Well we are looking at some seriously Blue skies today.
I think high season is upon us and you we are ready.
Join us for your vacation!
With our New boat, new shop and so much more going on it is going to be a great year!
Khao Lak Diving
Boats Specifications:
| Type | Bugis Ketch |
| Length | 34 m |
| Beam | 8.5 m |
| Draft | 2.90 m |
| Headroom | 2.10 m |
| Cabins | 9 with ensuite bathroom |
| Toilets | 12 |
| Showers | 12 |
| Sails | 7 |
| Engine | Hino V10 500 HP |
| Max speed | 10 knots |
| Average | 8 knots |
| Generator | 3 (1 x 25 KW & 2 x 75 KW) |
| Diesel tanks | 16,000 litres |
| Water tanks | 18,000 litres |
| Watermaker | 2 x 300 litres/hour |
| Compressor | 2 x 265 litres/min |
| Nitrox membrane system | 32% |
| Dingy | 2 |
| Liferaft | 2 (15 person) self inflating |
| IPURB | 2 |
| GPS | 3 |
| VHF | 2 |
| SSB | 1 |
| Autopilot | 1 |
| Satellite phone | 2 |
| Radar | 2 |
| Depth metre | 2 |
| A ir conditioning | Yes Individually controlled |
| Fans | Yes |
ALL cabins have the following facilities
Air condition
En suite facilities (private toilet & shower)
Cupboard space for storing your belongings
A fridge
A large panoramic window
Today is a very special day here at Wicked. The
woman with the most skills and the very best shopstress we've ever had, Aom is celebrating her birthday today!
(sing along here...)
She has told us that in Thailand after 24 years, you count backwards, so she is 23!
No matter how young she is, Aom has some amazing skills, is a huge asset to Wicked and deserves much more than that big bundle of Roses that someone got her.
We hope you have many more!
Happy birthday Aom!
Today Stine and Sabrina started their Open Water course. We hope to have two more happy safe divers in the water in just a few days!
They are from Denmark and are two of the most eager, studious students one could ask for. We are really happy to be able to teach them.
Anna is teaching them in our technologically advanced classroom...
The weather is really starting to change and it looks to be a good time for them to dive!
If you have questions about our courses - please check here.
The West Coast Explorer just got back of it's first trip of the season and - of course - we had one of our guests on board.
Darcy - is living here helping at the Royal school. She is also going back to do complete her Degree in Marine Biology after that. So we hoped to impress.
"The trip was great". With Manta rays and heaps of other amazing life, she was well impressed and say she'll do it again later in the season. We hope to do everything we can to make that trip even better.
Milton, the owner/tour leader is out of the water for a few trips, so currently Holgar is holding down the boat, trying his best to fill in. and according to Darcy, he's doing a great job. We hope to hear more good news in the days ahead. Our good friend Annica is already on this trip and will tell us more.
Here's some details on the boat
From Marcel
First Open Water Course of the season.
Yesterday we certified Fred as an SSI Open Water Diver and he is now able to join his wife Nathalie on lots and lots of good dives in the future. Nathalie was one of my Divemaster Trainees on Koh Tao about 4 years ago. We had a wonderful time back then and she even managed to work a bit as a Divemaster in the
Despite him being the only student we decided to make it a standard 4 day course to keep the pace nice and relaxed. The first two days were spent in the swimming pool and our mega luxurious A/C classroom (It costed us blood, sweat and tears so we were very proud to use it). We even had some time left to do a little sidetrip to the local waterfall.
On the 3rd day we went to the
So Fred is happy with his newly gained diving certificate,
Nathalie is very happy because she can now dive together with Fred,
Marcel is even more happy with the swiss cheese and chocolate
And Paul, well, Paul is just happy for us being happy.
Marcel
We were honored to host Annica's 100th dive while she was visiting us.
Congratulations from everyone here at Wicked Diving!
Your 200th dive is on us!
Khao Lak Diving
Here is our official night out with friends and family.
Just some "friends"
We are so excited to get back in the water. The weather is changing, the rains are over (almost) and We have some great friends around. Such a good time to learn to dive. So we begged Fred to let us teach him.
We popped up to the Pool and had some good fun. The scenery at the pool is spectacular. You can See that Khao Lak is really surrounded by jungle. That's all part of the Khao Lak - Lamru National Park in the background.
Can't even build roads there. So no houses, no vast apartment complexes or shady condominium developments. We'll never be Phuket!
Nathalie is so happy to be in the water, that she' s jumping for joy!
