MV Scuba Adventure South  1st March – 4th March 2014

This South Andaman trip on MV Scuba Adventure was a reunion trip of previous customers with a few more joining us. Kath, the tour leader was so happy to see Peter, Hannah, Andre, Matthew and Gareth who had dived with us previously. They were joined by Atle, Kristin, Liina and Orjan.

MV Scuba Adventure left Chalong Pier with flat calm seas and headed to Phi Phi where the first dive was going to be as a check dive.

Phi Phi

The first dive of the day was Koh Bida Nok. We were woken early so we would miss the day boats from Phi Phi. As we dropped in along the NW side we saw a leopard shark just sitting on the bottom. The customers were able to take their photos easily and then we continued the check dive. We really enjoyed this dive as there is so much to see on Bida Nok. This dive site offers a diverse topography and marine life, so macro is great as well as looking out into the blue to see trevallies and other predators hunting their prey. Dive 2 was on Koh Bida Nai, a sister Island to Kho Bida Nok. So the topography is virtually the same. A few minutes into the dive we were graced by the resident black tip reef sharks. We had 2 swimming around us. Three sharks in two dives…..must be a good luck omen!!!

Leopard Shark

After the dive we headed for Koh Haa. We were going to dive Koh Haa Yai (The Cathedral). When we arrived the National Park boat came to us to collect the money. As they were alongside we heard Captain Pu screaming that there was a Whale Shark and we should jump in and snorkel. Kath jumped in first, but unfortunately it went deep. It was seen by everyone from the surface. Fingers crossed that it would return. We did the caves at Koh Haa and then continued the dive along the reef. The soft corals here are stunning with a spectrum of colours. A great dive site for macro. Andre and Onjan were so lucky that they saw the whale shark on the safety stop.

The Cathedral Koh Haa – Cedric Saveuse

The night dive on Island 2 was just as exciting. Kath had found Harlequin Shrimps a few weeks ago so she was on a mission to show the divers these rare crittiers and she did. Gareth managed to get some fantastic shots which we hope we will see later. Liina did her night dive for her AOW and Matthew completed his

Night Dive Speciality. The rest of the group surfaced and then Matt and Kath had lights out for 3 minutes. A very enjoyable experience….lots of sparkles in the water.

Hin Muang

Day 2 and we headed out to Hin Muang and Hin Daeng . Our first dive on Hin Muang was a lovely dive with minimal current and then surprise a manta cruising by. The manta didn’t return and it did look as if it was on a mission!!! Gut reaction was that it was heading to Hin Daeng. Dive 2 with flat calm seas and the sun beating down…need to get into the water. We started the dive along the wall and then…..MANTA!!!! Kath briefed about a cleaning station on Hin Daeng and low and behold the mantas were there all 4 of them. What an incredible sight. Words will never express the experience the divers had. One manta just hung for 20 minutes above a rock whilst being cleaned by cleaner and moon wrasse. The divers were able to take photos and witness something they may never see again. The tour leader was blown away!!! Reluctantly we had to end the dive but we were hoping for more on the next dive and it delivered!!!

Hin Daeng

Next dive on Hin Daeng and a few minutes in the water and then MANTA…sorry no MANTAS all 4 of them just circling on the sloping reef. No need to go any further. The mantas were amazing!!!!! What a fantastic experience. Who needs to see the rest of the dive site? We came for this and Hin Daeng delivered!!! Pete, Hannah and Kath did the safety stop with mantas surrounding them. It has to be the longest safety stop on record. How can you end a dive when there are 3 majestic creatures playing with you? Time to end was when Peter was on 10 bar…..

Manta Rays

The last dive of the day was Koh Haa Neau. Here there is diverse topography from the limestone to the plate reef. There are copious amounts of anemones here and at sunset they start to close like cocoons showing their beautiful colour. There is a huge school of resident 5 line snappers and twin spot snappers which is a sight to be seen. The reef is lovely offering big eyes, lion fish, moray eels and we also saw 2 banded sea snakes. Part of the group turned back at 100 bar to do a leisurely dive back to the limestone area where the chimney was. Kath, Andre, Matt and Peter did the chimney. It goes from 16m to 7m and opens up into a chamber full of big eyes. A lovely experience for divers.

