DCS - The diving accident Summer 2020 Corona

Wed 12.8.
AI#7 and XR#3
Fiat BR-20
XR Dive, Deco planned, 15Liter Tank Air, stage tank 7 liters with Nitrox EAN36 (I did not analyze it...), for switch at 28meters.
I intend to document this with a video from my GoPro8, no artificial light. Everything fine, reached 40 meters after 3 minutes. Dipped below for 6 min, then ascend, switch tanks at 28m. At 24m the computer displays a deepstop for 2min, which I do. At 12m the computer displays a second deepstop for 2min, which I do. The rest of the group is already at 7-8m or even safetystop. I ascend much slower than the rest of us. I follow up to 5m, do the safetystop for 4min, everybody else is out of the water already. When the safetystop is done, I ascend. As I am surfacing, the computer demands another stop at 3m. When I take the Nitrox36 reg out of my mouth I feel strange immediately. Fatigue, aching legs and arms, like after 24 hours of exercise.
- - Later the dive profile shows that after finishing the safetystop the computer demanded another mandatory safetystop. Didn’t see that somehow? Also the profile shows the computer demanded two deepstops of 2minutes, at 24m and at 12m, which I did…- -
20 minutes navigation to get back to the dive center. On the boat I can hardly get me together to remove my weights and set up my equipment post-dive. Legs start to feel as if I had been sitting on them too long, ants. At the pier I cannot walk off the boat, ants in my legs, cannot control my movements.
Still on the pier, we administer O2 100% for 15 minutes and 0,5 L drinking water, After that, I can control my legs again. Vince helps me walk back to the DC, there we administer another 20 min of O2 100%, plus 1,5 L water. Then I feel good again.

Alessandro says Today and tomorrow no diving, next up is Ratteghe on Friday afernoon. I stow away my stuff and drive home on the motorbike, eat panino with bressaola, creamcheese. No symptoms, just a bit tired.
I rest on my bed, but cannot sleep. Drink a lot of water.
Later the shit hits the fan.
In the evening, I try to walk over the camping ground, I walk like a drunk, can hardly control my moves.
Back home I lie on my bed again, and around 10pm, before I want to sleep, I go to the toilet.
I am not able to piss. I feel pressure on my bladder, but I cannot piss. I try to ignore the urge to pee for the sake of sleeping. Every hour I have to get up and press at least some drops out to relieve the pain.
At 4am I decide to take a warm shower while sitting, this might help with pissing. I sit there under the running shower, imagining waterfalls and heavy rain, but I can pee just a little more than the times before.
I notice that the water feels hot on my shoulders, but only lukewarm on my legs and belly. The frontier is somewhere below my ribs, near the diaphragma. After 45 minutes in the shower I cancel this experiment and try to find sleep. My belly blows up from all the pee in my bladder. Every hour I try to relieve by pressing out some drops.

Thu 13.8.
In the Morning Chiara asks via WhatsApp how I feel. When I tell her she suggests to contact my insurance. I do, and after some zigzag I put everything in their hands. I call Ale asking which is the next hyperbaric chamber, and he tells me the next chambers are in Nice, France, and in Genova I give the Genova info to the insurance.
They call back, they made contact with the chamber in Genova. Tell me to take a taxi. I pack some things, computer, phone, dive computer, t-shirt and a boxer short.  Take all keys and money with me. Mili calls a taxi for me. 1:45 minutes drive, I sort of sleep for half an hour. Driver doesn’t find the right entrance, we go to the official post adress of this huge policlinic, I need to piss super urgent, find a toilet, press out some drops to relieve the pain. Then the doorman calls an ambulance, which brings me to Pronto Soccorso.

I show the email from my insurance Aquamed, translated to Italian, saying I have go to the chamber immediately, and Dr. Amelia is waiting for me.

Working as Divemaster and becoming SSI Assistant Instructor, Summer 2020 Covid times

Sat 11.7.
DM#2
Ratteghe. Crazy dive. I close Alessandros group, 3 divers, number 3 has problems from the start, struggling to go down. 7.5 mm Semidry, 6 kilos on belt, huge dive knife. first few minutes always head down, breathing hard, constant bubble flow.Resurfaces after 3 minutes, i give him 1 more kilo and tell him to calm down, Alessandro comes up after 2 min, gives him another kilo, we go down again, lost the group, we are in the first Arch,  I go north, current flows south, we are getting pretty shallow, he takes pictures now, I navigate East to get out of the shallows, then 20 min into the dive I see him surface again, Finstrap broken, he is completely exhausted. I tow him to the boat (nice rescue training…). Luca helps him out of the water, I go down again to find Alessandro and the rest of the group. I meet Vincenzo and his student Antonio from Uruguay at the anchor line., continue and find Alessandro with the two other divers. We finish the dive after 45 min, i close the anchor, put the balloon on, inflate, ok.
Out of the water after 48:30 min, overall RMV 20,8… Hard work…