Here is Marcel helping. (I really just wanted to put this picture up because our logo is prominently displayed!!)
Frederic decided to show off his dancing skills. Here's the "running man" later he did a spectacular "lambada" but we aren't legally allowed to show that!
Marcel was afraid of after seeing the "lambada" and locked himself in the shark cage.
He only agreed to come out after Nathalie offered to give him chocolate and cheese they brought with them from Switzerland.
If I had known he was going to get some real cheese straight from Switzerland, I might have offered to teach the course myself!
While all our instructors follow the rules very carefully, they are often easily impressed by treats like this! (Doritos and Kombucha are in pretty high demand as well - ahem)
Tomorrow more pictures from Dive 1 & 2 on the Similan Islands!
Join us for your course! We're always happy to help, we love to share our passion for the underwater world and...well...we love it!
Khao Lak Diving
Here is part of the sexiest equipment room in Khao Lak. I know it's hard to imagine a sexy equipment room (or is it?) but we got one! Just installed the new racks for regulators and it' s a beautiful pair of racks.
And another sleek piece of work - Marcel's custom designed and hand built Fins racks! Not only does it keep them orderly but it also keeps them out of the way!
All these racks, I'm excited!
Khao Lak Diving
We just got word that the West Coast Explorer is having a Last minute Special on the trip departing on October 29th. Normally priced at 24,000 Baht, it's only 17,500 right now!!!
With a great crew, one of the best cooks on the Similans and - of course - perfect diving, you can't go wrong.
What a bargain!
Contact us for more details.
Some really nice pictures of the bungalows on Island #4...as we can't get inside them until the 15th, we can't see all the work they've done during the rainy season.
So for now, I guess we'll just have to with these!
And of course - just to get everyone excited, here's a couple of beach shots ....much much more to come....so get your suntan cream and silly flip-flops out of the closet.
Remember to cover up - don't want a burn!
A great day on the Similan Islands today. Our first trip of the season with some really good conditions. There were some clouds in the afternoon, but the morning was great. Good Colors...
Marcel, Annica, Yoshiki and Yukari all went out and head a great time.
Diving at East of Eden, Lunch on Similan #4 and then another dive at Anita's reef.
They had a Green Sea Turtle at East of Eden, and an extraordinary new Nudibranch at Anita's reef.
Plus some beach time too!
And for me....the new boat ....Sampai Jumpaa Lagi. It was just completed in Indonesia and is out for her first runs on the Similans right now. Good looking boat
We weren't on this trip but 2 days ago Whale Sharks were spotted at Richelieu Rock. The first trip of the season and already we have Whale Sharks!
Our partner school on Koh Tao - Scuba Junction has also had a couple of recent sightings! It seems to be the time of year.
It looks to be a great season indeed. That was the first trip for the liveaboard and they were ecstatic. Conditions on the Similans look to be quite good, though we are getting rumors of fishing damage to East of Eden. We need to confirm this in person.
If you are interested in whale Sharks, please check out this site. We are helping to coordinate all the diving for this exciting project in March and April 2008.
It was funny and exciting. All our staff agree - our favorite site is Bon soong.
Yes, it has poor visibility, there is very little coral and it's nothing like the Similans, but man this site packs a wallop.
We, of course, went with our man Cap'n Jack. He is one of the most amazing, positive people we know. He is hilarious and honest and a damn good human. He also avoids smiling on camera because he has no teeth. But believe me he is smiling and laughing 95% of the time.
This time, the site was hidden! Over the rainy season it has not been dived, and the local fisherman (boo) have either cut or broken the marker buoys.
So when we arrived, we wandered around for quite a while looking for some sign of the wreck. Eventually we asked another fishing boat, and the brought us to a piece of water. Said it was here! It looked like a likely piece of ocean for a shipwreck to be in (?)
We jumped in, searched for for 30 minutes, found some tires and shells.
We talked to a different fishing boat. They had no clue where we were. Didn't care.
Finally we did some guesswork, dead reckoning, and decided to do a massive line sweep - almost 70 meters long. By sheer chance we happened to find it! We marked the site, put up a small buoy and got ready for our dive. 
Some of us look very good in our diving gear and aren't afraid to show off a bit.
On the other hand some people look like total dick-heads.
you decide
But the site is a year older, rusted through in a few places, bits and pieces fallen off. Still very much the incredible site that we love.
We were a bit depressed by one of our favorite corners. Famous for the stone fish and ghost pipefish - it was hit hard by fishing nets. We pulled off a big one, but there is a lot more to go.
