Crazy diver.

     This picture of Mr.Tik, the Thai Divemaster who works for Khao Lak Scuba Adventures remind me of a crazy diver I met many years ago.
   
     It's a sunny day and we are on the way to the dive site. I have 3 customers in my group. One of them is a good looking man who is working in the military when he is in his home country. We have a few pretty young girls on the boat, and of course Mr. Good Looking would like to chat with one of them. He chit chats with one of the open water students until I ask him to come with me for the briefing.

     Mr. Good Looking has an underwater camera and he asks me to take pictures of him under water. After the briefing we start to gear up and then dive. As soon as we are at the maximum depth we plan to go, Mr.Good Looking passes me his camera so I can take pictures of him, which I'm willing to do. But the way he poses in front of the camera makes me feel unhappy. He puts his fins on the reef and puts one of his hands on the hard coral. I go to him and pull him out of the reef, giving him a hand signal to tell him not to do that, and he says OK.

     After we dive for a short while we see the other group. It's my colleague with her group of open water students. One of the students is the pretty girl who Mr. Good Looking was talking with on the way to the dive site. Suddenly something unexpected happens. Mr. Good Looking swims quickly to her and pulls her mask off her face. Before the girl gets panicked, my colleague grabs the mask from Mr. Good Looking and puts it back on the girl's face quickly. I have a lot to say but my hand signal skill is not advanced enough to express all of it.

     On the boat, my colleague comes to me to discuss this and asks me not to take Mr. Good Looking to do the next dive and says we should ban him from our diving school. I call the manager and tell him what happened. And I go to tell Mr. Good Looking that I will not take him to dive second dive, he has to stay on the boat because what he did to the girl was dangerous. He knows that this dive is her first open water dive. If she gets panicked and something bad happens to her, many problems will follow. Mr. Good Looking said "We do this to each other all the time with my friends in the military." I'm very disappointed to hear this as he does not feel guilty or sorry at all. I told him to stay on the boat and I walk away.

     We are heading back after 2 dives. The pretty girl ignores Mr. Good Looking since after the first dive. He's sitting alone, looking sad. I can see that he has started to realise that he did something wrong. Mr.Good Looking never came back to the shop to see the manager and we have never heard anything from him since.
   
     Don't take other peoples' masks off their faces. If they want they can take it of themselves, like Mr.Tik is doing when he want, for fun.

   
  

How to pick the right wetsuit for diving at Similan.

     Wetsuits are designed for specific sports or activities. A wetsuit will protect you against water and weather conditions. Also, the scuba diving environment sometimes has a potential for scrapes, stings and burns. Exposure suits help you retain heat and provide protection against incidental skin injuries and sunburn. A diver need to know what kind of wetsuit is the best for the diving environment in order to feel comfortable while you are diving.

     Wet suits come in many styles, shapes, thicknesses and sizes. It is nice to have your own wet suit to avoid the worry of renting one. You can get one which fits nicely and gives you both warmth and freedom of movement. As an experienced diving instructor I known that unfortunately, many scuba diving certification courses do not spend much time explaining how the wetsuit works and how to choose it for all kind of diving conditions due to the little time we have in the classroom. I really hope this guide will help you to choose the right wetsuit for your next diving holiday to Similan.

     For me as a woman, I get cold very easy. This is what happens to almost all of the female divers I've met on the boat in the last 10 years of diving in Thailand. We need the  long john wetsuit with a minimum thickness of 5mm or 3mm with a hood. I'm not kidding, on the the live-aboard we do 4 dives a day, with the last dive being a night dive. The water temperature is 27 degrees centigrade and sometimes we have a thermocline. Water can transmit heat up to 20 times faster than air, so you cool rapidly in water. You will not need a hood for day time diving but you will be happy to have a hood for night dive.
    
     For male divers, I rarely see European male divers having problems with the water temperature at Similan, however some Asian male divers do. Most of you are happy with a 3mm shorty or 3mm long john wetsuit. For shorty wetsuits, I recommend that you bring a lycra bodysuit to wear under it, to protect you from scrapes, stings and burns. Even if you have good buoyancy, you can not avoid the tentacle from the jelly fish that are sometimes floating around.

