Phuket Diving Gossip

Author: Iain Page, December 2008

This month:

• General News
• Richelieu Rocks!
• Fish of the Month
• Smile of the Month
• Abbie Update

General News

Hectic but fun is the best way to describe this December. Many customers came early to escape the pre-Christmas madness in their own countries and do their Christmas shopping in the calm atmosphere of Phuket's modern shopping malls, in between diving of course. Many others came for Christmas itself giving us the pleasure of their company over the festive period. In total 27 people attended the Sharkey Christmas dinner, this year held at a local Thai restaurant just across the road from our office.

For the diving there were so many highlights that it is impossible to cover them all. However, mention has to be made of Max once again spotting a whale shark continuously over two dives at Richelieu Rock whilst on a Similans liveaboard. Of course, Iain is not bitter at all about the fact that he has had only one sighting in seven years as opposed to Max's nine in just over two years! More below on Max's Similans exploits.

Of course we also have to mention the Sharkey Christmas day dive trip. This year there were a total of twenty of us on the trip to the local island of Racha Yai. This included five new divers who had the pleasure of getting 25th December as their certification date, a Christmas day I am sure they will never forget. Santa hats were of course compulsory for all, both above and below water!

Richelieu Rocks!

Our Thailand liveaboard expert, Max, had the joy of visiting the wonderful Similans and Surin marine parks on a number of occasions during December, both as an instructor teaching Advanced and specialty courses and also as a private guide.

During his Similans liveaboard trips he was well rewarded in terms of marine life with a large variety of creatures both big and small. As well as the usual array of leopard sharks, turtles etc. Max also discovered many interesting smaller creatures including seahorses, ghost pipefish and his favourite, a pair of stunning harlequin shrimp. And yes, it has to be mentioned again, a whale shark at Richelieu Rock. As Max described it "We spent two dives alternating between looking at the reef and into the blue. It went something like this: octopus, whale shark, turtle, whale shark, cuttlefish, whale shark...."! No jealousy on Iain's part whatsoever.

Fish of the Month

This month's fish of the month is the clown frogfish. With its contrasting markings of fluorescent yellow and bright red it is a truly stunning sight to behold. The frogfish is so called because of its similarity in appearance to a frog with fins that have developed into what now looks more like webbed feet. It's real name is actually "Anglerfish". This is derived from a small appendage on it's forehead directly between the eyes. This appendage hangs down and is used to attract fishes like bait on a hook, hence the name "Anglerfish".

The picture on the right was taken on a dive at Phi Phi islands at a site known as Maya Wall, just outside of the famous beach, Maya Bay. Although you may think that this creature would be easy to spot it's bright colouration does actually act as good disguise. Dotted all around the wall where this one was discovered are patches of coral with the exact same colours and pattern so without any movement it is almost impossible to notice. The site was visited whilst on board the excellent MV Pawara. Thanks to our friends Ronny and Dan who kindly paid for Iain, Oui and Abbie to have a short holiday on this superb liveaboard:).

Smile Of The Month

Once again there were many contenders for the "Smile of the Month" award but this month's winner is Brenna Maconaghie from Australia. Although only 13 years old Brenna is one of our most regular customers and logged her 50th dive at the beginning of her latest trip.

Brenna was chosen as this month's winner not only for her smile but for being the cause of many smiles too with her wonderful Christmas day outfit. Many a mask flooded underwater in surprise as Brenna swam by with antlers swaying in the current! I'm not sure if the guy in the background quite got the Christmas spirit though.

Thailand Liveaboard Laughter

Following in Mummy and Daddy's footsteps Abbie's love of water increases by the day. Not content with swimming without any aids she now takes pleasure in jumping into the water too. On a recent family holiday on MV Pawara liveaboard Abbie was desperate to join the divers as they climbed into the dinghy and headed off for the dive start point. Once they had left she decided enough was enough. She proceeded to strip off all her clothes on the dive platform, grabbed Daddy's hand, counted "one, two, three" and jumped into the sea!

Abbie is now getting taller and is still extremely active. Swimming sessions continue to be her favourite pastime closely followed by climbing on the laundry frame and stealing the pegs off the clothes. Favourite food is grilled fish with sticky rice and a cup of apple juice to finish.