Koh Haa – Cedric Saveuse

Day 3 and first dive on King Cruiser Wreck. It has now become a lovely artificial reef with lots of soft corals and marine life. Nudibranch are prolific on the walls and the honeycomb moray eel has been seen here, which is quite rare in Phuket waters. The current was minimal and the dive was great. Next dive was Shark Point. Oh my, what a current…we flew around part of the pinnacle, but then we had calm. Each and every diver was looking at the finer things in marine life. Garth found a nudibranch Kath had never seen before on one of the lines on Shark Point. Shark Point ha such an abundance of marine life. The corals and barrel sponges are stunning. A beautiful dive site even in strong current. Final dive at Koh Doc Mai and a wonderful one it is for macro. We  had an easy drift checking out nudibranch, banded coral shrimps, white eyed moray eels, yellow margin moray eels and so much more. Gareth found a nudibranch that Kath had never seen before.

Nudi – Koh Doc Mai

Kath has done the South trip many times, but this was her best yet. Hannah described it as  a  “WOWZER” trip ………………..Kath would totally agree with that!!!!!! Let’s hope that manta madness doesn’t stop in the South

Second trip for MV Scuba Adventure of the High Season was a Full Charter going out to Phi Phi Islands for 2 days/1 Night and 7 fantastic dives.

As part of the trip we had 1 person doing Discover Scuba Diving (first time ever diving), 1 completing his open water course, 4 people finishing and 1 person doing the full Advanced Open Water Course as well as 6 people just fundiving -and then a single snorkler…

Weather was very nice and vizibility on most dives was more than 20 meters… Most divers got to see Leopard Sharks, Black Tip Reefsharks and Seahorses… With the usual Barracudas, Seasnakes, Spiny Lobsters, Cuttlefish and Nudibranch thrown in for good measure…
-but no matter how good the diving was, the most memorable from the trip is probably the food.. Our cook really outdid herself on this trip..

Thanks to everyone for a great trip..

The Scuba Cat Team

Peter and Bente from Denmark, who completed the Northern trip were joined by three French men, Alain, Bertrand and Sylvian.

The first dive of the trip was at Shark Point. Captain Pu dropped the customers on the “shallow rock” on pinnacle two. As soon as we hit the water we were surrounded by fish. Shark Point is a beautiful dive with gorgeous soft corals, huge gorgonion sea fans and massive barrel sponges. The pinnacle was full of schools of fusiliers, snappers and yellow fin barracudas. The site lived upto it’s name by giving us the opportunity to see a large leopard shark sitting quietly on the bottom. A great photo opportunity for the divers with cameras.

Our second dive was on Koh Bida Nai. We entered the water on the north side of the island where we dived along the wall. An ideal place for macro with many different types of nudibranch. Koh Bida Nai has a combination of sloping reef and walls, so it offers a great variety of life. There are some amazing coloured magnificent anemones all swaying in the current. The third dive was Koh Haa Islands 2 and 4. Again, a variety of topography with the walls of the Islands with a sandy patch in between. The customers, all keen photographers except Bente took the opportunity to slowly scour the walls for nudibrach, shrimps, hermit crabs and other macro critters.

The night dive was in the lagoon. Albeit a shallow dive the life was incredible with large hermit crabs walking along the bottom, flounders laying in the sandy bottom, red reef crabs and numerous lobsters. The harlequin crab was also spotted. At the back of the boat there was a huge bait ball that was attracted to the light. A perfect ending to the days diving.

Unfortunately, the weather was not kind to us and we were unable to go to Hin Daeng and Hin Muang, but this did not detract from the great diving that was to be experienced. The first dive on day 2 was the caves on Koh Haa Yai. The Cathedral has a wonderful entrance.

From inside the cave as you look out there is a wonderful contrast of colour. The group had a great time posing for silhouette shots in the entrance of the cave. The reef has some fantastic whip and stunning soft corals. Lobsters were seen hiding in the cracks on the rocks. Nudibranchs and wart slugs were plentiful. The reef cuttlefish was also seen. The second dive was Koh Haa Neau (North Island) The corals here are unbelievable. There is a swim through that opens onto a field of lilac soft corals that look as if they have been on steroids as they are so huge. This site offers boulders with soft corals in the initial part of the dive and then onto a plate coral reef with a huge school of resident snappers. For dive 3 we headed back to Koh Bida Nok, the sister Island to Koh Bida Nai. The topography offers a combination of sloping reef and walls, so the marine life is diverse. A turtle made his appearance and was posing for the cameramen!!! The group decided to do a night dive. This was on Koh Bida Nai. The night dive was wonderful with large hermit crabs, decorator crabs were found on the walls. There was an abundance of crabs in various shapes and sizes. A huge barracuda graced us with his presence as he was hunting around the rocks.

Day 3 and the first dive was on Hin Dot. This dive site is an undived treasure, definitely worth doing. The rocks are surrounded with huge amounts of fish. Often you have to part the fish to see the walls. There is a huge variety of nudibranch on this site. The highlight however, was the stone fish that was found on the wall at 9m. Talk about master of disguise!!!!!

