Trip Report- Krabi, Thailand
Ok gents so I have a fun story to tell. I am currently on a deployment for the United States Navy and we were lucky enough to hit the holy land of all port visits, Phuket Thailand. Now being a spearo and hoping against hope that I would get some time in the water in every port we visit I decided to bring my gun along for my 8 month stint at sea. Also in preparation I knew that research was key to a successful trip. I scrounged all the freediver forums, international sections, Google searches, and a hundred other inquiries and luckily I found the best option- a Rob Allen dealer living in Krabi, Thailand who takes out us fun loving spearos and shows us a great time.
If you have never been to Thailand before let me tell you this place is AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL!! There is poverty all around but as for the country itself the oceans, beaches, mountains and islands are all breathtaking. I filled up my camcorder just taking shots of the scenery. Anyways, my ship pulled in to Phuket (pronounced POO-Ket by the locals) and I hurried off as fast as I could with all of my gear and another buddy who got me in to this sport. We managed to sneak the Spearguns through the military ECP and hopped in to a taxi. Just as a side note, the drive from Phuket to Krabi is around 2.5hrs which means a cab there and back will cost a pretty penny. Well nobody wanted to take us all the way there so we ended up doing a back alley deal with a cabbie who hired out his personal SUV to take us there and back the next evening. We ended up paying more than a regular taxi would cost but in the end we were rolling in a Lexus so I can’t really complain- our comfort was worth it! So we hit the road, took in the scenery, saw a couple Buddhist temples, and finally ended up at our resort. We got a 5 star resort at the base of some beautiful cliffs for $62 a night. Not bad considering it was a private villa and had a pool. Anyways we dropped our stuff and decided to grab some dinner/drinks out in town. Be Warned! When having a couple drinks at the bar do not play connect four against the prostitutes!! They kick your ass every time… I literally lost the shirt off my back to one of them lol. It was all in good fun and I knew better than to get drunk because trying to dive hungover is impossible for me. So we ended the night around midnight and got ready for our spearing adventure the following morning.
We met up the next morning with our retired fellow spearo. His name is Charles and I honestly can’t say enough about this guy. He was a class act all around. Not only did he work with us to hash out last second details because I couldn’t give him exact dates of our trip because of military security measures, but he also went above and beyond for all the little things that made this trip a memory I will never forget. He will even arrange for your transport as well as give local knowledge as to where to stay, eat, and party it up. Well moving along we met up with him and hopped in to his truck to take us to his boat. Now just so you guys know, Charles isn’t a tour guide or charter captain or anything like that. He is just a local spearo who loves to take out us English speaking blokes. All he asks is that you pay the gas for the trip. So after filling up with gas and grabbing some ice we met up with his local captain. We opted to hire this guy for 1000 Baht which is roughly $33 for the entire day. Best investment ever! This guy knows his job and made this trip run so much more smoothly.
