Day 49 / Tag 49, Sun., April 30, Let the Diving begin

 Preface: I am trying to update these blog posts from Bunaken, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. The Island Internet is more than shaky...sorry for few fotos,  don't even dare think of video oh, oh, I was lazy in Sabah ;-)

Enough chilled and soaked up the place, it's diving time again.
My guide is Dionne, a very energetic lady, local, smiling and making fun all the time. At this point of time I have no idea, how much fun we will have together during the next days
This week she is "shadowed" by Jessica, a young Divemaster. Shadowing, for all you non-Divers out there, is used to gain experience and knowledge of the dive sites for young diving professionals. Young indeed,  Jessica had her 22nd birthday yesterday.

Shadow Jessica and Dionne

Itching to get back in the water, today I start this lovely routine again: dive, eat, sleep, repeat....

We start at Kapalai Housereef, I feel uncomfortable after about 15 minutes, the dreaded Dive Reflex ("What are you doing, man? Breathe under water? WTF, go to the surface and breathe normally like everybody else, you punk ;-)!")
Short dive, I am at 50 bar after 37 minutes. I don't fear going down, I am concerned about too positive buoyancy at the end of a dive and popping up like a cork.
After surfacing I add an extra weight, that calms me down. Soon I will discard it again.
We are diving around Kapalai until lunch at the resort, in the afternoon we drift dive Mabul D-Wall...
During lunch break we chat about what we saw, there are Fish-ID-cards everywhere at the resort, so you can easily look up everything.

Kapalai House Reef: Ghost Pipefish, Harlequin Sweetlips, Leaf Scorpionfish
Kapalai Cleaning Station (get some manicure ;-): Cleaner shrimps, Banded Coral Shrimp, Hermit Crab, Monocle Bream, Devil Scorpionfish
Mabul D-Wall: Kunie's Nudibranch, Phililidia, Flathead Crocodilefish, Porcelaine Crab.

And of course, turtles! Tao yai, kap!

Ornate Ghost Pipefish, black and white, never seen these colors before

Banded Coral Shrimps

Leafy Frogfish

Hermit Crab

Cleaner shrimps. Get a manicure

Harlequin or Leopard Sweetlips

Hawksbill tudrtle, resting

Want to see turtles? Go Mabul

Some soft corals look like a crazy designer's lamp

When it's springtime underwater...

Flathead Crocodilefish

False Clownfish, they don't know where to look first, so...

...we set up a little Smurf Show for them. See how they all watch the show!

Tiny Porcelaine Crab

Tiny Porcelaine Crab

Had some beers at the bar, making new friends, Ivan and Chel from the Philippines,

A great, friendly, warm hearted couple from the Philipines, Chel and Ivan. Miss you already!

Tom Wright from Australia, Evelynne, called Eve, young instructor with her very first course, and went to sleep happy with the outcome of the first diving day.
Again tomorrow!

See you under water

Day 48 / Tag 48, April 29, Chilling at Mabul Beach Resort

Dreaming of turtles,

Just hanging out

Day 47 / Tag 47 April 28. To Mabul

Hot Tea for breakfast at the Family Restoran (no typo) next door.
I do the paperwork at the dive center, get 159 Ringgit refunded, because I bring my own equipment. Will use it as running credit at the resort.
Out to the street for some shots in the morning. Don't be fooled, it doesn't smell better than last night...

Day 46 / Tag 46 April 27. From Ao Nang, Thailand to Semporna, Sabah

All alarms go off at 4 am: Wake up, Travel Time again!!!

I started this trip from Berlin on March 13th.
Now, 46 days and 62 dives later, I leave Thailand and go further, traveling to Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia.Into the unknown.

Taxi arrives at 5.
Arrive in time, I have some time to kill, but there is not a lot you can do at Krabi International Airport at 6 in the morning ;-)

My flight to Kuala Lumpur is late, 40 minutes delay, we arrive half an hour later than planned, KLia2 is a terminal with looong ways to walk, I wait more than an hour in line for immigration, and BANG! there goes my connection flight to Tawau, Sabah. 10 minutes too late for check in.

I have to buy a new ticket for a flight three hours later, inform Scuba Junkie Semporna by email, that I need a later pickup. Unfortunately they don't confirm as I had asked for, so after some more than an hour I get nervous and call them from my German phone. They already planned everything for my new arrival time!
Three minutes after the phone call they confirm by email (I'm looking forward to that phone call on my bill for April...)
Get some money from an ATM, these bills look unfamiliar, a Euro buys you around 4.7 Malaysian Ringgit.
Try the bills at KFC with a two piece plate, fries and cole slaw. Works ;-)

Nice seat on the plane, row 14 on an Airbus 320-200, that means emergency exit with a lot of room for your legs. Took some notes and semi-sleep.

