Today we decided to dive from Kamala Beach, which appears in the upper left on this a map of our diving from Phuket Feb 22, 23, and 24, 2019,
https://www.screencast.com/t/YufC3nOPd0
Why Kamala?
When we were making last minute arrangements in Siem Reap to go diving somewhere we could get into and out of quickly, and I started writing to dive shops to see what I could line up, Robert Klein, owner of Merlin DIvers in Kamala, was first to write back. I had focused on Kamala as not too far from the airport and possibly a less developed area of the island than some of the others, possibly a comfortable place to stay. Indeed we eventually found that it had a nice beach with some low key food and beverage establishments shoreside and reasonably priced accommodation inland from there. However, as I started to get more replies to my emails I came to realize that Merlin were booking us with other companies for trips to the standard dive sites shown in the map above, and we decided to base ourselves in Patong because there was a large cluster of dive shops there where I could negotiate prices directly with the ones who had their own boats, whereas there were only two or three operators in Kamala.
On the other hand, Merlin divers offered diving from long-tailed boats to sites off their beach, a very different flavor of diving from the crowded cruises heading out to the busy dive sites, and a chance for a later pickup at our hotel in the morning (a chance to relax over breakfast) and earlier return from diving than that done from Chalong harbor, so we decided to set aside a low-key take-it-easy day for them.
On the other hand, Merlin divers offered diving from long-tailed boats to sites off their beach, a very different flavor of diving from the crowded cruises heading out to the busy dive sites, and a chance for a later pickup at our hotel in the morning (a chance to relax over breakfast) and earlier return from diving than that done from Chalong harbor, so we decided to set aside a low-key take-it-easy day for them.
What we found
Merlin divers had a pleasant and professional setup in a cluster of shops fronting the busy main street but opening at the back of the shop right on the long sand beach. Accueil, preparation, and execution of the diving was up to the expected standard. There were few diving customers that morning, only Bobbi and I and perhaps one other. Most of the dozen or so divers on the boat with us were in training for divemaster or on other professional level internships, which meant we were in good hands, almost too well looked after. But once we'd been in the water for a few minutes we were pretty much left to get on with the diving. The guides were good at pointing out creatures so we had no interest in doing anything but follow.
As usual I'm with my favorite dive buddy Bobbi Stevens, today wearing a yellow mask. Bobbi is not to be confused with dive guide Luke, a South African who wore his long blond hair in a pony tail and was also wearing black mask with yellow trim face frame, similar to Bobbi's :-). If there is any problem with the video embed, the direct link seems to be working: https://youtu.be/jSLNAJSuvCM
The dive begins with dive guide Luke helping Bobbi descend on the rope and at the bottom telling us to get together and follow him but leaving us alone after that. He leads us to several forlorn puffer fish, nests of lion fish, lots of snappers schooling in the 'cubes', a few scorpion fish, a few banded coral shrimp (Stenopus hispidus), an eel, tiny flounders, a nudibranch, and through a big cloud of silt that settled over us toward the end of the dive, though most of it was in relatively clear water.
Overall impressions
This seemed to be a well-run dive shop, friendly, and well situated away from the madding crowd in Patong just over the hill to the south. The location was to our tastes, since we only drank beer at 60 baht ($2) in the tall 600+ ml bottles from the 7-11 near our hotel, the pleasant and quiet Patong Mansion. We avoided the 80 baht for half pint offerings in the bars and restaurants (120 for a pint, twice the price of the larger bottles in the 7/11). If like us, you're there for the diving and can do without the bars, Kamala struck me as a pleasant base, limited in scope and in diving, but earns points on relaxation. The two dive sites we tried were not the best Thailand has to offer, but we were happy with our half day out, nice to be catered for personally, and of course you pay less for that than you do on the boats going from Chalong Harbor. If you were staying in Kamala, the owner could arrange your diving on other days on the charter dive boats, with pickup from your hotel.