Ok so here is the part you all actually care about- FISHING! The water temp was right around 84 degrees and the visibility was approximately 50 ft as long as the sun came out to play. We traveled for about an hour to get to a nice reef structure and the sea was glass smooth, which was very lucky since it is monsoon season over here right now. Anyways we pulled up to the reef, dropped anchor, and over the side we went. The fish here are beautiful. There are exotic fish all around- the ones you see here in the aquariums or personal tanks. These weren’t the fish I was hunting though. I was after mackerel, grouper, red snapper, barracuda and the like. The time of the season this year makes it a hit or miss on all of those species but we managed to take some game fish. Charles ended up with a 5lb red snapper and I ended up with a nice sized gar fish (very similar to a barracuda). I was fishing in a trench between to rock structures and between fighting to stay off the coral and millions of spiky sea urchins I managed to find a group of 4 nice sized gar. Now versus a barracuda these gar are slightly smaller and MUCH narrower. I like a challenge so I went after them. Stalking one at around 15ft down I had to wait until it turned broadside for a nice shot. It finally happened and blam I hit it low and in the center. This thing took off and in huge circles flapping around like crazy! As I’m putting on the brakes and settling it down the damn fish decides to go crazy one last time and managed to tear off :-( NOOOOO! Damnit… Fish happens I guess. Well I wasn’t about to let that deter me so I focused on getting another one. Luckily they were fairly plentiful so I got my opportunity around 30 minutes later. This guy was big for the species. I had to pick him out from a group of 6 and wait for the opportunity. I let the spear fly and hit him dead center! Sweet! I know this one won’t pull out. So I start to pull up and attempt to get in it’s gills and he decides that escape is inevitable so the only option is to kill his attacker!! :martialAs soon as my hand grabbed around the middle he started fighting and biting! Holy $#!&!!! I’ve never shot a barracuda or anything similar before so this was a new experience for me. In the end I had to offer up the rail of my gun for this ******* to munch on. Well after the rumbling and tumbling and being in the water for 3 hours I was tired and my leg cramped up something terrible. I was around 75 yards from the boat and with a fighting fish in my hands. Not a fun swim but I managed it. The captain took this ******* from my hands put it on ice and wrapped up that little adventure. Shortly after we decided to hit another spot to see if there was a possibility of mackerel. Diving off some of the most beautiful cliffs/islands nature could produce I started making my drops again. Within 5 minutes I had already found a nice game fish to take. Can’t remember the name but the locals love it. Anyways I will give the fish here credit, they fight like crazy and yet another ripped off my spear :-( Thinking to myself that I have to take more time and aim for a solid shot I promised to not let another one off. Well my opportunity came again shortly after. BLAM! I got a parrot fish- not very tasty but it was big enough to make me interested. I brought him up and headed back to the boat. I was working him off the spear with a decent grip in the gills and he began fighting me, enough to slip out of my grip. He started a lazy spiral down so without hesitation (or logic on my part…) I took a quick breath, dropped the gun, and headed down as fast as I could. I managed to get him but right as I did I hit the zone where I needed to equalize. Both hands being on the fish I couldn’t and POP there goes my right ear drum… Ouch ouch ouch. :waterwork I got back to the surface, retrieved my gun, and handed over the fish. Unfortunately my day was done diving. I was able to get a solid 4 hours in the water and see some of the most beautiful structures nature has to offer. I would go back here in a heartbeat! Especially when the game fish are really in season!
We called it quits shortly after my incident but Charles being the great guy that he is wanted to give us our moneys worth so he opted to be our local tour guide. We pulled up on several different beaches, saw the jungles that they had to offer. The most amazing place we went though was a beach where the locals have an interesting tradition. Way back in the day I guess a popular ruler- some princess was lost at sea. They locals refused to believe she had died and that here spirit lives in the caves on this local island. Newly married couples now go there and light a candle and tie up lace for the hopes that she will bless them with a strong and healthy child. The fishermen go there and provide a different sort of offering… For the blessing of a good haul, fair seas, and safe trip they offer up hand carved dicks.
Yea you read that right. There are 2 caves full of wooden dicks. Some big, some small, some crude, some elaborate beyond measure (measure… get it…haha) I was laughing my ass off. Anyways we went through the caves, saw the beautiful women combing the beach, considered paying to go rock climbing, and then just lounged out in the water taking in the scenery. After that it was back to the dock and to the end of an amazing trip.
In closing, I just want to say that if you ever have to opportunity to travel abroad do not forget to put Thailand on your final destination!! The country is beautiful, the nightlife is crazy, the fishing can be legendary, and it is cheap as hell to have a great time! Just don’t forget to carve out your wooden dick before hand so you can land that world record mackerel ok!! One final thing- you absolutely need to say hi to Charles before you get here. Shoot him an e-mail at charleswillberry@hotmail.com Again I can’t say enough about this guy. If you plan ahead with him I can guarantee that your time in Thailand will be well spent!
Until the next port visit everyone!
-Michael Rhoads-
San Diego Freedivers
P.S. The reason I have a smiley face on Charles' picture is that I wanted to respect his privacy. I don't mind putting my ugly mug up on the internet but it's always polite to consider others privacy.