Tawau, Sabah is one of those small airports, where the plane parks in front of the building

Day 45 / Tag 45 April 26 Going round in Ao Nang

My favorite breakfast sometimes:
Ham and Cheese croissant sandwich and a 3-in-1 coffee, all for 42 Baht (1,15 Euro) at 7-Eleven,

I take the scooter for a short foto tour around Ao Nang,  impressive limestone mountains,

longtail boats

Day 44 / Tag 44, Tue. April 25. Divng Koh Phi Phi

Pick up is 10 minutes early, we collect other participants from resorts and drive to the longtail boat port at the river. The longtail taxis us to the dive boat waiting for us in deeper waters.

Longtailboat brings us to the Diveboat

Leaving Ao Nang, course Koh Phi Phi

Again, it's not a Kon Tiki boat, they had a propeller damage the day before,

Day 43 / Tag 43, Mon. April 24 Koh Lanta to Ao Nang

Must get closer to Krabi Airport, my flight to Borneo goes at 8am, allow 2 hours for check in on international flight, that's 6am, travel time from Koh Lanta 3 hours, that would make it 3am. And there is a ferry connection from Koh Lanta Noi to the mainland, which doesn't operate during the night hours. So I'll have to go to the mainland before anyway. I decide to go to Krabi for two days, Ao Nang, to be precise. Have never been there, so why not take a look

Short chat with the swedish lady, warm goodbye from and to the thai family at Bee Garden. Of course we will all see each other again next season...

and I want to recommend it:

contact@lantabeegarden.com (for any questions)

Day 42 /Tag 42, April 23 Diving Koh Haa again

Last diving with Kon Tiki from Koh Lanta, this time on a different boat, of Go Diving Lanta.
This cannot compete in any way with the "Kon Tiki Queen"
Two tanks only, not enough divers wanting a third dive.
My guide is Mateo, Master of buoyancy, dives without any weights at all, equipment reduced to the max. He loves overhangs and overhead situations obviously.

We have a professional photographer on board with a huge monstrous SLR Camera, wide angle, dome and spider like lighting arms.
He sells photos after the dives, one for 500 Baht, all the next for 300 each, it a full set of 50 for 2000 Baht.
I cannot decide to put out 2000 for six Fotos of me in the water...

My Camera freaked out again. Maybe it doesn't like Koh Haa? ;-)
But anyway, here are some shots that I could rescue,  to give you an idea what Koh Haa diving can be about: topography, swimthrus, caves, overhangs, tunnels...
Lots of "overhead situations"
I believe Ella and Andrea from Koh Tao would like that a lot

Day 41 / Tag 41 Sat., April 22 Wish you were here.To the Lighthouse

To the lighthouse
Does that title sound a bell with anyone?
Book by Virginia Woolfe, 1928, about loss, subjectivity, the nature of art and the problem of perception
I don't regret my losses, I am fine with my subjective view on the world, try to add some art to the universe and perceive things happening around me in my own, sometimes detailed, way.

Khlong Kong, Koh Lanta, Krabi, Thailand, Southeast Asia, Earth,

Day 40 /Tag 40, April 21 Diving the Koh Bidas

Finished the Amoxycillin therapy with the last of ten tablets this morning.
I declare myself fully recovered now.

Second trip on the Kon Tiki Queen, starting with some choppy sea, but getting better. Service on the boat outstanding like the last time, especially Mama Jap in the kitchenette and also on the dive deck, and Mr. Bird, deck hand and responsible for filling the tanks between dives.

Just some pics from the dives, not as spectacular as the Koh Haa material

cool Kuhl's Stingray

Day 37-39 / Tag 37-39, April 18-20 Koh Lanta Diving and Driving

Day 37, April 18, Lanta Bee Garden, Khlong Dao, Koh Lanta
Lanta Bee Garden is the last small and family resort left on Klong Dao Beach.
This is the second time I am here,

and this place is so beautiful. Clean and well maintained, they really take care of their site.

I start to check around for dive centers.

Day 36 / Tag 36, April 17. Traveling to Koh Lanta

Gave back the scooter at Poi's, wait for the pickup at 12, ferry boat to Lanta.
Change boats at the pier on Koh Phi Phi, as always there is someone who doesn't get it and comes late for the second boat, so we go back to pick them up,

Day 34-35 / Tag 34-35, April 15-16 Quiet days in Kata. Lost and Found

Hello and Sawasdee to everybody!
If you risk something, be prepared to take some losses...

