Ocean Rover February 2002

Thailand is a magnificent vacation spot known for beautiful palaces, exceptional shopping and creature comforts. Well the shopping and creature comforts are not really my thing, but the diving was supposed to be good too. I always detected a bit of disappointment in the description of peoples dive adventures. Now I know why – everyone was expecting whale sharks. While they do appear from time to time, they are not a sure thing by any measure.

I learned a long time ago that going on a dive trip with one critter as your goal only leads to disappointment. Well, I did not see any whale sharks, but I did have a great dive trip. Firstly dive guide and photographer Mark Strickland can make any trip special. Secondly I did see great density and diversity of undersea life, my measure of how good the diving is. And lastly we did see some rare and unusual critters. I got some great Video shots of ornate ghost pipe fish, a pregnant sea horse, a barracuda being cleaned, schools of bat fish….. I think you will enjoy.

For more information on Mark Strickland click here.

The Ocean Rover is a very comfortable dive boat and had a great crew, but has been sold and has moved to Indonesia. Food was good and plentiful. I opted for a 10 day itinerary (If I am going to fly half way around the world, 7 dive days in not enough) which featured the Richelieu Rock, Mergui Archipelago, Black Rock and burma Banks. There are a lot more options today

I spent 3 days in Bangkok, before flying to Phuket. It was a great place to experience the THAI culture and get over jet lag before getting on the boat to dive.