• Welcome to the DeeperBlue.com Forums, the largest online community dedicated to Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing. To gain full access to the DeeperBlue.com Forums you must register for a free account. As a registered member you will be able to:

    • Join over 44,280+ fellow diving enthusiasts from around the world on this forum
    • Participate in and browse from over 516,210+ posts.
    • Communicate privately with other divers from around the world.
    • Post your own photos or view from 7,441+ user submitted images.
    • All this and much more...

    You can gain access to all this absolutely free when you register for an account, so sign up today!

THAILAND dec '02-feb '03

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.

bevan dewar

Well-Known Member
Sep 26, 2001
154
36
118
49
Hi all. I'm headed back to Thailand for another 2 months freediving from 20 Dec-20Feb. Will be back and forth between Similans and Koa Tao and everywhere inbetween and would really like some company. Cheers
Bevan
 
hi bevan

have a similar plan but want to be on ko surin feb till march (manta and whale shark season!)

visited kotao this year (feb) but didnt find anything worth it really. do you know of any decent freediving there ???

my plan is to go to phiphi in dec to work as scuba instr but definitely need freediving opportunities as well. maybe you can help me out if you have some information.

how do you get to similan?? on one of those livaboards??

yes, would be cool to hook up with somebody. not too many people into this sport, really.

cheers

roland
 
Our own DB meeting?

Hi Beven and Roland.

I'm landing at Bangkok on the 6th of December.
I'll be treking for about the month (unless I'll get tired before) in north Thai and Burma.

After that I wanna start freediving (and some scuba, and kyaking) all around the area. I'm still having trouble finding out about diving in Burma, since liveaboards can't be included much in my budget.

I've started a thread about this already by the way:
http://forums.deeperblue.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=29145&perpage=15&pagenumber=1
In case there is usful information for you there.

Where is ko surin Roland? in the Thai Gulf or the andaman? it's sounds like a 'must'.
 
thailand calling

hi bevan, roland and abriapnea,

i am planning a trip to thailand, too. i was looking more at the end of the month thru 1st week of december.

i am thinking of making my way thru bangkok, chiang mai, then to phuket. from phuket am thinking of diving at the similan islands.

i hear the andaman is better than the gulf of thailand for diving.

would be nice to hook up with some people.


regman
 
roland and others, thanks for replies. i'll be camping on similans from 21st till xmass roughly(a cheeper option than liveaboard, check out Pisiodon Adventures (dont know how to spell it but i think you can guess the word) on the internet for prices). i'll be on phi phi from xmass till newyear roughtly so maybe we can meet up roland. i know some pretty good spots off bida island about 2km south of phi phi, better vis there and a nice 30m wall. US$6 for a day on the boat with the scuberos. i'll be on koa toa just after new year. vis there variable but last march had a good 30m at chumpon(a pinnacle that goes from 15- 40m) better than phi phi possibly but nowhere near the class of the similans as far as vis and certainly not sealife, similans and surin are world class. koa toa a very nice island though and dive prices even cheeper than phi phi.heard there is a wreck there in 55m. got to go to chang mai till about the 12th but after that i'm a free agent and will be keen to head west back to similans or surin(is surin only accessable by liveaboard??? might be beyond my budget by then. but it is whaleshark season...) it's allmost impossible to find freedivers in thailand, so anyone on the same track, lets try co-ordinate some diving. i wouldnt be here today if it wasnt for my buddy who i met on deeperblue saving my ass in phi phi last year(thanks again for that matt). cheers all
bevan
 
Bevan:
i'll be camping on similans from 21st till xmass roughly
...
got to go to chang mai till about the 12th but after that i'm a free agent and will be keen to head west back to similans or surin
Well, I think we have some talking to do, I'm landing in Bangkok on the 6th noon, and after a short "adaption period" I'm heading north to Chang Mai, and will probably take a flight from there to Mendeley (Burma), So there's a large chance we'll be able to meet if you'de like.
There are also some questions I'de like to ask you about the Similians, since liveaboards are last option for me as well.
My sweatest dream is to buy or rent a sea kayak and just "explore" and camp in some archipelagos for a couple of days(underwater as well), but I don't know if it's possible.
Are you pleaning to get there via Burma or Thailand (Pucket probably)?
Where is Ko Surin? by the name it should be in Thailand, no?
 
