes and lanterns lighting up the sky’s.

December 5 is an important day for Thai nation to celebrate the birthday of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the world’s longest reigning monarch. This year, it marks his 85th birthday.
His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, or King Rama IX, was born in 5 December 1927 in Cambridge, ascended the throne on 9 June 1946. The King is more than an icon in the heart of Thai nation through his combination of dedication to the well-being and development of his people as well as a good understanding and awareness of political and social issues.

The King’s birthday is a national holiday and is celebrated all over the country with great enthusiasm. Buildings and homes on this day are vividly decorated with flag, lights, flowers, portrait’s of Majesty which are predominantly in the colour yellow or gold. It’s wonderful to see Thai nation showing the love, respect, homage and joy to his honor Majesty.

Moreover, the day is also regarded as the nation’s Father’s Day since The King is recognised as the “Father of the Thai nation”. In respect of Thai tradition together with welcoming divers on this day, Scuba Cat happily introduce the special promotion for all divers and their families: ScubaKitten love ScubaCat. Many discounts on all father and kids diving, snorkelling and equipment will be given on December 5. This promotion encourages diver parents to discover new experiences with their beloved children. In other words, it engages children in diving experience with their parents.

has just launched a ‘Dive and Win’ campaign that new divers can benefit from. The idea is to give new divers a chance to win great prizes by just becoming certified. So if you have friends or family members, or you are planning to learn to dive you can benefit until January 31st next year.

Any student who takes the certification, Scuba Diver or Open Water from the 1st of November 2012 until the 31st of January 3013 can enter the Dive and win competition. You just need to share why you became a diver and you will get a hat.

You will then automatically be entered into a prize draw with a weekly winner of a GoPro® Hero3 camera,

and a monthly winner of an Apple® iPad 2.

Plus all entry’s have a chance to win the grand prize of an Aggressor Fleet live-aboard.

To enter the competition just follow the link below

http://apps..com//Campaign/DiveAndWin/DiveAndWin.aspx

For more information you can contact us at Scuba Cat if you have just taken your courses or wish to do so.

Peacock Mantis Shrimps (Odontodactylus scyllarus)

They are found in the indo Pacific region and we have many of these on all of the dive sites we visit, but you do have to look closely for them.
Although called shrimp they are not actually true shrimp, but a separate family of crustaceans called Stomatopods.

They are mostly found at the base of reefs where they build their burrows, the excavate a u shape tunnel by collecting nearby rubble or other substrate to go over and around suitable sites of rock crevices or corals.

They are very colorful and flamboyant when you find them, with red, green and blue warning coloration.

They feed on various fish and invertebrates and are fast, efficient hunters, though they often wait for their prey to walk by and pounce on them. The peacock is a ‘smashers’ type of mantis shrimp it has two club-like appendages to exo skeleton animals such as crabs, clams and snails. With just one hit the ‘club’ produces a force almost as fast as a 22-caliber bullet, 10m per sec, and this has been know to break aquarium glass. This is so fast it can actually vaporize the water at the point of impact!

In addition to the smashing clubs they also have a shorter body compared to the longer, very flexible tail, this lets them turn quickly and easily in tight spaces and burrows. The tail and the specialized swimming appendages on its underside provide a surprisingly fast swim when on the hunt, or when they get scared.

The eyes are stalk like which allows them to accurately see their prey from the protection of the crevices they live in, the eyes are complex with at least 8 types of different colour sensors, which include ultraviolet and polarized light. They can see 10 times more colours than humans.

From the mantis shrimps that have been kept in captivity, we have learned that they are the only invertebrates that can actually recognize individuals, they do this by body odor!!
They can be aggressive with others of there own species and get into fights using the flexible tails, they sometimes can fight to the death, but often decide who is victorious before either gets seriously hurt.

Some of the shrimps can mate for life, which can be up to 20 years, whilst others prefer a one-night stand. They usually court then come together. The female can hold fertilized eggs under the tail or in the forearms, or they can be laid in burrows and are watched over until they hatch into Larvae. These larvae are also keen predators often preying on other larvae during the 3 months it takes to hatch.

To see these fascinating shrimps you can join us on our daytrips or liveaboards where they are often seen at the divesites, ask our staff about them and other interesting creatures we have in the waters of Thailand.

Learn more about the marine life in our area by taking the Naturalist specialty course with us.