Scuba diving blog from DivingScool, Koh Chang

The holiday season should be slowly picking up now, but at the moment Thailand is being tortured by tremendous flooding and a lot of you are probably wondering what the hell is going on here and above all whether you should cancel your booked flight tickets and hotels.

To give you a an idea of what is happening here, take a look at this video.  It’s in Thai but the English subtitles should make it pretty easy to comprehend besides the use of cartoon characters.

At the moment, water is entering various parts of inner Bangkok and a number of foreign governments advise against absolutely essential travel to the Thai capital.  It is still unclear how severe the flooding will be, but a lot of Bangkokians are taking no chance and are fleeing the city as a lot of basic consumer goods as bottled drinking water and dry food have become very scarce.  How long the flooding of Bangkok and some of  the other provinces of Thailand will last, remains unclear, but last indications say anywhere from 6 to 9 weeks.

Ronald is still smiling while the Hamburgler should better change to a diving mask. Source : theatlantic.com

So what to do?

Tourist destionations like Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai in the north; Phuket, Samui, Koh Tao, Krabi in the south and Hua Hin, Pattaya and of course our own Koh Chang in the east have no flooding and are having blue skies and sunshine nearly every day.  It is business as usual in these places, although you will find empty shelves in the local supermarkets here too as a result from the disrupted distribution that originates in Bangkok and the surrounding provinces.

So there is no need to completely cancel your planned holiday to Thailand.  You might want to reroute your trip and this site offers you some handy tips.

If you’re on twitter and want to stay up to date, you can find the latest via #ThaiFloodEng

This site, in English, provides some good information about the current situation.

When you’re planning to visit us here on Koh Chang or one of the neighbouring islands and have any questions, please feel free to contact us for more information or assistance.

Here are some more incredible photos of what this vast mass of water is doing to the country.

A new update will follow soon!  In the meantime…

Happy Bubbles!

Finally it is here…The Palau Shark Week update.  For those of you who don’t know yet, next March 2012, DivingScool Koh Chang organises the most amazing diving trip to Palau.  The trip is open for only 10 divers ensuring that you only get the best possible (dive)time during this one of a life time diving adventure!

The package includes the following :

Hotel accommodation with breakfast at The Rose Garden Resort, Meyuns Rd, Koror, Palau (11 nights)

It is a quite silent hotel, not to big, a little away from everything so that it is nice and relaxing.

The hotel consists of 24 rooms and it is upon a little Hill with a very nice view over the below laying area and water.

The rooms are made (except the bath) completely out of wood, furnished nicely and useful and, important, they are clean.TV, minibar, ventilator and AC is in the room as well as a table, chair, sideboard and of course a bed.

The rooms are very clean and the come with great balconies and adequate space.

8 days of diving with Fish and Fins

The diving consists out of 2 dives a day.  Boat transfer, dive guide, weights, belt         and tanks are included.  Lunch and drinks during the dive trip are provided as well.

Shark Week 2012 T-shirt, Gala Night and all other Official events

Airport – hotel transfers

Unlimited house dives

Free Nitrox 32% for certified Nitrox divers

Not included in the package is :

* Korror state permit 35 USD which is valid for 10 days included entry for Jellyfish Lake

* Peleliu State Permit 25 USD which is valid for 14 days

* Departure (25 USD) and green tax (15 USD)

* Diving Equipment

* Any other excursions or tours.

* Flights

The price per person for this package is 1890 USD.  A deposit of 25% is required for confirmation of your booking.  The full amount is payable a month after your booking, no later than 1,5 months before the start of this amazing trip.

More information regarding the exact program of Sharkweek 2012 will soon become available.

Talking about sharks have a look at what the guys from Dive Tribe Thailand are doing and join them in in saying “No to Sharkfins”

A remarkable way of making people aware of the shark finning problem is this envelope…only one problem…There is no info on where to get them!  If anyone knows where I could get these, please send me a mail with the details.

Happy Bubbles!

Last month was an excellent month for diving on Koh Chang.  Not only was the weather very gentle on us, with plenty of sunshine though slightly lower temperatures . The sea was very calm as well and this gave us excellent visibility throughout the entire month.

The fact that the temperature was down compared to last year, is a blessing for the coral reefs, not only around Koh Chang, but for the entire South-East Asia region.  We noticed that most of the coral reefs are back in their normal rhythm and that even the worst affected species of coral, the ones from the Staghorn family, are indeed recovering.

Almost daily diving during the Thai Holiday month resulted in really nice encounters with big schools of some very curious Batfish, huge Triggerfish and Giant Travellies.  Not only the bigger fish caught our attention, also well camouflaged fish like the Demon Stinger, sometimes called an Indian Walkman were spotted together with Coral Shrimpfish, Long-snout pipefish and the Pacific blue-stripe pipefish to name a few.    During the entire month, almost every day their were sightings of dolphins around the diving and snorkeling boats.  Which is a very nice indicator for the future.

One of the highlights of the month of April is of course Songkran, the Thai New Year. Every year this three day long holiday ends up in massive water-fights and no-one escapes from them.

Songkran 2011 @ DivingScool Koh Chang

Towards the end of the month, Pascal finished is PADI Divemaster training, but before we could let him go into the world as a certified Divemaster he had to take one final hurdle: his snorkel-test.  A big thank you to our lovely neighbour Jacqui for her mean bucket recipe. The pictures don’t need any comments

Well done, Pascal!  You’ll be a great Divemaster!!!

Ps.  The update on our Palau-trip is a bit delayed but should be online this week!!

Happy Bubbles !!

Great News for all you diving addicts.  DivingScool Koh Chang has got the incredible opportunity to offer you an amazing dive experience at one of the worlds most notorious diving spots : Palau !!!

Palau is an island nation in the Pacific Ocean, some 800 km east of the Philippines and 3,200 km south of Tokyo.  Its unspoiled reefs offer a wealth of marine life, coral formations and wrecks.Blue holes, huge caverns and an immense variety of rare and exotic marine species are easily accessible in clear water with visibility exceeding 50meters.

Vast numbers, not found anywhere else in the world, of large pelagic predators, sharks, turtles, dolphins and many species of migratory fish gather here at a unique crossroads of three of the world’s major ocean currents.

And the sharks that’s what we go for during this trip!  During 13 till 23 of March we offer you a true Shark Week at Palau’s major dive sites like the famous “German Channel”, the “Blue Corner”, the “Peleliu Corner” and “Shark City”.  This week falls during the peak of grey reef shark mating season.  16 awesome dives during eight days in this wonderful dive hotspot will definitely become an unforgettable dive experience you do not want to miss out on.

Aside from the first-hand experiences in shark appreciation that you get diving each day, the learning continues at the evening during Shark Week. Each evening, Fish ‘n Fins hosts lectures and presentations by shark experts to inform you about the state of shark conservation.

At the moment we’re making the final arrangements for this outstanding diving experience and we will shortly be able to offer you a detailed overview about the how’s, when’s, what’s and so on.

If interested in this amazing adventure do not hesitate to contact me!  Places are limited till 10 fun diving enthusiasts, so do not let this one slip!

Happy Bubbles!!!