Sun 12.7.
No dive, to the DC anyway. You can learn something all the time…
I listen to theory sessions with Vince and his OWD student Antonio, he sets up 4 different dive systems, and gets it very fast

I chill on the Cap Landen terrace on my camping ground:



Mon 13.7.
DM#3
Nice and relaxed. Chiara and Vince have two TSD, I follow with an experienced diver Alister and Luca, who works at the DC.
We go to the wreck and back, then follow the Posidonia north, I try to memorize the „corners“ in the Posidonia.
Alessandro has a student, Vittoria, little girl, Scuba Ranger. Says she was super easy under water.
Chiara goes in a big circle, I did not expect the boat when we got there.
Mesmerizing effect of Posidonia standing still and rocks seem to move.
I show Luca how to clear the anchor underwater.
Lesson Learn: When the anchor is up, get back on the boat as quickly as possible, especially at Ratteghe, where we are close to the rocky shore!
Guests are super happy with the dive, Alister thanks me twice

Becoming a Divemaster in Summer 2020 Covid times

 

 

 

 

Wed, 17.6.

I arrived in Italy yesterday, we start the Divemaster course today.

"DMT" is for Divemaster Training Dives.

DMT1 Morning dive Frati 1, 32 m, end 100 bar

After that we have a Theory session, instructor manual chapter 1

Lunch break

15:30 theory session:

Instructor manual chapter 2-4

With me is Max Langley, a somewhat awkward guy, he is doing the Pro Crossover from another agency, probably Padi. The crossover has more or less the same content as the Assistant instructor, that is why I am studying together with him, probably. So, I start my Divemaster education with the theory of the assistant instructor, and that's a massive amount of studying. As soon as I am back at the bungalow I fire up the computer and work my way through it

Later have a glass of white wine on the terrace and a plate of spaghetti Scoglio at the beach Bar Cap Landen 

 

Thu. 18.6.
The cats at the Camping site seem to like my motorbike....

9:30 Theory instructor Manual chapter 5: briefing of a skill session

Assignment for the Lunch break: Prepare a briefing for a skill

I do that with a Toste and Coca Cola at Cap Landen:

Afternoon: I present a briefing for the skill Regulator Clearing by Purge. Not excellent, but ok, missed some points, but it's my first real, though mockup, briefing.

Max has to brief Mask clearing, but he gets lost a bit in explaining dangers and problems that might occur while diving. Completely offtopic, he is very nervous obviously.

Assignment for tomorrow: Chapter 6 and 10 of the Instructor Manual. Boy, that's a lot to read. I feel a bit overwhelmed, remember, it's only 48 hours ago I arrived from a 1000-miles-motorbike trip with two days of heavy rain... And it is not Divemaster, but Instructor content. What is going on here?

But I have full WiFi at my bungalow, a beach bar 1 minute walk away and decent weather. My bike is parked in front of the house and I have a super nice commute to work every day. Curvy roads along the coast with nice sea views. Will have to make a video of that.

On the road to become Divemaster in Summer 2020 Covid times

On 31. May 2020, I quit my office job for good, after 30 years in the industry and 22 years in the same company. I am 62 years old and hold a Master Diver Certification.

As this summer there is no traveling possible to South East Asia, due to Covid-19, I plan to do my Divemaster Course with Borgo Marina Diving in Imperia, Italy. They suggest I should also do the Assistant Instructor Course, just two more weeks. I agree.

I will travel on motorbike and spend two months there alone, fully focused on dive education, then Kate will follow with the car for another month. We will stay at the Camping Angolo di Sogno in Diano Marina again, just 20 minutes from the Dive Center. Booked a small bungalow for the first two months and the bigger Bungalow Mily for the month with Kate.

I will travel with my full diving equipment, computer, cameras, some underwear, t-shirts, pants long and short, etc. I sent a 2-kg-package with the rest to the Camping site 7 days ago.

Germany and Austria open their borders on 15. June, Italy has already opened on 3. June.

On Sunday, 14. June I start my 3-day-trip to Liguria on the bike, planning to

Thailand and Myanmar, 2020 COVID-19 times

TO BE CONTINUED

I booked this last year in August or September. Got a nice discount for booking two trips on two boats by the same owner, Steve.

So here is the plan: Fly into Thailand on 15. March, stay four days in Kata Beach, go diving Myanmar for ten days, stay two days in Khao Lak, go diving Similan Islands for six days, fly out on 7. April late evening.
Everything is payed and arranged, but then things started to change quickly.