Oddly enough, we had Bruno, representative from Greenfins on the boat. Even with fishing nets, we still blew Koh Tao out of the Water.
Anyhow - the site is marked, we had a great day. Perfect way to begin the season.
Tomorrow - Marcel's report from the Similans...
Wicked Diving
Here's a picture of Annica, our first guest of the new season!
(We're cheating a little bit as she's a friend of ours)
We are very happy to be up and running. We have courses next week, dives tomorrow and Sunday and lots more going on in the weeks after.
the handsome feller next to her is Marcel and he's happy to be diving tomorrow, diving with friends and ready for the season ahead.
As always ...please check out our main site Wicked Diving
And our good friends
Safe Diving
Whale shark conservation
Thailand Liveaboards
Wicked Diving has moved!!!!
We have officially moved to our new location! With new facilities we built to our own specs - new classroom, new equipment area.
We are only 20 Meters from our old shop, so you won't need any new directions or maps....
In addition we have the facilities to conduct larger courses including DAN Instructor Courses, Divemaster programs and even IDC programs in the near future.
Our swimming pool is just up the hill and in a beautiful location. Perfect for learning!
The classroom has such amazing amenities as: TV, DVD player, Tables, Chairs, Air-Con, whiteboards and even....carpet! All the tools the modern, progressive instructor and student could demand!
We are also putting in Khao Lak's only Evacuation center for diving accidents in association with Diver Safety.
Don't forget our new boat! With plenty of space and overnight trips to the Similan Islands, we have some of the best, safest options for diving and snorkeling in the region.
Please check back here frequently our on our
home page for many more details and information as we continue to grow and evolve.
With massive space for all our activities and plenty of room out front for relaxation before or after diving - we look forward to seeing you here!
The first beer is on us!
Great weather today, been this way for a couple of days now too!
We are looking forward to the new season and all the amazing things we hope to see and do.
And as always.....
Similan Diving
Thailand Liveaboards
Diving Safety
Whale Shark Conservation
Khao Lak vegetarian Festival
Phuket is famous for it's vegetarian festival where people put swords and hooks through their faces. Apparently some people are mystics, get possessed by demons who make them do this stuff. Meanwhile everyone swears off meat for the 9 days of the festival. I don't see the connection myself. Having been a vegetarian for 9 years, the only times I've been possessed have involved Thai whiskey!
But Khao Lak does have a small festival and we have a small parade where these mystics do these feats of possession. Well, kind of. The spirits that possess them aren't nearly are powerful, or media savvy as the ones in Phuket, so they don't actually pierce themselves ...
Generally speaking they are in red, denoting the spirits, and they have helpers who keep them from wandering off into dark alleys and direct them to alters people set up in front of shop for blessings.
There are some women who do it, but for some reason they seem to not cut there faces open and mutilate themselves as much as the men do.....
And I must say that it was a nice day, because that night an atlas moth, the largest in the world, flew in and landed on Keith. This is VERY good luck and we of course took it in stride - and ran off to get our cameras!
Hopefully that sets a good tone for the season.
Here's Marcel next to his latest invention.
Actually it's part of our retrofit - making the equipment room big, beautiful and safe.
We are avoiding sharp corners and other hazards that could damage your equipment!
We are also setting up a servicing desk to take care of all minor needs, like o-rings and adjustments.
The major servicing is done at One-Stop service center in Krabi. They are fully certified and experienced, so our gear is in great shape.
Keep looking - more to come
Similan Diving
Thailand Liveaboards
Diver Safety
Whale Shark Conservation
It's not easy to see, because I go in only at night, but the Happy Snapper got a nice addition this year and it looks great. better than great, it is gorgeous.
Again, there is no other place to drink in town. Sure there are some bars and a few little roadside places, but nothing this cool, this tasteful, this well run or so deserving of business.
Pitak and Aeh are two of the best people ever and the staff are always having fun and it's a family.
Couldn't meet a nicer bunch of people
Where else can you listen to the most famous bass player in Thailand play pink floyd songs to obese germans!
Our new shop! Here are a few clips of Keith and Marcel doing the hard work.
They felt my skills were "better suited" for measuring and sweeping. That's okay....
they can't type nearly as fast as I can!
Still on track for being open Monday!
The weather has been nice for two or three days now. Like proper nice weather.
And hey, what's that?
Is that some large sign obstructing the view?
well the power lines are more annoying, but yes - that's our shop....! Easy To see, Easy to find, and right next to the bus stop!
