Scuba Cat Diving was been based on the beach road of Patong for the past 18 years, but this year, things changed.

New Locations

A move away from the tuk tuks, tailors, massage parlours and Muay Thai advertisements (yes those of you who have already been to see us will recall “Monday Night, Monday Night……….” )to a new location inside the Kee Plaza, a fantastic hotel and shopping facility 200m off of the Beach Road. This has enabled us to have a larger retail selection, much more selection for our customers to choose from Scubapro, Aqualung and many more.

Kee Plaza

We have  kept our classrooms in Soi Watanna but opened a second shop putting retail and booking’s on the ground floor, this has allowed us to have our dive centre at both ends of Patong so is more convenient for you all. Our fun pub has moved to the roof top terrace we created this year.

Meet the team

It has been a different 6 months but things are progressing well.

Scuba Cat Diving, 5 * CDC is still under British ownership and management and they have the only female Course Director, Sarah Kench, conducting monthly IDC’s on Phuket. Along side this we are the only DDI (Disabled Diver International) Instructor Trainer Centre in Asia.

Scuba Cat has a long history of being eco aware, from laying artificial reefs, becoming the first National Geographic Centre in Phuket, bi-annual underwater clean ups and winning awards from Project AWARE. This is consolidated with our 5 year commitment to monitor reefs at a local island in conjunction with reef check trainers from China on a yearly basis as we are the only reef check centre on Phuket. Recently we won the Green Star Award, the first dive centre to achieve this on Phuket and quickly followed it up by becoming the first Dive Centre in Phuket to go 100% Aware.

Following the changes we made on the retail side of the business this year Scuba Cat has also made changes in the type diving we are offering.

As always we conduct our courses to the highest standards, with emphasis on quality rather time. IDC’s are available every month along with DSAT Tech diving up to Instructor level.

We are  running 3 Diving boats this year, all of which will have Nitrox available and limited numbers of divers on them, this will enable us to have 3 different schedules which will suit all divers and snorkelers.  Whether you are a snorkeller, brand new to diving or looking to change your life by joining us working in Paradise, no problem, we have a program to suit you and your whole family.

Daytrips to the local islands around Phuket on board MV Scuba Fun will run 3 dives per day at different locations. New for this year there will be freshly cooked meals from our own kitchen cooked by the awesome Chef from Lair Le Tong Restaurant.

Half day trips to the local reefs of Phuket on MV Scuba Sport, new for this year allowing boat diving on mornings, afternoons and night dives. Sightings on the reefs have been beyond our expectations, with things we have not seen around Phuket in many years, the most recent being a free Swimming Ribbon Eel.

Our liveaboard MV Scuba Adventure will run trips to both the North Andaman and South Andaman this season, allowing for 3, 4 or 7 day trips offering the best diving Thailand has to offer. As always she offers un-crowded conditions, by having reduced numbers on the boat and is run by our own Tour leader Kath Ridley and the best Captain and Crew on Phuket. A brand new schedule is being launched for the summer and next high season to give you even more variety.

A new IDC website created by our website designers dedicated to professional level courses and Internships will be launched very shortly.

North Andaman Liveaboard –  Similans, Koh Bon, Koh Tachai  and Richilieu Rock MV Scuba Adventure departed from Patong on the evening of the 4^th en-route to the Similans. Kath, the Tour Leader and Steve, the Dive Master welcomed on board Lucrezia and Rene from Switzerland, Mats from Sweden, Guido and Gianna from  Italy and Peter and Karen from England. With the boat briefing completed, cabins allocated, equipment set up we had a relaxing dinner where everyone became acquainted.

We woke to the beautiful scenery of Island 5 and 6, which is the home of Anita’s Reef. With the dive safety and dive sight briefing done we kitted up for our first dive of the trip. Anita’s reef did not disappoint. The stunning coral bommie was covered in glass fish, which was a sight to be seen. Nudibranch, Fusiliers, Snappers were all out in their glory. The pristine white sand was home to the dancing Garden Eels and Khuls rays.  A banded pipe fish was found on one of the large boulders on the corner of Island 5.  After breakfast we headed to Island 9 and North Point. This site is a combination of huge rock formations and reef. It is briefed as “but one get one free!!”  The rocky formation has several swim throughs together with coral gardens nestled between the rocks.   Turtles were in abundance as they poised for the photographers in the group. The turtles here are not at all shy and continued munching away as if to say”Oh they’re only divers!”   We also saw a banded sea snake head to the surface for air. In the shallows a rock formation was covered in Purple Dragon Nudibranch. A treat for the macro lovers on the boat.

