After 20 years of being based only in Patong, Scuba Cat has decided to open a shop in a new area, NaiHarn.

Naiharn Shop

Two years ago was a big change for Scuba Cat with the closing on the beach road shop and the premises moving to the Kee Plaza and Soi Wattana shops.

During this time we noticed that many of our return customers just came into the Soi Wattana shop to see us again, and so we decided to close the Kee Plaza shop and move out to a new area of Phuket to offer a better service covering a larger area.

So for the first time we are now out of Patong……..

Naiharn at the south of Phuket Island is an quieter area with a what most people think is the best beach on the island.

The bay is surrounded with Palm tree’s and there is the famous sunset viewpoint of Prom Thep Cape close by. There is also the lagoon area behind the beach which is great for children to swim and paddle in all year around.In the green season it is sometimes possible to surf in the area too.

Prom Thep Cape

The area has many good restaurants and cafe’s all along the main area and there are hotels and guest houses to suit all budget and taste, but it is not a big party area, more a chill out place. There are some good bars if you want but people tend to visit just 1 or 2 in a evening rather than many as is the case in Patong.

Rawai is very close to NaiHarn, and although there is no beach there, this area also has good restaurants on the shore area. The Sea Gypsy’s have been resident in Rawai for many years and have small market area where trinkets and fresh sea food are for sale.

Rawai

Along the shore line there are many local long tail boats which offer trips to the close coral island for the morning or afternoon.

The whole area is not really know for the shopping or markets, but these can be easily visited in Phuket Town or Patong with a short taxi ride.

Our new shop is located on Sai Yuan Road opposite the popular Da Vinchi Italian restaurant.

The shop is newly built and has a retail area, fully equipped classroom and office. We will be conducting all courses from both Naiharn and our Patong shops, so you can choose either depending on the location of your hotel.

Classroom

One more improvement we want to offer is free transfers to and from the boat that will now include the Naiharn and Rawai area’s and the hotels along Visit Rd to the pier at Chalong.

Why would you choose an e-learning course when it could be more expensive than the standard course after paying the fee’s?

The reason is simple, for more convenience, you can complete all the classroom portion of the course at your own pace prior to arrival, so no classroom whilst on holiday. All you need is a high speed internet connection.

At the moment you can do this for the Open water, Advanced open water, Nitrox or enriched air specialty, Digital Photography, Rescue diver, Dive Master and Dive Theory. There is even the Scuba Tune up on line.

have also introduced the e-learning gift pass, you can customize this for special occasions, such as birthdays, holidays, weddings etc, as you are even able to provide a personal gift message to the recipient.

So if you are trying to think of a different present this may be the answer.

Rescue Diver Course

I was fortunate enough to have completed the Rescue Diver Course with ScubaCat Diving over the last 5 days with 3 other trainees – Noel, Josh and Kasper. Patrick and Sean were our brilliant instructors for the course.

Day 1 – Theory Lesson

We spent the whole of the Day 1 in the classroom learning about Emergency First Response (a pre-requisite for the actual Rescue Diver Course).

Sitting through hours of dry, boring videos is never an easy task – I was struggling to keep myself awake at times. However, the lively discussions that we had with regards to the subject as well as the mock scenarios we were given to remedy made the day so much more bearable. It also helped that our instructors shared many of their real-life experiences, making the knowledge fed to us a lot more relevant and memorable.

Day 2 – Pool Session

Day 2 was our first taste of the Rescue Diver Course. In the training pool, we learnt how to deal with, and pretend to be, a panicked, tired or unresponsive divers on the surface and in the water. Despite the training being serious and extremely draining, there was never a shortage of laughter throughout the day. Of course, Sean, being our instructor was the one who always had the last laugh, and an extremely sinister one in fact – in Patrick’s words “a bit of a mix between that of a Dracula and the Devil”. Midway through our training we even got to meet Sean’s hairy ‘son’ (Jasmine, I think he was called)! Towards the end of the day it started to drizzle. A sign of things to come the next day.

Day 3 – Practice Exercises @ Paradise Beach

The day began beautifully. The air was nice and warm. It was also the first time we got to see the Sun in days. We were on MV Scuba Sport in less than 30min after setting off from ScubaCat’s back office.

The objective for the day was simple; we were going to do what we did the previous day in the pool, except this time we would be subjected to the sea condition. We didn’t think much of it since the sea conditions seemed rather favorable that morning. Our instructors, of course, had very different ideas. Sean and Patrick casually mentioned that it would be a lot more beneficial to us trainees if the sea was choppier and winds were stronger. They then proceeded to summon a thunderstorm (which came within 5 minutes) with their secret mutant powers. Sean would later pretend that he had no hand in the sudden change of weather by humming to ABBA’s Mamma Mia!

