Incredible Thailand

29/11/2014

Shrimp manicure : the very last chic...

This last trip to Thailand was an extraordinary one ! In three days, we got to see everything the Andaman Sea has to offer : whales spotted from the boat several times, walls of fish so thick they were hiding the reef from sight, current just strong enough to make it all fun... and the special guests too ! A whale shark came to say hi twice during our safety stop on Ko Chi, and the manta rays made their show both in Koh Surin and Koh Tachai !

Vibrant colors on the reef and fish in the blue...

Some of our guests were doing their first dives in tropical waters (hello Heather Lucky Charm ;) ), and two of them passed their Open Water on this trip (Congratulations Charlotte and Tarek !). What a way to start a diver's life...

Barracuda fireworks.

Once again, thanks to all of our guests of the week : Hubert, Peter, Fabienne, Tarek, Charlotte, Heather, Andrew, Bern and Maria. It was a pleasure sharing these magic moments with you all !

Instants of pure magic... Picture by Maria Radoslavova.

0 Comments

Hello big guys !

25/11/2014

0 Comments

We just came back from a very special week ! First af all, we got to dive the best of both worlds, with a full day in Richelieu Rock before going through the Burmese border, where we dove our very favorite sites !

Amazing colors on the reef.

And what was waiting for us there was just amazing : the very first whale shark of the season, spotted by Guillaume and his divers on North Twin ! This happens very early in the season, let's hope it's a good omen ;)

Did somebody say "fish everywhere" ?

Close encounters of the third kind...

But that wasn't the only guest of honor : on Shark Cave, a WHALE came to say hello, a few meters from the dingy ! Luckily, we had some Experts on board, and their adverted eye indentified the visitor as a milky whale. We kept our eyes wide open during the dive, but she only let us hear her lovely song...

Plankton fireworks at night

The strong currents did not discourage Alejandro, who completed his Open Water, nor Madlen, who became an Advanced Scuba Diver ! Congratulations !!

Around the table, from left to right, front to back : Camille, Elodie, Xavier, Stéphane, Nicolas, Anja, Madlen, Reiner, Guillaume, Marko, Christopher, Anaïs and Alejandro. Cheers guys !!

0 Comments

An (almost) private holiday in Burma

15/11/2014

0 Comments

This last trip saw us go with only a few privileged guests : seven of them and three of us guides, needless to say they felt like VIPs ! And the beautiful dives we did together only reinforced that feeling. With a break on an amazing deserted beach on a beautiful afternoon, it was definitely a perfect holiday !

Another hard day of work for Franck... Picture by Helen Fischer

Pretty as always, a spanish dancer and her shrimp.

Barracuda tornado on North Twin Pinnacle.

Iza took the occasion to get her Open Water, and even already got started with her Advanced : the night dive was just too appealing ;) Helen and Thomas took the whole Advanced course, and are now officially allowed to go all the way to 30m. Let's not forget our new nitrox divers, who, even if feeling the benefits of it, still enjoyed a nap in the hammock in between dives !

From left to right : Helen, Thomas, Iza, Bram, Carlos, Guillaume, James, Franck, Klaus and Anaïs. Thanks for the great week, hope to see you all again soon !

0 Comments

First trip in Thailand !!

9/11/2014

0 Comments

We just came back from our first thai trip, and it was absolutely great ! We had a lovely group of both french and german divers on board, laid back atmosphere, loads of laughs and good times !

Fireworks ceremony on the departure night.

But some of us also had some serious studying going on. We want to welcome Myri in the diving community : she passed her Open Water with flying colors, and is already incredibly at ease underwater. Meanwhile, her friends took the opportunity to continue their education. Anna, Angie, Sebastian and Cosi are now Advanced Open Water ! And good ones at that, you should see them navigate squares with a compass in hand... Congratulations to you all !!

Yes people, these were some serious students...

A little video from our dives: barracudas and batfish are around :)

0 Comments

Season start !

4/11/2014

0 Comments

Offering to the Gods, to bring luck on the boat...

We are very happy to announce the start of our diving season ! We had a very good first trip in Burma with a whole bunch of instructors from Ban's Dive Center in Koh Tao, and a few of their students.

Playing Robinson on a sheltered beach

Mild current, amazing visibility, perfect water temperature : the conditions were just ideal ! Nurse shark, barracudas, frogfishs : they hadn't seen a diver in six months, and looked like they were waiting for us, right where we left them last year. Feels great to be back !

One last sunset

As for the team of crazy divers we embarked with us on that first trip, I think it is safe to say that they enjoyed their holiday as much as we enjoyed having them on board !

From left to right, back row : John, Jimmy, Chris and Guillaume. Middle row : Josh, Niko (we know it's you behind the mask !), David, Neil, Michael, Micky, Stig and Rich. Front row : Camille, Franck and Richard. Thanks a lot guys !!

0 Comments

The Smiling Seahorse Diving Blog

A blog about our diving adventures in Burma and Thailand. Diving trip reports, guest reviews, fishy stories, wildlife fun facts and much more...

Search on this blog:

Authors

The Smiling Seahorse has been running dive cruises from Ranong since 2012.
Our team of instructors are reporting with a short blogpost after every trip.
Camille, Franck and some guest writers also contribute during the off season writing on various topics.
Keep tuned for more fishy stories :)