Saturday, February 7, 2009

Whale Shark Education and Research - The first video

Oh yeah...

Oh yeah...


Oh yeah...



video


And that's not all!!!!!

We are offering the Whale Shark Education program again! March 6-8, 2009!!!



2009 WHALE SHARK EDUCATION and EXPLORATION PROGRAM
WICKED DIVING

PROGRAM DATES:
MARCH 6 – 8, 2009

TRIP COST: 17,500THB per person

Minimum 9 dives
(Richelieu Rock, Surin Islands, Koh Tachai, Koh Bon, and BonSoong Wreck)
Air-conditioned cabins
Experienced and qualified Dive Guides and Instructors
SSI ECOLogical Specialty Certification – proceeds from this certification are donated back into local environmental programs.
Scuba Equipment
All meals and beverages
Underwater digital cameras and instruction
**There will also be a videographer on-board recording the trip and the dives, DVD available for purchase.



-Similan Diving

Whale Shark Education and Research - Success!!!!!

Yes that's right! Our Whale Shark Education trip got back last night and we are just starting to see the results of the trip!

They snorkeled with whale sharks




Dived with Penelope - our newest staff member - she's only 4.5 meters long.


we got some great pictures that we are uploading into the ecocean database and we can start tracking her global progress.
Of course, there was sooo much more...

Manta Rays, mating leopard sharks, turtles and even ghost pipefish and seahorses for everyone looking at the the reefs.


We are very pleased with the results and feel that everyone walked away better informed, well fed and ...well they all got the opportunity to dive with the majestic fish.


If you are interested, we are planning on a second Whale Shark Education and research trip March 6-8, 2009.



May all your dives be like these....



-Similan Diving

Friday, February 6, 2009

Whale Sharks Today!


We will have more details tomorrow evening but the Whale Shark Education trip that is out right now saw at least one Whale Shark today on Richelieu Rock!



In March....

2009 Whale Shark Education and Exploration Program

Program Dates:
March 6 – 8, 2009

Trip Cost: 17,500THB per person

Minimum 9 dives
(Richelieu Rock, Surin Islands, Koh Tachai, Koh Bon, and BonSoong Wreck)
Air-conditioned cabins
Experienced and qualified Dive Guides and Instructors
SSI ECOLogical Specialty Certification – proceeds from this certification are donated back into local environmental programs.
Scuba Equipment
All meals and beverages
Underwater digital cameras and instruction
**There will also be a videographer on-board recording the trip and the dives, DVD available for purchase.



Write to us for more information - info@wickeddiving.com


Similan Diving

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Wicked Liveaboard Trip #28 (31/1/09)


On board we had the trip leader Ricky, famous for his eyelashes. To his help we had a special visit from Koh Tao, Instructor Bazza, the Swedish Divemaster Henrik and The Wicked Poy!

We started the first two dives at Koh Bon, the famous dive site for Manta Rays. The expectations on the boat was high and everybody was excited to get in to the water. The first thing we saw from the surface was a huge black and white silhouette! Regulator in and down we go!
We counted to 5 different Mantas during the dive. The Mantas really had a show for us and they where with us almost all the dive. Still we manage to see allot of other good stuff like Goast Pipefish, Octopus, Morays and Nudiebranch.

We spend the evening with a Wicked Draw Off, awesome! Thank you very much for that Dawn. And Ricky, your Hangman wasn’t too bad either.

Sunday and a new day was going to offer us 4 lovely dives. During the night we travelled to Richelieu Rock for our morning and second dive for the day.
A dive site covered with colourful soft corals and a great variation of marine life.
We got to see a beautiful Tigertail Seahorse, Mantis Shrimps, Goast Pipefishes, Banded boxer Shrimps and much more!

Moved on to the Surin Islands which tured out to be a perfect place for our third dive and night dive. A nice drift dive with schools of Batfish, Jenkins Stingray, Khul’s Stingray, Octopus and a Turtle, some people even saw a Blacktip Shark. A lucky man was Marciej who decided to snorkel instead of diving and there was the shark!
Marciej, “You break my heart like a Blacktip Shark”.

A wonderful night dive at the “Space Bay” before we slowly started our journey back.
Still 3 dives remaining and we started our last day at Koh Tachai Pinnacle. Strong current and a thermocline hit us just a few minutes after the descent. A really good experience I would say! The fishes were going crazy when the thermocline where getting closer and suddenly the visibility just disappeared. 3 minutes later everything was back to normal and we saw Schools of Barracuda, Big Eyed Trevally, Trumpetfish, Nudiebrach and Potato grouper. If this wasn’t enough a Manta Ray was having a show for us at the safety stop. He was showing us the current wasn’t strong at all as he gracefully glided through the water, what a creature!

You can never get enough of Mata Rays so we decided to test our luck on Koh Bon again. Oh yes, there were still there and even more curious! Take a look at the close up on the video, wow!!!

How do you pick the last dive after a great trip like this? Boonsung Wreck of course! Stonefish, Nudiebranch, Cuttlefish, Honeycomb Morays, Scorpionfish, Barracudas, you name it!

This trip was awesome and I would like to thank you all for making this a wonderful trip!
Thank you Fredrik, Kristy, Caroline, Martin, Maciej and Karolina for joining us.
A special thanks to Dawn, Erron and of course the Katapult Sea Monkey that made their third trip with us.
The new DMT’s Brad, Christy and Jenessa, thank you for your help.
Hope to see you all again soon!

Henrik - Wicked Diving

Monday, February 2, 2009

Similan Diving - Batfish

video

Frequent visitors in our area, the Batfish are curious and have a very human looking face. These fellers are always around the Atlantis 2000 wreck off Beacon Reef.

A fun site to dive, but really not just enough to be dived on it's own.

If you would like to dive with a Similan Liveaboard that is above the water....try us!



Similan Diving

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Similan Diving - Deep Six

One of our favorite sites, located off Similan Island #7, Deep six offers great options at depth, exciting swim-throughs at 18 meters and lots of opportunities to explore the site on the safety stop.


video

This was our group coming through just one of the openings that litter this site.

If you would like to join our Similan Liveaboard for a trip - we would love to have you!


Similan Diving

Similan Diving Video - Manta Ray close encounter

We have been having a great season with some phenomenal encounters, but it just keeps getting better!

The last trip had the site - West of Eden to themselves and their dive with the Manta. Afterwards they were off to Koh Bon where they had 3 Mantas to themselves. One of the hardest jobs we have is planning our dives so that we offer the best diving conditions with the fewest other dive boats. But as you can see...the only people on these dives were....Wicked!


video





Would you like to join in some of the best Similan Diving?

Join our Similan Liveaboard