As rescue diver wannabes, we were all getting more and more comfortable with the drills and routines we were supposed to do. Pretending as panicked or unresponsive divers, we were all getting more and more comfortable with having seawater go up our nostrils and into our eyes.

Day 4 – Practice Scenarios @ Rachai Yai

The 2nd day out at sea started early at 7.00am. We headed to Chalong Bay where MV Scuba Fun was already waiting for us. It was Christmas Day so there were no surprises when we found Santa Hats on board. The videographer Johnny B. was a strong advocate of them hats and spent a good 15mins trying to convince others on board to put them on as he did. The journey to Rachai Yai wasn’t the most comfortable one as the ship took a good beating from the angry sea. However, once we got into Bungalow Bay of Rachai Yai, everything was nice and calm again.

Today was the day we became extremely proficient in getting into our diving gear and jumping into the water. I think we may have gone in and out of the water no less than 15 times. Working together, we found out how much easier things could be if we established good communication during our rescues.

The highlight of the day came when we had a real search to carry out – fortunately, not for a real case of a missing diver – after it was discovered that one of the customer’s fin was knocked into the sea just as the boat was moving to another dive site. Eventually, we managed to recover it rather quickly.

Day 5 – Knowledge Review and Theory Examination

After 4 tiring days, we concluded the course with Patrick going through our knowledge reviews and then sitting for our theory examination, which all of us aced. We were now newly certified Rescue Divers! A bittersweet moment for me since although the course being absolutely exhausting, it was also extremely fun and insightful!

Scuba Cat Diving received two prestigious awards in one evening.

Reef Check Thailand

and Asia Pacific & Project Aware

A huge THANK YOU to the Staff and Students from Concordia International School, Shanghai, China for their commitment to the Reefs of Racha Yai…..5 years later ……44 days, 60 students, 160 Dives

It all began 5 and a half years ago when we received an email from Terry Umphenour, a teacher from the International School in Shanghai. Terry wanted to start a Marine Ecology Study to enhance the education of  students by bringing it outdoors.

Over the last 5 years the students have collected valuable data from their surveys, recording the many changes that occurred over a 5 year period and learned an important lesson: our reefs are in serious danger.

Many of them have started as non divers, going on to complete multiple Courses, infact during their time on board I think the diver education system has been fully utilized……

• Open Water Course
• Advanced Open Water Course
• Rescue Diver
• Master Scuba Diver
• Many different Specialities
• Dive Master training

and of course the ultimate Goal, Reef Check Divers and Instructors now able to identify different types of indicator species of invertebrates, substrates, and fish by name something taken for granted by most divers, with only a handful round the world being able to do this.

They learned how to dive safely and respectfully to their new environment realizing diving is not a game. They saw first hand the negative effect of human’s on coral reef systems.

This years students were :

• Danielle
• James
• Sydney
• Sara
• Emersyn
• Pan Ling
• Jie
• Jim
• Dana
• Haley
• Yaw Tung (Andy)
• Jing Xin (Jean)

It was an honor to meet you guys and again thank you Paul, Joel and Terry for making this all possible.

and not forgetting Suchana Apple Chanavich, Ph.D and her amazing commitment to the Reef System not only in Thailand but around the world (and the awesome Ice Cream Cake at the BBQ!)

2010 – Diving? Me? No way!
2011  –  I can Dive…
2012 – I ♥ diving

I have been scared of the ocean my whole life. Big fish with sharp teeth, dirty water, the idea of not being able to see your feet, etc. etc.  Enough reasons to not go into the ocean with much more than my big toe. If you would have met me a year ago, and said that I would be scuba diving now? I would laugh at you and call you crazy!  How little did I know…

When my family and I were in Phuket in the summer of 2011, my brother was looking for a dive school to go on some daytrips. Walking along the beach we found Scuba Cat. The instructor we were talking to asked whether I was going to dive too and I told him I was definitely not going to, since there was really nothing that attracted me. The idea of breathing through a tube and having a lot of water above me didn’t sound like fun at all.
I don’t really remember what made me change my mind…but I went back to the dive shop to have a dive at the swimming pool, and I liked it.
I felt very comfortable, the instructor was really patient and we talked about the open water course. After thinking it over and over again, I decided to give it a try and see how far I would go. My Instructor Hielke,  was great. From the moment we met I felt comfortable and safe. He was extremely patient (I was a horrible student – and no I’m not exaggerating!) and he has great teaching skills.

After a day in the classroom, we practised the skills in the swimming pool. There were no problems, so why wouldn’t I be able to do the same thing in the ocean? I didn’t like the idea of pulling my mask off (and get seawater in my eyes) though I knew I would be perfectly able to put it back on. And what to think about practising for an Controlled emergency swimming ascent to the surface….looking up, seeing the surface is far, far away, and then take one breath in and ascent to the surface whilst breathing out all the way. But what’s the fun in life if you don’t try new things and cross your own borders?

