Scuba Diving Phuket, Thailand - Sharkey Scuba Latest Gossip

A Long Hot Summer! - June 2006

June sees us well into our summer season often misleadingly called the "monsoon season". Contrary to popular belief the weather in Phuket is very good all year round. Although June to September is officially the monsoon season we prefer to call it our summertime. There are a few days of heavy rains every now and again but generally the weather is still great with glorious sunshine in the day and lovely cool evenings.

In terms of diving, many people actually prefer it to our main season. Why, because underwater the visibility is pretty much the same but there are a lot less divers around giving you more space on the reef. Just be aware that some days it can get a bit choppy but seasickness tablets can be provided in advance. Check out our summer day trip schedule, almost identical to the main season although with less trips to Phi Phi.

New Premises - May 2006

After many issues and problems with trying to get the right place we are glad to announce that we have finally moved into new premises. Much more accessible than our previous office, we can now be found just off the main road in Karon, halfway between the Hilton Arcadia and the Crowne Plaza . A map will be placed on our web site shortly on a new web page that will also show some pictures of both the office and the various pool training facilities that we use in Patong, Karon and Kata. If you are in the area please be sure to look us up but please phone first to avoid finding me wandering around in the midday heat dressed only in a sarong (you have been warned)!

Weddings, Festivities And More... - April 2006

A busy month saw many different events and happenings in the life of Sharkey Scuba. Firstly, once again we had the pleasure of attending the wedding of a long time customer and friend from the UK, Mr Neil Whalley, to his beautiful fiancee Tik from Trang in Southern Thailand. The wedding party was great fun with a live Thai band and karaoke, the highlight being a group of rather drunken guests singing Eye of the Tiger on stage. Sorry, but as I was one of them there is absolutely no chance of the video clip appearing on our web site!

The Thai New Year Celebrations a.k.a. Songkran festival also took place in April. With the celebration of the coming rains everyone is out to have some serious fun with the world's largest water fight taking place. In some parts of Thailand the festival lasts for a week but thankfully in Phuket one day and night of festivities is enough. This year saw a group of about 20 customers and staff heading out on the prowl with some awesome water guns on display. If you can remember the bar scene in Gremlins then you can picture exactly what the main strip looked like on Songkran night. Come and join us next year for an alternative way of getting wet.

Manta Madness Returns - March 2006

Once again March saw the increase of manta sightings to unbelievable rates. Although sightings cannot be guaranteed every customer who took a liveaboard in this month to either the Similans islands or Hin Daeng got to experience the wonder of these majestic underwater creatures. Thankfully both Oui and I were also present at many of these sightings and, even after many years of diving and many encounters we still find our adrenaline levels rising and heartbeats racing. Bring on the next dive!

Record Breakers - February 2006

In February three new records were broken in both Oui's and I's personal diving experience, and also in our company's experience. The first record fell to Sophie Young who at the age of 8 years and 6 months became our youngest ever diver after completing her Bubblemaker course. Her sister Lauren, not wanting to be outdone, became our youngest ever Junior Open Water Diver at the tender age of 10 years and 6 months old!

In the experienced diver stakes Anders Nielsen from Denmark completed a total of seven different specialties during his recent trip including underwater scooters and underwater photography. He now has so many specialties we've lost count although we think the official number is about nineteen. Anders was hoping to add to this on his return to Denmark by completing his Ice Diver course but unfortunately the weather conditions were too good. Now this guy really is diving nuts!

If you think you have beaten any of these records then let us know. If you would like to beat them then contact us and we'll see what we can arrange.

Happy Days - January 2006

As well as all the celebrations of Christmas and New Year, Oui and I started the year with even more celebrations as some friends and colleagues celebrated weddings. Out in force were the friends and families of Matt Schaefer and his new wife Maud who flew from America to Phuket specifically to get married. For the first time since our own wedding it meant we actually had to leave behind the usual uniform of shorts and t-shirts and get out the dusty glad rags.

Prior to the wedding the whole group came out on a day trip with us to Racha Yai. Some snorkelled, some discovered diving for the first time and the experienced ones continued in their diving careers experiencing the joy of all the family in the water together at the same time.

In general the weather and visibility in January have been excellent with a few surprising sightings around Phuket including three different whale sharks at Racha Yai on the same day. This was followed a week later with a group of mantas on the journey home! Don't expect this to happen every trip!