The Corona virus COVID-19 outbreak in China around 15. January picked up speed exponentially.
Travel restrictions apply, it becomes a matter of days or even hours, if you can travel or not.
Travelers from many countries are put in 14-day quarantine, Italy has the second highest number of infections following China, they are not even allowed to enter Thailand anymore.
Thailand introduced a mandatory Health screenings for most european travelers at immigration airports effective 12. March.
My flight is rescheduled two times an re-routed once,

Becoming a Rescue Diver, Italy, September 2019

Coming soon

more dive videos here: https://vimeo.com/user55401320"

See you under water

Mabul, Sabah, Borneo for the third time

Nice to come back to places I’ve been before, know faces and my way around.
The Scuba Junkie Divers Lodge in Semporna doesn’t exist anymore, so I had to find another accommodation for three days.
One of my last year’s dive buddies, Richard Ricardo Avantiquattro, doesn’t work for Scuba Junkie on Mabul anymore, so I took some three days staying in Semporna, on the mainland of Borneo, to dive with him again.
He works in a big company now, Chinese owned, 99 percent Chinese clients, about 200 every day...
At least we have some three dives together, Pom Pom Bottles, Mataking Kecil, and Tumba Tumba Pistol Paradise. We have a 71 year old Chinese diver with us, side mount, sculling with his hands all the time. His daughter took this picture of me:

Next day he has too many Chinese DSD’s, so he joins me with Mala, a very nice Malay guy, and we’re going to. drumroll, tadaaa, Mabul and Kapalai.
The second diver in our group hits deco on the second dive, so Mala and me have a chilled third one at cleaning station Kapalai.

I return to my “hotel”, the Mermaid Inn in Semporna, this is a hostel, close to the Jetty, next time I’ll take the hotel next door. Everything is full of Chinese customers anyway, they are feasting on frog fish, painted spiny lobster bred in a plastic bottle, parrotfish Filets and the like.

I booked the best room at the Mermaid Inn, adjacent to the central common room and with almost direct access to the balcony.
I meet Richard and his local friends for a couple beers downstairs, then retire for the 8am morning boat to Mabul. Morning boat means you start diving on arrival, I know the drill.

5. April, 08:00 Boat to Pulau Mabul, arrive, big Hellos on the Jetty, put on the dive gear, in the water at D-Wall at 09:37

more dive videos here: https://vimeo.com/user55401320"

See you under water

Early start into the year: Special Manta Trip on the Junk, January 12 - 20, 2019

This trip was on top of the others, normally I go to SEA in March/April for 3 weeks. This year it is two trips.
The Junk published a special trip back in July last year, and the dive crew and owner of the Junk persuaded me to not miss this one. So I booked this extra trip, hoping to see Mantas in the Similans again.
We didn't see any, but we had a great time anyway. Alexandra and Christian from Bavaria, who I met last year on the Junk, took part as well, finishing a 4 weeks holiday with that trip.
Pickup at the airport Phuket was easy, I was following the route of the van in MotionX GPS, wondering where we went. Obviously it was not Patong as scheduled, but Chalong on the other side of the island.
At the pier Jerome and Tiger were waiting to transfer the bags and passengers, Eak took the first load to the Junk, so I had time to smoke a cigarette with Jerome and Tiger.
On board the Junk warm welcomes from the entire crew, Marco as Tour leader. Then the usual drill, cabin number, tank number, fire drill, boat briefing etc.
With us is Jamie from Manta Trust Thailand, she will be giving some lectures on Manta Rays during the trip.
I got cabin number 5 and tank number 12, just as last year ;-)
My roommates are Ben Jubert from Britain, Warren O'Neill from Canada, Bill D'Amico from the USA. Warren will also be my dive buddy for this trip.

I have a new dive computer, since my original Zoop freaked out last year in Borneo, going on and off by itself. I take it with me as a backup on the inflator hose, some times it will just turn on and beep. "Hey Volker, your computer has gone diving without you again!" But under water it records fine. Upgraded to a Suunto Vyper Novo, that records somehow more data than the entry level Zoop. Maybe I get myself an air transmitter for it later on.

Diving starts on Sunday, 13. Jan at Koh Haa Lagoon, then down to Hin Daeng, Hin Muang, and back to Koh Haa Lagoon for the Nightdive. Koh Haa is a beautiful dive site with soft corals in some spots, a chimney and a cavern with an air pocket., the Cathedral.

Next day we do three dives at Koh Haa, with the Cathedral, then off to Phi Phi, Nightdive at Palong Wall.
I get used to my new dive Computer, the Suunto Vyper Novo.

On the 15th we do three dives at King Cruiser, Shark Point and Koh Dok Mai, slowly approaching Chalong, where we refuel and get groceries. Tiger is so kind to bring me some Menthol cigarettes.

We travel to the Similans during the night, and on the 16th we can do our morning dive at the Tuna Wreck, near Hideaway Bay and Monuments. Up north through the Similans with two dives at Elephant Head and Snapper Alley, we reach Koh Bon in time for the nightdive at the Bay at 20:05h
We stay there for the night.