      Have a good live-aboard trip.

First live-aboard trip of 2010-2011.

Lovely, funny group.

Montse was helping with drawing maps for the whole trip.

Tired after diving.

Very good breakfast : - )

From the left, David, Neal and Bee.

Happy Crazy Funny : - ))

Jimmy, hard working instructor.

Does this picture make you hungry?

Koh Haa

Ready to go diving.

Nitrox for diving.

     Nitrox is known by many names: Enhanced Air Nitrox, Oxygen Enriched Air, Nitrox, EANx. Nitrox refers to any gas mixture composed (excluding trace gases) of nitrogen and oxygen, this includes normal air which is approximately 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% other gases. Enriched Air Nitrox is mainly used in scuba diving to reduce the proportion of nitrogen in the breathing gas mixture. Reducing the proportion of nitrogen by increasing the proportion of oxygen reduces the risk of decompression sickness. Nitrox is not a safer gas than compressed air in all respects. In scuba diving, nitrox is normally differentiated and handled differently from air.

     In 1985, the International Association for Nitrox Divers ( IAND ) become the first agency to provide Nitrox training for recreational divers. Finally, Nitrox went in to the mainstream in 1996, when the Professional Association of Diving Instructors ( PADI ) endorsed and began teaching Nitrox courses.

     The principal advantages of using Nitrox blends instead of air in recreational diving include:
          - Increased bottom times within No-Stop diving limits.
          - Reduced decompression times for Extended Range dives.
          - Potentially reduced chances of DCS, if used as "air".
          - Potentially shortened surface intervals between repetitive dives.

     The principal disadvantages of using Nitrox blends include:
          - Potential hazard of CNS oxygen toxicity within typical recreational depth limits.
          - Need for related diving equipment to be properly cleaned for oxygen service.
          - Additional training for safe use.
          - Additional expense for Nitrox fills.

Khao Lak Scuba Adventures has Nitrox available. We offering SSI and PADI Nitrox courses.

Advanced Open Water course.

     เป็นหลักสูตรที่เสริมสร้างประสบการณ์เพิ่มเติมด้านการดำน้ำ ให้แก่นักดำน้ำผู้ที่สนใจที่จะเรียนต่อในระดับสูงซึ่งจะเป็นการ สร้างทักษะด้านการดำน้ำ ให้มีความชำนาญและมีประสบการณ์สูงขึ้น ผู้เรียนจะต้องผ่านการอบรมหลักสูตร Open Water Diver มาแล้ว เพราะเป็นหลักสูตรต่อเนื่องเพิ่มประสบการณ์สำหรับ ผู้ที่จบการดำน้ำขั้นพื้นฐานมาแล้ว ในหลักสูตรจะประกอบไปด้วยการดำน้ำ 5 ครั้ง สามารถเรียนได้โดยใช้เวลาเพียง 2 วัน ซึ่งจะใช้เวลาในห้องเรียนไม่นาน และให้ความสำคัญกับประสบการณ์และความสนุกสนานในการดำน้ำมากขึ้น

     การเรียนการสอนส่วนใหญ่จะเป็นการฝึกทักษะทางทะเลหลักสูตรบังคับคือ Deep Dive, Night Dive, Navigation Dive และอีก 3 ไดฟ์ผู้เรียนสามารถเลือกเรียนได้ตามที่ตนเองชอบ เช่น Multilevel Dive, Search and recovery Dive, Underwater Photography, Boat Dive, Drift Dive

     หลักสูตร Adventure Diver ที่มีให้เลือกได้แก่
- AWARE Fish Identification
- Boat Diving
- Deep Diving
- Multilevel and Computer
- Night Diving
- Peak Performance Bouyancy
- Search and Recovery
- Underwater Naturalist
- Underwater Navigation
- Wreck Diving

     คุณสมบัติของผู้ที่มาเรียนดำน้ำ
- อายุไม่ต่ำกว่า12 ปี
- ผ่านการเรียนดำน้ำระดับ Open Water หรือเทียบเท่ามาแล้ว (ถ้านักเรียนอายุระหว่าง12 - 14 ปี จะได้รับบัตร Junior Advance Diver)

