Go ahead. Plan my vacation.

HI

I'm going to Thailand at the end of February.

Never been there before.

Do you have a favorite dive operator you like and trust?

You have a favorite place to share with me?

My schedule would allow for aproximately 7 or 8 days of diving. I would like to try a couple of days in a live aboard.

Hopefully dive some wrecks and bring home thousands of pictures.

I would also like to spend the last couple of days photograping on land (Temples, jungle, people, flowers, etc...)

Any sugestion wil be really apreciated.

Thanks

Hugo

I would recommend the Atlantis fleet for a trip out of Phuket to the Similan Islands, Richelieu Rock and the Mergui Archipelago (especially the last 2, Similans just being along the way).

If you have a few days to spare after that, try Hin Daeng and Hin Muang on the MV White Manta or MV Black Manta, also out of Phuket. These operations are very well run, and the diving's good.

The two liveaboards I prefer to use in Thailand is Aqua One, http://www.dive-aquasports.com/home.asp

and the Panunee,

www.panunee.com

There are a few other boats in the same class but I don't have any personal experience with them. However, I have never been disappointed with either boats.

Panunee is a bit bigger, a bit more casual, mostly Thai food, a few staffs can speak passable English. Aqua One is a bit more formal, excellent cooks for both Thai and western meal, en suite bathroom (Panunee has common bathroom except for 2 suites which have their own bathrooms), more English speaking staffs. Both are very friendly toward photographers and have diveguides who can assist photographers very well. Aqua One has common area for photographers to deal with the cameras. Panunee has 2 studios where the beds are raised so you can have your own work bench in your room to work on your camera.

Trip wise, ideally I would try to cover South Andaman (Hin Dang, Hin Haung, Tarutao National Park, Phi Phi etc as well as North Andaman Sea (Similans, Richeliue, Bon, Tachai) if possible. You should be able to do them all in 7-10 days.

HI

 

My schedule would allow for aproximately 7 or 8 days of diving.

1. I agree with Matt, I would take a combined Similans/Mergui trip (Sims for WA and Mergui for macro). I would spend 5/7 days on a LB.

2. Regards a boat. Big, metal, ensuite, comfortable. Cost - as much as your budget can afford, its a big trip (esp if the boat goes to Burma Banks) so better to be as comfortable as can be afforded. You can dive for most price ranges in the Sims but I personally would not want to spend much time on a lot of the boats, cheap usually means very basic accom.

I personally only dive the Panunee these days. Aqua 1, Mermaids, Philkade, Ocean Rover, Panunee, Angunn are some of the cream. I think Dive the World (google for info) are offering promotions on some of these at the moment (if you contact them ask for Jamie, he will give you very honest advice/service).

3. If you like a drink, check that the boat is not running dry (if its dry you take your own poisons by asking the driver of the minibus taking you to the boat to stop at a 7/11 on the way and filling up). Note if you like wine, bring a couple with you - it is prohibitively expensive in Thailand.

4. Temples/flowers etc. absolutely everywhere. Jungle - Khao Sok (if you are staying in the South), but a word of warning, its like walking in a sauna!!!. Maybe better to go to local park or day trip - try http://www.thailandvoyage.com/tourinformat..._tour/Index.htm

5. Wrecks, main wreck dives are on the east coast (Pattaya, Samaesan) and are not worth bothering with (vis and diving very poor on east coast). There is also diving in SE (Koh Tao primarily) but this cannot compare to Sims/Mergui.

Hope this helps

Hugo

I'll go with Boi and Whitehead's suggestions on the boats and throw in a middle class one called the Colona. It's a nice boat and for the diving in the Eastern Andaman Sea, it's very good. I know both tourleader and guides well and they are a blast (as much as germans and brits can get sober!) I also like the Aqua One(when they had John Gallick) and the Philkade. Anggun isn't doing so well now. Depends on your budget and what you want. If you can get on the Indian Andaman trips, jump on it as the diving is hella better than the Myanmar Mergui, although sharks are still rare nowadays as they longline there too.

FYI, Mergui diving involves paying the Myanmar government a $150 tax. Don't know your political sensitivities. Personally I don't go to Myanmar anymore (even for a visa run!

I actually prefer Hin Daeng and Muang over Richelieu Rock because it's less crowded. At richelieu you can have 200 divers mobbing anything worthwhile seeing. Getting a clean shot of that whaleshark is doubly hard.

As for topside, I'd fly to BKK and do the royal palace and start trips to the temples and castles of Ayuthaya (1 hr north) and Damnoen Saduak floating markets(2 hours south but get there early for the best light and on a weekend is much better but more crowded with tourists). Then drive through to Ratchaburi and the Erawan National Park which to me is the most picturesque of all the parks, except maybe Khao Sok because of the bigger lake. You can also take some pics of tigers at the Tiger Temple near Ratchaburi and of course the Bridge over River Kwai.

The best temple action is really in Sukothai. Up near Chiang Mai, there's a temple in the mountains from where little monks train in Muay Thai and ride horses down the hill for food.

If you've never driven on the right side of the car, I suggest you hire a driver, which would go for around $80 plus lodging a day. BKK driving is ...errr... invigorating for the heart. If you want a real kick, take a scooter taxi for a ride during rush hour. The itinerary I suggested from BKK will take 3-4 days and gives you a real sampling of central thailand. If you feel you want serious temple, well there's a flight to Siem Reap via BKK. Angkor Wat is magnificent.

I'd be happy to buy you a drink while you're there but I'll be away in Indonesia by then.

Have fun and if you need any more info, you can PM me before saturday. I'm flying off sunday.

here's a sample of Ayuthaya: