Racha Yai Dive

I'm back with another diving story... hmm.. don't worry, I think this will be the last of my summer 'diventures' (dive adventure) hihihi.. I'll take a few months rest to regain my 'budget strength' hahaha. I am hoping that in my next diventure I'll already be a certified diver so that I can explore more. So here goes...

Upon our arrival in Patong Beach our first task was to find Sunrise Diving shop to check their dive schedules and book for a discover dive. It was 4000THB inclusive of 2 dives, equipment rental, t-shirt, breakfast, lunch and snacks on board. It was a bit expensive but still I went on with it because it was my first time in Phuket and I want to maximize it. So there, my dive my was scheduled on Saturday, they will pick us up at around 8:30 in our hotel lobby. We had to wake up early and have a quick breakfast then proceed to the lobby wherein we waited for 30minutes. Hmp! I was ranting because I took a quick breakfast only to wait for them. argh!We should have waited for them in the breakfast area. hahaha! (Sorry I just want to maximize the breakfast buffet). I was actually a bit panicky then because we've been waiting for a while already, what if they forgot about us? or they left us behind? those were my thoughts so I had to call and contact them, to my dismay nobody was answering my call, I was just checking their website to find other ways to contact them when my friend told me that they are already there.

So, I approached the pickup and asked whom to talk to if my friend would like to join the trip. And there I met Philip, my DM. I asked him if its ok and he said there shouldn't be any problem with it but we just have to confirm with the manager. They called the manager and asked me to talk to him then I told him about it, he said that there's no problem about it, we just have to pay for the additional fee. All was well... we rode the pickup truck to the port where our big boat was waiting. There were plenty of us, from different dive centers and with different DM's. We had to transfer from pickup to this very colorful tram to bring us to the boat.

When we got to the boat, Philip joined us on our table and discussed the basics, since it was already my third dive, I was quite familiar with what he is discussing. I can say that this is the most detailed intro dive I've had. We even have an actual guide book to follow with pictures and all. And did the basic underwater skills I had to learn as a beginner. I did it at around 7meters deep. The only difference is that this time it was well documented. I have my own photographer! hahaha.

During my first dive, Philip said that I need to work on my bouyancy because it is not steady. I enjoyed the dive, lots of small fishies... Big puffer fish, Lion fish (black and orange), clown fish (nemo), Big angel fish, school of baracuda (i liked it), this long fish im not sure if its funnel fish.. haha.. sorry I don't know its name and other different colorful species. However since its still considered as shallow water, there are only hard corals, I liked the bed of small corals where you can see that all of them are growing because the tips are so white. :) I missed the colorful soft colorful corals I saw in the Philippines. I did not even see any nudies there. Anyway, that was the story of my first dive with Philip. After around 40 minutes of following swimming with the fishies, we ascended and I did not even notice that It was a different place already. I was far from the boat and I swam really slow. haha. I think I was the last one to get to the boat. hihihi.

When I was aboard the boat, I took of my wet suit and dried myself because they serve the food at the dry area.

As we were preparing to have lunch.. there was a bit of commotion on the right side of the boat then I heard someone yelled 'dolphin' wow!! it was like a magic word to me.. hehe.. I ran to the front of the boat to check it out.. and there they were, I just saw a glimpse of their back as 4 or 5 of them swam past our boat. I was waiting for them to jump and show off a bit but that did not happen. They just swam by... I went back to the buffet table and had lunch. :) The food was okay and was cooked onboard. There were also fresh fruits for dessert. After lunch, we went on the top deck to lounge for a few minutes and take some pictures. Before 1 PM, Philip told me to get ready for the next dive. So, I went down and got ready. Took another giant step to the waters... hehe! I got it right this time. :) I loved my second dive more because this time I was not that conscious of my bouyancy. I just followed my DM liesurely, lots of small fish here almost same species with the first dive. When we were onboard, my DM told me that i have improved a lot regarding my bouyancy. Graduated from being a yoyo. hihi. Then he gave me my cerficate... that ended my racha yai diventure. Ü