And here is to you directly from the "Lost and Found"-Department, balance sheet after 33 days of travel:

1. Forgot a fine, handmade straw hat from Spain on a minibus
2. Can't find my black Jeans and olive color shorts with the many handy pockets. Must be at TT Nai Yang. I'll write Meow later. (Update: she never answered the email)
3. My simple phone for calls in Thailand stopped working. No way to re-animate it.To the bin.
4. Worst of all, I obviously forgot my Visa card in the ATM of Bangkok Bank on Koh Tao, close to Ban's Diving... Those were the fever days, looks like I was not quite myself...
   This was a good one, because that bank refunds you the fees for using the card abroad. Noticed only yesterday, after 7 days, because I didn't need the card until then.
5. Update April 18: Just broke the left glass on my glasses on Koh Lanta,...

OK, so the travel becomes lighter (less luggage) and more expensive (backup visa card charging fees for use abroad).

I want to buy a reef hook for Raja Ampat at Dive Supply in Chalong, but everything is closed, we had Thai New Year, Songkran, the day before yesterday, and most shops take that opportunity to make a short vacation. By the way, Thailand is now in year 2560!

Went to see my friends at the "On the Rocks" beach restaurant at the southern end of Kata Noi, they are closed today, have a wedding with 80 guests for the entire afternoon.

My favorite Beach Bar in Kata Noi, "On the Rocks"

I could be of some help for them

Day 30-33 / Tag 30-33, April 11-14 Diving "The Junk"

Where to start? This ship is so different to the other liveaboards...
The Junk is an original chinese merchant ship from the last century, wooden hull, three masts.

From the website:


The Junk “June Hong Chian Lee” was built in Penang, Malaysia.
The keel was laid in 1961

Day 29 / Tag 29 Mon, April 10 Boarding "The Junk"

The Pancake with banana and honey for breakfast, followed by a strong Ginger Smoothy from the Detox corner on the menu. I ask the waitress where to buy ginger here in Nai Yang, she simply hands me a plastic bag full of ginger.
"No, no, that's too much, need only one for the tea on the boat!" I reply, thanking her for the gift.
As I said before: you get treated the same way you treat people yourself. And I'm not talking of tipping big here...

Everything is clean and dry, I suppose the bag weighs 1-2 kilos less now 😂!
Repack for boat transfer: flight hand luggage in the big bag, dive bag separately, ready for the dive deck...

Not fully recovered yet, but 🎶 I am ready, ready as anybody can be 🎶 (Muddy Waters)

Goodbye, att and Meow, this house really helped me a lot

Day 27-28 / Tag 27-28, April 8-9 From Koh Tao to Nai Yang, Phuket

Sat.,  April 8
Woke up in my damp room at 2am with stinging headache, drank some water. "I gotta get the f*^*k out of this fever pit as soon as possible." Fell asleep again
Wake up 7:10, didn't hear the alarm. Glad I packed everything the night before. Got ready in 20 minutes, right on time for the Transfer to Pier with the Diver shuttle pickup.

"I am very tired", she replies with her eyes almost closed, when I tell her her voice sounds a bit rough. She hugs me good bye, I feel warm, natural beauty and compassion, it reaches my soul.

Leaving Koh Tao from Vo Sta on Vimeo.

Sun is out, every minute on the ferry makes me feel

Day 25-26 / Tag 25-26 Thu April 6 - Fri April 7 Getting better. Prepare to leave

DAY 25, Thu April 6
I feel a lot better after that night's sleep
tried a French Toast with honey for breakfast, could eat only half
Took all my stuff from the dive center, trying to dry it before the flight. Had 23.5 kg on the flight here, dont want to leave with 28.5 and extra luggage fees...;-)
Built a wind chamber to dry my stuff:
Engine 1: Check

Day 23-24 / Tag 23-24 Tue April 4- Wed April 5 Leo Advanced! Sick on Koh Tao

DAY 23, Tuesday April 4

Diving day, today on the menu: Specialty Perfect Buoyancy.
As always, no camera on educational dives, so no pics, sorry

Packed my dive bag after a yoghurt muesli with warm coffee (I'll get them educated before I leave here, what I mean by "hot coffee, hot"! Even if I have to walk down the street to 7 eleven, get a coffee there, carry it back, and show them: that's a hot coffee..., it will still be hotter after 5 minutes walk than anything I got served there)

Finished the e-Learning and went to the class. One other participant, Tina, with 13 or 15 dives under her belt. Actually she is more interested in going deep, she wants to see the 40...
(For a short moment Dan and PJ flash through my mind with our running gag    4️⃣0️⃣🤢🚀😂, but this is a serious class, you clown, Stop it!)