Ok gents so I have a fun story to tell. I am currently on a deployment for the United States Navy and we were lucky enough to hit the holy land of all port visits, Phuket Thailand. Now being a spearo and hoping against hope that I would get some time in the water in every port we visit I decided to bring my gun along for my 8 month stint at sea. Also in preparation I knew that research was key to a successful trip. I scrounged all the freediver forums, international sections, Google searches, and a hundred other inquiries and luckily I found the best option- a Rob Allen dealer living in Krabi, Thailand who takes out us fun loving spearos and shows us a great time.
If you have never been to Thailand before let me tell you this place is AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL!! There is poverty all around but as for the country itself the oceans, beaches, mountains and islands are all breathtaking. I filled up my camcorder just taking shots of the scenery. Anyways, my ship pulled in to Phuket (pronounced POO-Ket by the locals) and I hurried off as fast as I could with all of my gear and another buddy who got me in to this sport. We managed to sneak the Spearguns through the military ECP and hopped in to a taxi. Just as a side note, the drive from Phuket to Krabi is around 2.5hrs which means a cab there and back will cost a pretty penny. Well nobody wanted to take us all the way there so we ended up doing a back alley deal with a cabbie who hired out his personal SUV to take us there and back the next evening. We ended up paying more than a regular taxi would cost but in the end we were rolling in a Lexus so I can’t really complain- our comfort was worth it! So we hit the road, took in the scenery, saw a couple Buddhist temples, and finally ended up at our resort. We got a 5 star resort at the base of some beautiful cliffs for $62 a night. Not bad considering it was a private villa and had a pool. Anyways we dropped our stuff and decided to grab some dinner/drinks out in town. Be Warned! When having a couple drinks at the bar do not play connect four against the prostitutes!! They kick your ass every time… I literally lost the shirt off my back to one of them lol. It was all in good fun and I knew better than to get drunk because trying to dive hungover is impossible for me. So we ended the night around midnight and got ready for our spearing adventure the following morning.
We met up the next morning with our retired fellow spearo. His name is Charles and I honestly can’t say enough about this guy. He was a class act all around. Not only did he work with us to hash out last second details because I couldn’t give him exact dates of our trip because of military security measures, but he also went above and beyond for all the little things that made this trip a memory I will never forget. He will even arrange for your transport as well as give local knowledge as to where to stay, eat, and party it up. Well moving along we met up with him and hopped in to his truck to take us to his boat. Now just so you guys know, Charles isn’t a tour guide or charter captain or anything like that. He is just a local spearo who loves to take out us English speaking blokes. All he asks is that you pay the gas for the trip. So after filling up with gas and grabbing some ice we met up with his local captain. We opted to hire this guy for 1000 Baht which is roughly $33 for the entire day. Best investment ever! This guy knows his job and made this trip run so much more smoothly.