This site will be dived more often by us on MV Scuba Adventure. It is a gem waiting to be opened!!! Our final dive of the trip was on the West side of Koh Doc Mai. The gentle slope here with numerous crevices are homes for bamboo sharks. We managed to find 2 tucked away. In the shallows there were multiple glossidoris nudibranch . This dive was enjoyed by all and it was agreed that it was a good choice for the end of the trip.

I was very excited to take this trip out during the “summer season” as tour leader on MV Scuba Adventure. All season the local sites from Phuket had been performing so well, with lots of great visibility dives and an abundance of marine life both (very) big and small. I also knew that during the high season the dive sites of Hin Deang and Hin Maung are awesome, but I didn’t know what to expect from a trip this time of year?

Scuba Adventure

… It was not a disappointment!

So here we go:

Day 1:

Shark Point – Great visibility to enjoy all the lovely soft corals, fans, sponges and tons of marine life including the odd leopard shark. Hi-light of the dive: a large marble patterned tiger tail seahorse.

Shark Point

Koh Bida Nok – Again tons of marine life, especially the trevally and schools of fusiliers, and a nice big hawksbill turtle at the start. Hi-light of the dive: absolutely the 10-20 black-tip sharks seen during the dive, especially getting up real close to 5-10 of them in the bay, before they finally torpedoed passed us.

Koh Bida Nok

Koh Ha Yai – A beautiful late afternoon dive to enjoy the caverns (known as the Cathedral) and swim-through’s. Hi-light of the dive: the view looking out at the silhouetted divers the from the back of the Cathedral.

"The Cathedral"

Koh Ha Lagoon – A comfortable night dive in the protected lagoon between islands 2 and 4. Our group explored the east side wall of island 2 and the sloping reef between. Hi-light: For me the macro life amongst the vivid soft corals on the wall, for others the giant barracuda following us!

Day 2:

Hin Muang – Oh my God! The visibility! We could see the bottom… and which ever side you are on, it goes down a very long way! Lot’s of life; and the soft corals looking bigger and more colourful than ever. Hi-light of the dive: All of it, in stunning visability. It was like a scene from the movie The Abyss but with the lights on! Diving – the best reason in the world to get up with the sun.

"Stunning Visibility"

Hin Deang – Awesome vis continued, we could even see the outer pinnacle from the main rock! Whichever way you looked there was marine activity and mild currents meant an easy swim to appreciate it all. Hi-light of the dive: Did I mention the large manta ray that made it’s way around the rock to the outer pinnacle!

"Manta Ray"

Koh Ha Neua – An early afternoon dive made the best of the huge purple soft corals on the southern side of this site. The shallow hard coral reef at the end of the dive was full of fish, whilst weaving in and out of the soft-coral coated rock channels rewarded us with nice nudi’s and a brilliant yellow tigertail seahorse. Hi-Light of the dive: A spotted eagle ray hovering over the purple soft coral field.

"Sea Horse"

Koh Bida Nok – With the currents reversed and an exciting dive the day before, we chose to go again from the other side of the island. This dusk dive showed us some more big fish (black-tip sharks), kuhl’s rays, mantis shrimps, morays, nudibranchs. Hi-light of the dive: I guess taking the time to see all the things we hadn’t noticed on the other dives – Bida Nok is one of the richest and most varied dive sites. Oh, and it being a dusk dive so some of us could visit Phi Phi Don and enjoy an evening on land.

Day 3:

Koh Bida Nai – Yet another sunny day, this early morning dive provided more sharks and a small school of big pick-handled barracuda. Hi-light of the dive: Swimming through the hundreds of fusiliers and trevally that hang out in the sunshine over the beds of stag horn coral, then back up the reef to the glittering chevron barracudas.

Koh Bida Nai

Anemone Reef – Of course anemones but also lots of colorful soft corals make this a beautiful pinnacle in good visibility… and it was! A turtle, lot’s of fish, little current, nudi’s and a few bamboo shark made it even better. Hi-light: A pale-yellow seahorse out in the sand (I like seahorses!)

Anemone Reef

Koh Doc Mai – A nice surprise… an extra dive thrown on to the end of the trip! This wall dive is awesome for macro – wonderful nudibranchs, ornate ghost pipefish, more bamboo sharks, all sorts of morays, this site can have it all. Hi-light: We got to dive again, ha!

Koh Doc Mai

Apart from the great visibility and relaxed diving (with it’s heart racing moments – sharks, manta, eagle ray), for me it was the wonderful variety of dive sites and marine life that made the trip one of the best. Also helping to make the diving awesome was that, during most of the trip, we were the only boat diving the sites… well, we were on the Scuba Adventure!