Sabrina does a great job, secretly stopping me two times from answering,

Day 21-22 / Tag 21-22, Sun April 2nd - Mon April 3rd. Leo OWD now! Diving with Poo

DAY 21, Sunday April 2nd.
I booked the morning boat to have good odds for Chumpon Pinnacle.
Leo is on the same boat, doing his last two dives for Open Water Diver

Father and Son on the same boat. Last two dives for Leo, then he is OWD!

Day 19-20 / Tag 19-20, Koh Tao Fr.31.3-1.4. Decisions have to be made.

DAY 19 Friday March 31

Leo continues his Open Water course, he seems to be doing fine and seems happy with it. I am so glad it plays out so well with him.
I have a dive day today, afternoon boat.The weather is a bit better than the last days, sun is out and you have a chance to warm up between dives on the boat. I have never had that much rain on Koh Tao, this is my fourth time here.

From the dive log:
Air, not Nitrox. Young Divemaster Nora and a DMT Franz are my team, both in their mid-twenties.
We jump between Green rock and Buoancy world, on the small western cape of Nang Yuan, want to dive down the coast, rocks left side, and then head westsouthwest at the snorkel line or when we see Buoyancy World. I have my compass with me, getting used to it again. Finally we made the new course SWS at Buoancy World.
Different style of guiding, no looking back where is the customer, especially in and against current. Safety stop everybody by himself, no grouping at 5 m, at least once
I was pumping air quite a bit just to keep pace with them

Second dive that day. We want to explore No Name, off the beaten track, some 100 meters west of Twins. The site is new to all of us, mostly, I have been there two years ago. We jump and swim west to the mooring lines.
DMT Franz takes the guide, I follow the course thoroughly on compass (after  longer time not using it).  It's fun to see how the dive plays out, when you know where you are goin.
On the buoyline a bearded filefish, deeper Glass Anemone shrims.
No gathering for Safety stop again, but the DMT takes more care of his Team than the Pro Nora
I came up with the same Air as the DMT. So it's clear: Nice and easy consumption ok, working hard consumption rockets up.
The visibility was not good, I will find the pics later and update
First dive was a bit demanding, left ear gets worse.

Decisions
After coming back from the dives, I had an interesting talk with one of my best trusted instructors here, about my plans to do the Stress and Rescue Specialty and my worries of not being fit enough for the physical exercises and stamina tests at the moment.
Snorkeling 400 meters, ok, but tow a diver 100 meters at the surface, probably against the current (given my luck in these things) and then get him up  the 6 steps on the swinging ladder of that dive boat here, no way at the moment.
"I don't like all this rescue stuff anyway" the instructor lowered his voice, "talking against the business interest of this dive center, I recommend you to enjoy your diving, and leave the Rescue course alone. What's your certification level?"
"Advanced Adventurer, Nitrox, 122 dives in 3 years."
"Do one or two more specialties, like navigation, which is a very useful skill and makes sense, that will make you a better diver than that Rescue course." said the instructor , I thank him for his advice, we shake hands and he goes home.

I stay a bit longer, evaluating the odds and the situation: a 59 year old man, tenacious but not really trained, not the best stamina, missing right foot, with a prosthesis on the right leg, at the moment left ear slightly deaf with problems down to equilibrium issues...
No. On that friday afternoon I decide to skip the "demanding and rewarding"(Agencies advertisement speak) Rescue course and go diving only every second day on Koh Tao, until my ear gets better. That feels right.
Listen to my intuition, stay within my limits, stop-breathe-think-act. Don't let myself be carried away with cert-cards galore, I am not a collector, I want to dive.
I'd rather become a chilled, confident and better diver than a bad rescue diver at the end of his powers...

I start taking Ibuprofen to fight the inflammation I obviously have.
Have some kind of fever attack in the evening, sweating a lot. This does not feel ok, not at all.😷

DAY 20 / Tag 20 Saturday, April 1st

I am very happy with my decision to skip Rescue after one night sleeping over it.
The three specialties I plan to do instead will cost me more. But I don't care. I'm here for learning and gathering experice, I'm not here to save money.
If I want to save money, I stay at home and eat cold Ravioli from the can...

Sent a Thank-you-Email to my boss, for making this trip possible I am really grateful. She answered her only real concern is, that I come back as planned.
I wrote back I swear by the Boy Scouts' honor and the Big Indian Chief that I'll do so.

Slow day, finally get my first laundry back, aaah, that smells so good. Could not wash out anything on the two liveaboards, the crazy korean and chinese chicks used up all the water for taking showers fifteen times a day...
Finish the day with a shot of Fireball Whisky at Fishbowl Beach Bar (Huhu, Yvonne, thank you for the recommendation🤠)

See you under water