About the videos
GoPro videography by Vance Stevens
PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor #64181
For best results, view these videos using highest HD setting on YouTube
As usual I'm with my favorite dive buddy Bobbi Stevens, today wearing a yellow mask. Bobbi is not to be confused with dive guide Luke, a South African who wore his long blond hair in a pony tail and was also wearing black mask with yellow trim face frame, similar to Bobbi's :-). If there is any problem with the video embed, the direct link seems to be working: https://youtu.be/jSLNAJSuvCM
We went on two dives. The first was on Whale Rock, resulting in the video above. The site isn't listed on Merlin's list of dive sites
https://phuket-diving-thailand.net/scuba-diving-kamala-beach/kamala-dive-sites/ but it was a nice site for relaxed, unhurried diving, and here is what we saw: young barracudas right at the beginning of the dive, puffer fish, clown fish in the anemones, scorpion fish lurking on the rocks, nudibranchs, a cuttlefish, schools of snappers, a moray, and some Pearsonothuria graeffei cucumbers toward the end of the dive, among many other creatures of the not-so-deep.
The most salient moment of the dive for me was when I came across a little head poking out of a rock and turned around in the surge to examine it. Bobbi was hovering above me, but the others had moved on, so I gestured for her to call them back with her tank-banger. But having taken my eyes off the hole, I couldn't find it again but then I spotted a carefully constructed hole rimmed with rocks that could only have been placed just so by the animal who lived there. So I switched on my light and shined it into the hole. This provoked the resident mantis shrimp to come charging up to the rim as if to complain about the unwanted lighting, or perhaps just to see what the source was. Now I had a great view of him, but I had my lamp in one hand and my camera not in the other, and he had withdrawn back inside by the time I got my camera into position. Bobbi had joined me by now and when I shined my lamp into the hole we could see the mantis in there. But I was never able to juggle the light and the camera and deal with the surge in such a way that I could get a coherent video from it. Maybe these few hundred words will suffice in lieu of a picture.
The most salient moment of the dive for me was when I came across a little head poking out of a rock and turned around in the surge to examine it. Bobbi was hovering above me, but the others had moved on, so I gestured for her to call them back with her tank-banger. But having taken my eyes off the hole, I couldn't find it again but then I spotted a carefully constructed hole rimmed with rocks that could only have been placed just so by the animal who lived there. So I switched on my light and shined it into the hole. This provoked the resident mantis shrimp to come charging up to the rim as if to complain about the unwanted lighting, or perhaps just to see what the source was. Now I had a great view of him, but I had my lamp in one hand and my camera not in the other, and he had withdrawn back inside by the time I got my camera into position. Bobbi had joined me by now and when I shined my lamp into the hole we could see the mantis in there. But I was never able to juggle the light and the camera and deal with the surge in such a way that I could get a coherent video from it. Maybe these few hundred words will suffice in lieu of a picture.
The second dive was on Tin Lizzie, which Merlin's web site says is"the remains of a Tin Dredger at about 14 meters. Tin Lizzy is absolutely covered with marine life. You can find large numbers of Bat fish, Lion fish, large Puffer fish, Scorpion fish and Barracuda here. Many artificial reef blocks are placed around the wreck dive site and have become home to many fish." Our boat crew referred to those reef blocks as "cubes". Here is how my camera saw it: https://youtu.be/FESKm5lWxlk
The dive begins with dive guide Luke helping Bobbi descend on the rope and at the bottom telling us to get together and follow him but leaving us alone after that. He leads us to several forlorn puffer fish, nests of lion fish, lots of snappers schooling in the 'cubes', a few scorpion fish, a few banded coral shrimp (Stenopus hispidus), an eel, tiny flounders, a nudibranch, and through a big cloud of silt that settled over us toward the end of the dive, though most of it was in relatively clear water.
Overall impressions
This seemed to be a well-run dive shop, friendly, and well situated away from the madding crowd in Patong just over the hill to the south. The location was to our tastes, since we only drank beer at 60 baht ($2) in the tall 600+ ml bottles from the 7-11 near our hotel, the pleasant and quiet Patong Mansion. We avoided the 80 baht for half pint offerings in the bars and restaurants (120 for a pint, twice the price of the larger bottles in the 7/11). If like us, you're there for the diving and can do without the bars, Kamala struck me as a pleasant base, limited in scope and in diving, but earns points on relaxation. The two dive sites we tried were not the best Thailand has to offer, but we were happy with our half day out, nice to be catered for personally, and of course you pay less for that than you do on the boats going from Chalong Harbor. If you were staying in Kamala, the owner could arrange your diving on other days on the charter dive boats, with pickup from your hotel.
About the videos
GoPro videography by Vance Stevens
PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor #64181
For best results, view these videos using highest HD setting on YouTube
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