     ประโยชน์ที่ได้รับ
- เป็นการฝึกทักษะด้านการดำน้ำเพิ่มเติม ในระดับสูงขึ้น
- เป็นพื้นฐานที่จะเลือกเรียนในหลักสูตรที่สามารถนำไปประกอบอาชีพได้ เช่น ช่างภาพใต้น้ำ หรือ ช่างใต้น้ำ ตามนิคมอุตสาหกรรม หรือท่าเรือที่ให้บริการเรือเดินสมุทรขนาดใหญ่
- ได้รับความรู้เพิ่มเติม เพื่อนำไปเรียนต่อในหลักสูตรผู้นำในการดำน้ำ

     หมายเหตุ
สำหรับผู้ที่มีเวลาน้อย ก็สามารถเรียนเพียงวันเดียว ดำน้ำ 3 ไดฟ์ได้ โดยเลือกหลักสูตรต่างๆ จาก Adventure Dives

     Khao Lak Scuba Adventure สอนคอร์ส PADI และ SSI ตั้งแต่ระดับพื้นฐานจนถึงระดับนักดำน้ำอาชีพ

Elephant Head Rock.

     Elephant Head Rock is one of my favorite dive sites because of its many swim throughs and the tunnels. The southern most point of the site has a tiny group of submerged pinnacles in very deep water and it is a great place to observe small reef sharks. There is a possibility of strong surge and current, so stay close to the rock or the bottom if current is present. Visibility is often quite good, with as much as 30 meters+ (100 Feet). Diving is done from 5 to 35 meters. In my opinion, it's one of the most challenging Similan Islands dive sites.

     You will see blue-ringed angelfish, Giant moray, Trigger fish and bi-colour parrotfish. Yellow goat fish and snappers always hang around at the deepest levels, as well as several species of Lion fish. Take a look under the overhanging ledges to find several species of the larger snappers, such as one-spot, mangrove, black and white, as well as giant and Andaman sweetlips. Check the small gaps and caves around the rock, as it is possible to see small white tip reef sharks.  

     I like to hang out in the shallows here to off-gas at the end of the dive and look at Powder blue surgeon fish making their way across the boulder tops, grazing on the algae. Big eye bream and large trains of traveling robust fusiliers arrive on the scene from other nearby feeding stations. Often I see the great barracudas that do some serious hunting here. You will often be surprised by the assaults of the huge Jacks that dive into the passing fish.

     In case of strong current, I prefer to drift with the current at the end of the dive while I'm doing the safety stop. You never know, maybe you will be lucky enough to spot a Manta ray come out of no where in the blue.

     Khao Lak Scuba Adventures organize daytrip and live-aboard to Similan from the 15 October to 16 May.

สาระน่ารู้

     องค์ประกอบของดวงตาจะปกคลุมด้วยเนื้อเยื่อบาง ๆ ที่เรียกว่า คอร์เนีย เนื้อเยื่อนี้ช่วยในการหักเหแสงเพื่อให้ตกกระทบจอตา แสงจะหักเหมากน้อยแค่ไหน สามารถดูได้จากดัชนีหักเหของแสง (refractive index) น้ำมีดัชนีหักเหของแสงใกล้เคียงกับคอร์เนียของดวงตา แสงที่ผ่านน้ำมาจึงเกิดการหักเหเพิ่มขึ้นเล็กน้อย เราจึงมองภาพได้ไม่ชัดเจน แต่หากเราใส่หน้ากากดำน้ำ อากาศที่อยู่ภายในหน้ากากดำน้ำจะช่วยให้การหักเหของแสง มีสภาพเหมือนขณะเราอยู่บนพื้นดินปกติ ดังนั้นเราจึงสามารถมองภาพใต้น้ำได้ชัดเจน เมื่อใส่หน้ากากดำน้ำ
     Khaolakscubaadventures มีหน้ากากสิลิโคนอย่างดีให้กับลูกค้า ทั้งสำหรับดำน้ำลึกและดำน้ำตื้น เรายินดีตอบคำถามและรับปรึกษาปัญหาต่างๆ เกี่ยวกับอุปกรณ์ดำน้ำ