Friday, July 31, 2015

When in phuket scuba diving lessons may change your life.

When in phuket scuba diving lessons 

may change your life.

              For many people who have never been diving or even given it a thought, will at some point in their life either as a child or as a dream as an adult will have thought of finding pirate treasure. The down side to this is two thirds of the planet is underwater. Pirates never buried treasure on desert islands or marked the spot with an X. They took the gold and spent it on having a good time until the money ran out and went pirating again. All the big money was on board huge treasure ships that were transporting gold to and from new lands back to Europe or to pay armies fighting over the new lands. Many of these ships were sunk in storms after being blown onto rocks an reefs. Rocks and reefs are in shallow water. If the rocks and reefs were in deep water they will be no threat to ships. The up shot to this is most of the ships were wrecked in shallow water within easy reach of the average recreational diver. 
 
            Next time you are in phuket thailand why not give it a go. Its a perfect place to learn. Warm tropical water, loads of reefs and variety of fish. When in phuket scuba diving is a must. You may just get hooked and you never know what may happen.....
             It is three hundred years since a fleet of Spanish galleons, loaded with New World gold, set sail from Havana under the careful watch of British spies. They never arrived. A vicious storm sent 11 treasure ships to the floor of the Atlantic off Florida. Now though they are giving up their booty.
     The Schmitt family - Rick and Lisa and their two children and daughter-in-law - who scour the seas for treasure from their salvage vessel Aarrr Booty, found 51 gold coins and 40 feet of ornate gold chain.




The pick of the finds, according to Brent Brisben, whose company 1715 Fleet – Queens Jewels owns salvage rights to the wreckage, is a rare coin known as a “royal” made for King Phillip V and dated 1715.
    Only six others are known to exist and it could be worth $500,000 alone. Eric Schmitt, 27,  made the find last month in 15 feet of water while diving using a metal detector. Their discovery was announced to coincide with the anniversary of the disaster in July 1715 when all but one of the ships foundered.
      They had left Havana under the careful eye of British spies who dotted the Caribbean. They believed the cargo included a priceless dowry of jewels for King Phillip V to give to his new bride. The ships were crammed with the king's tribute, including gold chains which were used as a tax-free currency. The War of Succession meant there had been no sailings for the preceding two years. “By late advices from Havana I am told the Galleons from Vera Cruz were daily expected there in order to join the Spanish Ships of War, one of which was the Hampton Court, who are said to have great treasure on board for Old Spain,” said a dispatch from Lord Archibald Hamilton, the Governor of Jamaica, referencing a British war ship captured by the Spanish.  But within days the fleet was in trouble, pummelled by storms that gusted at 100 knots, pushing the ships westwards and on to rocks.  
The convoy's manifests showed its cargo of gold and jewels would today be worth about $400 million, of which $175 million has so far been recovered, according to Mr Brisben. The wreckage was first discovered in the 1960s but stormy seas limit treasure hunters to only a few weeks each year.
          The laws vary from country to country and wreck to wreck as to who the treasure belongs to. In this case it was split was 20% to the Florida musem and the rest split between the finders and the financiers who bought the rights to the wreck. So a very nice little earner. 
         This is just one of many. Off Cornwall in England in 2007 another wreck was found in a few meters of water in a bay of a popular holiday resort. The wreck had an estimated  US $500 million on board. 17 tonnes of coin has been recovered. How many holiday makers were swimming, surfing and fishing on top of all that gold and silver with no idea it was there. If they had learned to scuba dive they just may have found it. 

          Next time you are on your holiday, take a look at phuket thailand. The location, price and conditions are perfect for learning to dive. The dive centers offer great prices and even if you dont discover several tonnes of gold you will discover a whole new world. Every dive you do after that you will discover something new as long as you keep your eyes open. You can always when diving in phuket do a search and recovery course to teach you how to recover things off the sea bed just in case. Next time you want to change your life come to phuket scuba diving. its just may change you life forever.



Wednesday, July 22, 2015

The Amazing Underwater World of Phuket Thailand.



The Amazing Underwater World of Phuket Thailand.

           Just a short boat ride off shore, there are some stunning underwater places to explore in phuket thailand. It is the main gateway to the underwater sights that rank up there with the best in the world and depending how much time you want to spend underwater, there are several ways to explore it.

One Dayin phuket scuba Diving,

          With as little as one day up your sleeve, you can enjoy three different sites – a huge wall dive,  a wreck, and a reef – and still be back for happy hour. Several boats leave daily from Chalong Bay, and take in three dive sites with the furthest just a couple of hours  cruising. It is cruising as the dive boats here are large and very comfortable. They have chefs on board, sun decks, three or more showers plus more deck showers to rinse off after the dive. Power points to charge cameras, shaded eating areas and large saloon.

