Ko Tao - Chumphon

 

Anenomefish.

 

My buddy.

 

Angelfish.

 

Nudi.

 

 

Blue spotted sting ray.

 

This live shark shucker was my friend throughout the dive.

 

Anenomes.

 

The harlequin sweetlips are beautiful fish!

 

Ko Tao - Red Rock Drop Off

 

Dive site.

 

Bannerfish

 

Anenomefish.

 

 

The visiblity was about 15 meters.

 

 

Nudibranch.

 

Brain coral.

 

 

They sunk the Samakut to make an artificial reef.

Ko Tao - Green Rock & White Rock

 

Angelfish.

 

 

Bev.

 

Nudi.

 

When you wave your hand over Christmas tree coral (little brightly colored tree looking things), they quickly pop back inside their coral hiding places.

 

 

Big school of slivery fish.

 

Thai Toilet

 

This is the typical Thai toilet. The user stands on the foot steps on either side of the hole and squats. There is never any toilet paper, but once I saw some newspaper tacked up on the wall.

 

Then, the user "flushes" by filling the bowl with water and dumping it in the hole. Sometimes, more than once. The toilets are always dirty and smelly, and there is water all over the floor.

Ko Lanta - Hidden Bida

 

This was our bonus dive of the day. We were out so far that we got to do a third tank. The only way to tell it's a dive site is the bit of rocks poking out of the water.

 

Every once in a while we would swim through an area filled with giant sea fans.

 

The sea cucumbers are really long and fat. They are brown and white and had elegant tentacles that are constantly moving along the coral.

 

The anenomefish guard their home by wagging their tails and heads vigorously.

 

This is the first time I have seen nudibranches, and they were everywhere in Thailand. They are tiny, neon colored sea slugs, usually an inch or two long. They live on coral or rocks and are really hard to spot.

 

Bev. loves being my model.

 

Bottom dweller.

 

 

Best creature of the trip! Leopard shark. He was hanging out in the sand, and when he saw us, he immediately swished his long tail a couple times and was off.

 

Bubble coral.

 

I like the crown of thorns starfish because they are unusually blue and have so many arms. I learned they can be a problem in some areas because they have no predators and they can wipe out entire patches of coral very quickly (basically by throwing up on the coral and then absorbing the juices).

 

 

 

 

Scorpionfish blend in with their surroundings so well that they are hard to see, even when my dive master is pointing them out to me. They have a nasty stinger that can put you in the hospital for months.

 

 

This was our luxurious boat with a sundeck on top, lounge area in the middle with tables and chairs. They fed us snacks after every dive and set up our tanks for us. Really, it was like a day at the spa more than a day diving.