After lunch we arrived at Koh Bon for our 3^rd dive of the day. We were fortunate as we were the only divers in the water at this popular sight. We dropped in on the corner and made our way to the West Ridge. A large school of yellow snapper were below us as we reached the ridge. On the ridge there were hunting Long Nosed Emporers, Trevelly and Rainbow Runners.  A Devil Scorpion was camouflaged amongst the broken coral on the reef.  A meter away was an octopus hiding in a rock. There was so much to see!!! The glass fish again, were food for the larger hunters…a feeding frenzy. A Mantis Shrimp quickly ran across the reef, which was a first for some of the divers.

A highlight of the dive was to see 2 Napolean Wrasse swimming around us for a while.  The divers who chose to do the night dive on Koh Tachai Reef saw many different types of crabs, shrimps and spent about 10 minutes with a free swimming moray, which hunted successfully catching an unsuspecting fish for dinner!!

Day 2 and the Captain started the engines at 3.40am. We were on our way to Richelieu Rock. Here we did 3 dives. The Rock is worthy of multiple dives as the marine life here is so prolific. A school of giant barracuda were waiting our arrival! Fortunately, we were able to locate a sea horse and 2 ornate ghost pipe fish.  Cuttle fish were in abundance as they displayed their courtship ritual. The whole area was like being in fish soup with large schools of fish swimming around us. Cleaner pipe fish were found in the crevices, mantis shrimps along the bottom hiding and a devil scorpion camouflaging itself as a piece of coral. Needless to say there were many more creatures too numerous to mention. One highlight was seeing a zebra moray free swimming in the shallows.

The 4^th dive of the day was a sunset dive at Jetski Rock on Koh Tachai. A chilled out relaxing dive. The trevellies were in menacing hunting mode as they circled the glassfish on the reef. They are truly the “Gangsters” of the reef. A moray was enjoying being cleaned by a cleaner shrimp as the surrounding marine life prepared for bed. The sunset when we surfaced was spectacular and gave the perfect ending to a great day. Day 3 started with the morning dive on Koh Tachai Pinnacle. With a slight current it was easy navigate around the site.  The corals on the pinnacle are beautiful. Soft corals, gorgonion sea fans, whip coral are abundant.  A few barracuda were hanging above the site and the resident bat fish were between two huge boulders. Rene and Lucrezia were lucky and saw a leopard shark. They did have photographic evidence, so we had to believe them!!

The second and third dives were on Koh Bon. Hunters were menacing as they circled amongst the glass fish and then without warning a feeding frenzy. The third devil scorpion fish of the trip was also seen. However, the icing on the cake at Koh Bon was the manta on dive 2. We were in the shallows coming towards the end of the dive when the manta appeared. This amazing creature brought smiles to all our faces as it approached us several times. Dive 4 was a sunset dive in the Similans and on West of Eden on Island 7. This dive was relaxing as we slowly worked our way along the reef swimming between the coral blocks. Glass fish in abundance, feather stars in every colour and an array of fish. Day 4 and an early start on Elephant Head Rock and boy oh boy did it pay off…..As soon as we dropped in we had a white tip reef shark laying on the bottom at 20m. As we approached it swam away. However, several minutes later we saw two side by side. Elephant Head has some lovely swim throughs and one of the white tips swam into it. Kath was the only diver to see this. The huge granite boulders with the coral gardens between are very impressive. The second dive on Shark Fin Reef was an easy dive for the end of the trip. Shark Fin reef has dramatic scenery of huge granite boulders. In one of the long cracks in a rock there resting was a Jenkins Ray. Further along the reef we saw a large school of giant barracudas. This was the first trip of the season to the Similans and Richelieu Rock and if this trip was anything to go by then we should have a wonderful season.

Harlequin Shrimps are a very flamboyant looking and a delight to see. There are two species of harlequin shrimps, namely the Hymenocera Picta found in Hawaii and Hymenocera Elegans found in Andaman Sea. They are commonly known as clown shrimp, painted shrimp and dancing shrimps.

The Harlequin shrimp is unlike other species in that it is a slow mover and not very agile. The beautiful bodies have stunning coloration with the body being a pinkish white or white with large purple edged pink spots. There may also be red and orange tones depending on the local environment.  The shrimps vary in size averaging between 2cm-4cm. The females are larger than the males and can be identified by the coloured abdominal plates. The male’s abdominal plates are white. It is believed that the vivid appearance of the shrimp is enough to deter predators. It also indicates that it may be toxic to eat as brightly coloured creatures often are. This is not the case with the shrimp. The two large flat pincers constantly move even when the shrimp is stationery, hence the common name “dancing harlequin shrimps”. The eyes are positioned on the end of stalks and the antennae are flattened, looking very leaf like.