    The closest is Koh Dok Mai or Flower Island provides a home to many sea creatures.which is also the most characteristic of the region, being a limestone pinnacle that rises steeply from the ocean floor. Underwater it presents as a wall with vertical gutters and crevices and even some caves, home to all sorts of cryptic crevice dwellers. This is normally the last dive of the day as its done on the way back to Phuket.

         The first dive of the day, the wreck King Cruiser is on a sunken car transporter ferry, which is so big you won’t get to see all of it on the one dive. The ferry sank in 1997 after hitting Anemone Reef. The boat is sitting with the top around 17 meters and the bottom at 32m. The wreck is approx 90m long, 30m wide and 15 high.

    And the reef, called Anemone Reef, for good reason guarantees you some of the cutest Clown fish around.  This is also a good location for Tigertail Seahorses which live on the huge sea fans. There are also a good chance to see Leopard Sharks here too around the base of the reef.


Over the course of the day you could see anything from seahorses to scorpion fish, barracuda to banded coral shrimp, stone fish, sea snakes, many nudibranchs, Ghost pipe fish, painted spiney lobsters, frog fish, Blue spotted sting rays and if lucky the largest fish in the ocean The Whale Shark.

      These day boats have all the dive gear you need on board. As well as showers, they provide and serve you  a cooked breakfast, large hot buffet lunch and afternoon tea, plus tea, coffee, drinking water. other soft drinks are available at a very small cost as is ice cold beer for the way back.  So all you really need for the day is your dive card, sunscreen and swimmers.


Check out these other Thailand beauty spots: www.thailand-divers.com

Three Days’ Diving

If you have three days spare for diving in phuket you will be able to cover the three main day trip locations from Phuket.

Koh Phi Phi  The terrain here is also limestone pinnacles made famous by the movie The Beach, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. The range of diving is immense, from easy snorkelling in Lana Bay on the north-western tip of Koh Phi Phi, to Bida Nok, which offers a most dramatic marine topography: caves, swim throughs, drop-offs and overhangs.

Keep an eye out for white-collared butterfly fish as well as the many Black tip reef sharks (totally harmless) and Hawks Bill Turtles.
        All around Phi Phi Ley are steep walls and coral bommies with an amazing number and diversity of nudibranchs, as well as the usual colourful reef fish like butterflyfish, coralfish and parrotfish.
Phi Phi can also be done during low season (May - Sept) on an overnight live a board which includes a great night dive.

More than three days,

       If you have three days or more available, you’d be crazy not to book a liveaboard trip and head out to the similan islands and Surin National Parks – about 1.5 hours from Phuket by speed boat or 3 hours cruising on the dive boat.(which is usually done while you sleep). Here you will be spoilt with some of the best diving in the region and the world if you include Koh Tachai and Richelieu Rock.


      
The similan island diving is so diverse. Here are massive granite boulders, stacked up long ago by some giant god of the sea, to create a playground for fish and divers alike. Mixed in with white sandy bays and shallow reefs teeming with life. Throw in a turtle breeding ground for good measure. Diving in this area you may be lucky enough to see manta rays cruising through, but you’ll certainly find turtles, and some of the biggest giant morays I have ever seen. Mix in the powder-blue surgeons, white collar butterflies and black tail angels and you’re in for a visual feast.

    The pinnacle, literally, of the trip will be Richelieu Rock, a rock so famous it even has its own website. A large, horseshoe-shaped rock, completely submerged, Richelieu is home to everything from the smallest ghost pipefish to hordes of batfish, schools of swirling snapper,  giant cuttlefish and of course the giant Oceanic Manta ray and Whale Shark.
 Even three dives on the rock won’t be enough: you’ll be planning your next trip on the way home.
For more information on diving in Thailand visit http://www.thailand-divers.com/

The live a boards have several great options from a one night trip to 10 days or more. The choice is yours. The trips can depart everyday from 15th October till mid May so you can fit the trip to your holiday and not your holiday to fit the trip. The 5 day 4 night trips will get you a full round trip. There is a choice of boats from to be honest very nice  boats and accomadation low cost trips to total luxuary. 5* chefs, state rooms and private charter super yachts. When in phuket scuba diving is a must. You will not find a better place for your first ever experience or if its your 10,000th dive. phuket thailand has stunning sights both above and below the water.