Message from the Aquatic Activities Director

Well, it's been a busy few days, most of which we spent on the water. Two days ago we drove down to Phang Nga bay and went kayaking through the mangrove-lined inlets from the sea. We paddled through a natural cave, or "hong," and hiked into another with neolithic cave paintings. Then we drove to another location and hired a long-tail boat to take us around the bay, which was also very scenic and pleasant. But by far the last two days have been the most exciting, with SCUBA diving both days. Yesterday we took a speed boat out to the Similan Islands, which has some truly world class diving. We swam along a coral shelf, with visibility up to 30-meters at least. The water was filled with so many different kinds of fish it was sometimes hard to see. We did two dives and had a great time.

Today we took a long tail boat just a few minutes from the shore and dove down to a sunken tin barge. The visibility wasn't as good as the Similan Islands, but it was still outstanding, and also very unique because you usually need a different type of certification to go wreck diving. Today had some very exciting sea life sightings: a great big jelly fish, huge puffer fish (as big as cats), big schools of yellow-tailed barracuda, lion fish, scorpion fish, and my favorite, cuttle fish!

-K