I went on a complete new adventure, together with my instructor.
The first dive I stayed extremely close to him. No way there would be more than 15 cm between us! I was scared and I didn’t enjoy the dive. It was not horrible, but I didn’t think it was fun either. I didn’t see much of the beautiful marine life, since I was checking air and depth all the time and did my best to keep breathing on a regular base. Repeating to myself  ‘breath in, breath out…’ the dive seemed to last an eternity.

The second dive was much better, I saw a glimpse of the beautiful coral and sea creatures, still staying close to my instructor. I saw my first ‘Nemo’!

The third dive was a complete disaster, what broke down all the confidence I gained in the first two dives. We were sleeping on the boat and I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep…all I did was crying. That night, I decided to never go diving again. I was looking for a way to tell it to my instructor. I actually found it more sad for him then for me if I wouldn’t finish the course, he was working so hard! It was quiet (there was no one on the boat besides us) the fish were swimming in the lights of the boat and the stars were absolutely stunning! ( I can recommend live aboards to everyone, just to watch the stars and experience how quiet the world can be)
Later the instructor woke up and found me awake. We spend a lot of time talking. What were my exact reasons for not wanting to dive again? I don’t know how he did it, but he found a solution for everything (and I can guarantee you: I had 1001 reasons) and promised me that we would go back to the boat whenever I wanted to. I only needed one more dive to complete my open water training, so why not finish it? After finishing the course I could always decide to never go diving again, but at least I would have finished the course (well…I am a perfectionist, so I always finish what I started) He found the magic words and I went in again.

I’m so glad that he found a way to convince me to go back in!

He showed me how much fun diving could be and how beautiful the marine life is. Because all I did was follow where ever he was going and watching everything he showed me (and checking air and depth of course) I enjoyed the dive very much. We saw beautiful corals, many different fish in all the colours of the rainbow.  They say ‘time flies when you’re having fun’ and it was true! When coming up we had spent an hour down below and I thought we were only there for 25 minutes.
After this dive we went in two more times and with every dive I made I gained a lot of confidence.
I enjoyed the dives so much that I was actually sad that we were moving on to national park Kao Sok, away from the ocean.

During our journey home all I could talk about was diving. When diving I felt like Alice in Wonderland and I felt like I need to explore that world more. As soon as we got home, my brother and I booked a flight back to Thailand for December. Within a few weeks I booked our live aboard with a Advanced Open Water course for me and EFR & Rescue course  for my brother.
Before going back to the ocean I went to the swimming pool in the Netherlands to dive there. I wanted to check if I still knew everything, just to make sure. I’m glad I did, because now I had no reason to be nervous at all and I could relax during the flight. That flight was horrible, we had a major delay and missed our connection. We’ve spend Christmas day on the airport instead of under the palm trees. The staff of Scuba Cat was very friendly and helping with putting us on another daytrip and friendly and helpful words on the phone.

My brother and I went on the liveaboard to dive the Similans.

I read a lot about it before we went, but it was even more beautiful then I imagined….

There were some challenging moments (night dive, bad visibility after the rain,etc) but being with an instructor, Kiwi and my brother and a lot of nice people on the boat, I felt comfortable enough to face them. I know that at certain moments I would never have gone in the water if my brother wasn’t there to hold my hand, an instructor to watch over us and many nice people on the boat to share experiences and give some advice now and then. Being on a liveaboard is great. The food is better than in a restaurant, you meet new people and you all have something you share, so you don’t have to worry about awkward silence….I made new friends there and learned a lot.

I was diving more on my own, not so (literally) attached to my instructor or buddy anymore. I swam with big groups of fish, went deeper than ever before, I saw turtles and seahorses and it felt like I was swimming in an enchanted world.
As long as I stay between my own, newly discovered borders, I can explore that world and enjoy it too. The staff of Scuba Cat helped me with that and will help me to learn more things and enjoy diving more and more in the future.
This summer I’m going to Indonesia, but in December I’m returning to Thailand and dive more with Scuba Cat.  I can’t thank my first instructor enough for all his patience, calming words, teaching me how to dive and showing me the magic world of the ocean. Thank you to the other instructors and guides (daytrips and courses) for all your help, advice and guidance. I can’t imagine a life without diving anymore!  A big thank you to all the staff of Scuba Cat to make everything happen, from booking, to food, from diving to have a drink at the bar to celebrate the happy end of our combined story and our future return to you all.  I will highly recommend you all to everyone who wants to dive in Thailand and see you again in December. I’m looking forward to it very much!

Big hugs for everyone.