Harlequin Shrimps are very shy and are found in mating pairs. They are monogamous and are very territorial usually covering an area of up to 10m square.  They are predominately nocturnal and will feed during twilight or under the cloak of darkness. During the day they are found in hiding places on a rocky or coral substrate.  This species of shrimp are rare and do suffer as a result of coral damage. The Indo-Pacific species is more common that the Hawaiian species, because over the years the latter has been actively collected for the aquarium trade.

Moulting occurs once a month. During this process the shrimp will hide until the new shell hardens. It is usual for simultaneous molting to occur. The molting also gives the opportunity for the shrimp to replace missing limbs, this may take more than one regeneration.  The mating couple will reproduce after the female as completed her molting process. She will lay between 100 and 5000 eggs per season and tends to them until they are hatched.

The Harlequin Shrimps are predatory carnivores. They are ruthless and extremely strong. The shrimps work as a team and detect their prey by scent. They live on a diet of starfish. Once the starfish has been located the pair will prize the arms from the rock and overturn it, thus rendering the starfish helpless.  The starfish may be 10 to 20 times larger than the shrimps. It has been known for the shrimps to drag the starfish to the lair where it acts as a living larder. It is kept alive by the shrimps feeding it.  The shrimps dine on the tube feet starting at the tips and working inwards to the centre plate, thus keeping their food source alive for as long as possible. Occasionally, a starfish may detach an arm or two to make an escape!!!! It is fortunate that starfish have the capability to rejuvenate their limbs…..

If you would like to know more about the identification of species why not sign up for on a  Underwater Naturalist Specialty Course, which will enhance your knowledge and highlight the key things to look for or a cruise on board MV Scuba Adventure or MV Scuba Fun for a chance to see these for yourself.

Scuba Cat Diving has been offering the Nitrox Enriched Air Specialty since ‘s introduction of the course in 1996. Once considered to be dangerous, it now is widely accepted and very accessible. Diving with Nitrox Enriched Air allows us to safely extend our bottom times and after all, time underwater is what it’s all about!

Since its introduction in recreational diving 1985, Nitrox Enriched air has slowly changed from being controversial to widely accepted. It is now our most popular Specialty Program and all our Daytrip boats are equipped with Oxygen Clean Compressors, which enables us to make Enriched Air available to all Nitrox certified customers.

Diving with Nitrox Enriched Air is most beneficial on dives between 18 and 30 meters. The reduced Nitrogen in the breathing gas means less Nitrogen loading and thus longer dive times.

What is Nitrox?

The air we breathe every day typically consists out of 78% Nitrogen, 21% Oxygen and 1% other gasses. In simple terms, Nitrox Enriched Air in Scuba Diving is any breathing max with an oxygen percentage exceeding 21%. The most popular mixes are EANx 32 (with 32% oxygen) and EANx 36. For recreational diving, breathing gases enriched to 40% oxygen are acceptable and up to 60% with Semi Closed Rebreathers.

Most scuba equipment, including regulators, BCD’s and dive computers are compatible with Nitrox Enriched Air up to 40% when they come from the factory, however you should check the manufacturer’s guidelines.

The normal air we use in scuba diving mainly consists out of Nitrogen (approx. 79%) and Oxygen (approx 21%)*.  Dive tables and computers are based on calculation of theoretical Nitrogen loading. This loading is expressed in Foot Sea Water (fsw), which is directly related to the Partial Pressure of Nitrogen. So, as most divers already know, the nitrogen loading is based on the depth of the dive and the amount of time we spend underwater. Besides these two elements, the third factor that determines our nitrogen loading is the percentage of Nitrogen in the gas we breathe.

In Scuba Diving, Enriched Air Nitrox is any gas mix with more than 21% oxygen. Our body doesn’t use the extra oxygen in the mix, but we do benefit from the reduced Nitrogen. The reduced nitrogen will reduce the partial pressure of nitrogen when we dive and reduce the nitrogen loading, thus extending our bottom time.

Nitrox Enriched air was first introduced as a recreational breathing gas in 1985, which caused major controversy among Scuba Diving experts. It took another 11 years before it became widely accepted with ‘s support of Nitrox Enriched Air as a recreational breathing gas and its introduction of Educational Material and the Nitrox Enriched Air Speciality course in 1996.

Most dive centres have Nitrox Enriched Air available and some boats have Nitrox available onboard.

Scuba Cat’s MV Scuba Adventure, includes several free Nitrox fills on every trip to allow longer dive times. MV Scuba Fun and MV Scuba Cat both have the facility for Nitrox on board meaning that you can take your Enriched Air Diver Specialty during your diving with us no matter which boat you are on. The course is available as a Elearning course, so you can complete the theory from your own home and enjoy the diving on your vacation.