Ok so here is the part you all actually care about- FISHING! The water temp was right around 84 degrees and the visibility was approximately 50 ft as long as the sun came out to play. We traveled for about an hour to get to a nice reef structure and the sea was glass smooth, which was very lucky since it is monsoon season over here right now. Anyways we pulled up to the reef, dropped anchor, and over the side we went. The fish here are beautiful. There are exotic fish all around- the ones you see here in the aquariums or personal tanks. These weren’t the fish I was hunting though. I was after mackerel, grouper, red snapper, barracuda and the like. The time of the season this year makes it a hit or miss on all of those species but we managed to take some game fish. Charles ended up with a 5lb red snapper and I ended up with a nice sized gar fish (very similar to a barracuda). I was fishing in a trench between to rock structures and between fighting to stay off the coral and millions of spiky sea urchins I managed to find a group of 4 nice sized gar. Now versus a barracuda these gar are slightly smaller and MUCH narrower. I like a challenge so I went after them. Stalking one at around 15ft down I had to wait until it turned broadside for a nice shot. It finally happened and blam I hit it low and in the center. This thing took off and in huge circles flapping around like crazy! As I’m putting on the brakes and settling it down the damn fish decides to go crazy one last time and managed to tear off :-( NOOOOO! Damnit… Fish happens I guess. Well I wasn’t about to let that deter me so I focused on getting another one. Luckily they were fairly plentiful so I got my opportunity around 30 minutes later. This guy was big for the species. I had to pick him out from a group of 6 and wait for the opportunity. I let the spear fly and hit him dead center! Sweet! I know this one won’t pull out. So I start to pull up and attempt to get in it’s gills and he decides that escape is inevitable so the only option is to kill his attacker!! :martialAs soon as my hand grabbed around the middle he started fighting and biting! Holy $#!&!!! I’ve never shot a barracuda or anything similar before so this was a new experience for me. In the end I had to offer up the rail of my gun for this ******* to munch on. Well after the rumbling and tumbling and being in the water for 3 hours I was tired and my leg cramped up something terrible. I was around 75 yards from the boat and with a fighting fish in my hands. Not a fun swim but I managed it. The captain took this ******* from my hands put it on ice and wrapped up that little adventure. Shortly after we decided to hit another spot to see if there was a possibility of mackerel. Diving off some of the most beautiful cliffs/islands nature could produce I started making my drops again. Within 5 minutes I had already found a nice game fish to take. Can’t remember the name but the locals love it. Anyways I will give the fish here credit, they fight like crazy and yet another ripped off my spear :-( Thinking to myself that I have to take more time and aim for a solid shot I promised to not let another one off. Well my opportunity came again shortly after. BLAM! I got a parrot fish- not very tasty but it was big enough to make me interested. I brought him up and headed back to the boat. I was working him off the spear with a decent grip in the gills and he began fighting me, enough to slip out of my grip. He started a lazy spiral down so without hesitation (or logic on my part…) I took a quick breath, dropped the gun, and headed down as fast as I could. I managed to get him but right as I did I hit the zone where I needed to equalize. Both hands being on the fish I couldn’t and POP there goes my right ear drum… Ouch ouch ouch. :waterwork I got back to the surface, retrieved my gun, and handed over the fish. Unfortunately my day was done diving. I was able to get a solid 4 hours in the water and see some of the most beautiful structures nature has to offer. I would go back here in a heartbeat! Especially when the game fish are really in season!
We called it quits shortly after my incident but Charles being the great guy that he is wanted to give us our moneys worth so he opted to be our local tour guide. We pulled up on several different beaches, saw the jungles that they had to offer. The most amazing place we went though was a beach where the locals have an interesting tradition. Way back in the day I guess a popular ruler- some princess was lost at sea. They locals refused to believe she had died and that here spirit lives in the caves on this local island. Newly married couples now go there and light a candle and tie up lace for the hopes that she will bless them with a strong and healthy child. The fishermen go there and provide a different sort of offering… For the blessing of a good haul, fair seas, and safe trip they offer up hand carved dicks.
Yea you read that right. There are 2 caves full of wooden dicks. Some big, some small, some crude, some elaborate beyond measure (measure… get it…haha) I was laughing my ass off. Anyways we went through the caves, saw the beautiful women combing the beach, considered paying to go rock climbing, and then just lounged out in the water taking in the scenery. After that it was back to the dock and to the end of an amazing trip. In closing, I just want to say that if you ever have to opportunity to travel abroad do not forget to put Thailand on your final destination!! The country is beautiful, the nightlife is crazy, the fishing can be legendary, and it is cheap as hell to have a great time! Just don’t forget to carve out your wooden dick before hand so you can land that world record mackerel ok!! One final thing- you absolutely need to say hi to Charles before you get here. Shoot him an e-mail at charleswillberry@hotmail.com Again I can’t say enough about this guy. If you plan ahead with him I can guarantee that your time in Thailand will be well spent!
Until the next port visit everyone!
-Michael Rhoads-
San Diego Freedivers
P.S. The reason I have a smiley face on Charles' picture is that I wanted to respect his privacy. I don't mind putting my ugly mug up on the internet but it's always polite to consider others privacy.