ko surin

is a group of 2 isalnds north of ko similan, near the burmese border.
you get there via kurabouri, a fishing village. boats leave mornings, bring a tent (you can rent one in kuraburi), which makes living there cheaper. there s nothing much available on the island, its a national park, so my advise is to bring a bag of fruits and whatever else you fl like having. food on the island is poor, mostly rice and veggies and squid.
istayed 6 weeks this year and had a problem with the available diet.
diving is wicked, 30 plus degrees, amazing reefs, vis always around 20 meters, mostly hard corals, and plenty of fish and a huge variety.
as mentioned elsewhere durind feb till march its the manta and whaleshark season, thats why i ll be there for those months next year.
no scubashop as of spring this year but they ll probably build one there.
the national park thing doesnt mean that much there really.
anyway, bring freediving gear and some time, its well worth it.
dfinitely the best diving i ve seen in thailand.

regards

roland
:cool:
 
C'ya there mate! :)
Sounds like a must!
No problems with leaving your "whole life" in the tent and disapearing for a couple of hours?:confused:

About the available diet, being a national park means you can't spearfish?

And about freediving gear, I have none(shhh:mute), and I intend to buy some, since the first month I won't be getting wet, I was hopping to buy freediving gear at Thailand/Burma, or even order and wait for it there, instead of carrying my most precious possession (my future to be freedivign fins) in my back pack for a month.

Mask and snorkel I'll take, since it's not much of a bother - though I intend to buy a low volume mask as well, when opertunity comes.
I have scuba fins(with booties), but I'm pretty convinced about leaving them home and get equiped with the right equipment at the right time.

Can you/anyone update me about buying fins/mask in the east?
 
Hi Michael ; getting a decent low - vol. mask shouldn't be a problem . I believe there is some shops in Phuket that stock longblades , don't know how extensive the range and sizes are though . We have a store on K.T. that sell Genesis l.b.'s
 
freedivinggear in thailand

i spent a few days looking at stuff in phuket. found cressi garas in one shop for 4000 baht. was the only pair they had and fortunately the right size. also bought a dacor bandit in kotao for 1800 baht.
that means that buying thongs elsewhere is definitely the cheaper option.
it didnt seem to me that (at those places at least) anyone keeps anything in stock. obviously the demand is not too great.

about kosurin : never had anything pinched. plus beeing the only person there with cressis it would have been a bit obvious. generally a safe place.

spearfishing is illegal there, of course !!! but the restaurant offered fish daily.


and the disadvantage of not beeing able to take the fins apart for easier transportation was more then offset by the fun to have nice fins at a perfect location.

p.s. these days i travel with sporasub fins plus the cressis, plus 2 minimas. better be safe...

greetings from dahab on a windless day!

roland

:cool:
 
Hmmm, very strange....
So I should try leaving Israel with longfins on me?
I think I heard I could find Omer milenium in 750 NIS somewhere here that's 155$US~, which says that Thailand is cheaper if they have it in stock.

How long (cm/inches) are a normal pair of longfins with moderate stiffness? I need to see if they'll fit into my backpack...

Can squeezing be a problem?
 
Hey , if any of you are planning on swinging by Koh Tao would you be able to bring me one of those Paradiso nosecips ?
My "stainless steel" one disintegrated when I dug it out recently ...:head
 
I think that a mail order will be much cheaper than any price I can find here, if I can (and that's a big if).
and ofcourse it'll get to you much faster.... a couple of months faster.
 
DeeperBlue.com - The Worlds Largest Community Dedicated To Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing

ABOUT US

ISSN 1469-865X | Copyright © 1996 - 2024 deeperblue.net limited.

DeeperBlue.com is the World's Largest Community dedicated to Freediving, Scuba Diving, Ocean Advocacy and Diving Travel.

We've been dedicated to bringing you the freshest news, features and discussions from around the underwater world since 1996.

ADVERT