On 17th we try Koh Bon West Ridge with two dives, no Mantas, so we continue up north to Koh Tachai, for a dive in the afternoon.
Weather gets bad, rain sets in, the wind becomes chilly, everybody skips the nightdive ;-)

In the early morning of the 18th the boat starts to go to Richelieu Rock, where we have two beautiful dives, then on to Torinla, the southernmost island of Surin. Torinla Pinnacle is home to some very beautiful Pikachu Nudibranchs and rays.

19th is the last diving day with Torinla Pinnacle again, two more times Richelieu Rock and cruising back to Tab Lamu, where we disembark on Sunday, the 20th, around 11 am.

Made some new friends, met interesting people.

My plan was to spend the afternoon in Nai Yang on the beach, my flight goes at 21:30. Christian, Alexandra and their friend Mira join me and leave an hour before me.
I say Hello to Miaow of Beach Hotel TT Nai Yang, she offers me to put my bag in her reception, kind. But as we are four now, I don't do it.
The others leave a good hour before me, so I go for an Aloe Vera Massage and then back to the airport. Dreadful flight back home in a middle seat


25 Dives on this trip,
Average dive time 54 minutes,
Average depth 14.55 meters, average max. depth 23.83
overall RMV rate 13.77 L/min.
OK for me, I'm almost 61 and smoke....



more dive videos here: https://vimeo.com/user55401320"

See you under water

The usual September program

As all the last years, my diving schedule looks like this:
In late winter, that is March, April, I cannot take the grey cold in Berlin anymore and have to leave for something warmer and lighter, in Souteast Asia or any other tropics.
In September I go to Italy and Spain with my wife, in a car, because she doesn't like flying at all. Sure I have my dive gear with me, even with a 5.5 mm Semidry wetsuit for the mediterranean sea.

For the last 3 years we stayed in an area  called Liguria Ponente, the Riviera dei fiori, Flower Riviera, in a small town called Diano Marina. Hanging out on the beach, unwinding, reading, enjoying good food. I discovered a SSI Dive Center close by, in Imperia Porto Maurizio, run by Alessandro Ballaré and Chiara Soriente. Borgo Marina Diving, you can find them here on the side bar or under "recommended companies". I go diving with them every time I am in that area. I know most of the dive sites already, notably Saraghi, where there are more Barracudas every year, Frati with a giant anchor and Bell, the Secca di San Stefano (Saint Stefan shoal) and some wrecks.
Around the corner from their harbour is the site Ratthege, 6 meters deep with sandy bottom, where they do most of their skills training during courses. Given the modest depth I sometimes join them and separate under water, doing my own equipment checks, playing around with navigation, breathing patterns etc among the Posidonia meadows close by. It's nice training to be on your own and explore.
This year we went to Saraghi a couple of times, Frati again, and the last dive was right in front of my camping site in Diano Marina. The site is called Ferro da Stiro, the ironing iron. It's just a yacht sunk here some 20 years ago, and the concrete wastewater tubes coming from land. But interesting.
Last year my last dive was another wreck, a WW II bomb fighter plane, Biat BR-20, max. depth 46 meters, my deepest dive til now.
Every two years, in the even year numbers, there is an event called the Vele d'Epoca, Vintage Sails, with sailboats more than a hundred years old. We spent one afternoon out at sea on Chiara's sail boat, enjoying the vintage boats from a close perspective.
Here is the video for our Italy september:

Bella Liguria con Borgo Marina Diving from Vo Sta on Vimeo.

One of the weekends in September, I drive from Italy to northern Spain for a meeting of vintage aircooled Volkswagens in Tossa de Mar, around 90 km north of Barcelona. Have bee doing that for the fifth time in a row now. And of course I take my dive gear with me...
I tried a dive shop in Tossa, Andreas Diving, but I didn't like the shore diving too much, it is hard to get out of the water on the sandy beach with my prosthetic leg.A good hour's drive north, towards the border with France, there is another wellknown dive site, The Iles Medes, or Medas Islands, facing a town called L'Estartit. I had been diving there two years ago, and I wanted to try it again.
So I started one day early, arrived in L'Estartit on thursday evening, did all the paperwork at the dive shop, they were the first in two years to ask for my medical statement by my doctor, and checked in at the hotel for one night.
I got two dives at Iles Medes, with a group of 16 French, and during the second one I saw my first Mola Mola, very untypical for this season. Very happy I continued my trip to Tossa de Mar and the crazy VW bunch.
Here is the video for these two dives at Iles Medes:

Diving Iles Medes 21-09-18_720p from Vo Sta on Vimeo.

Now it's only three and a half months until I get back to Thailand, for the Special Manta Cruise on my favorite liveaboard with my favorite crew and dive professionals...

more dive videos here: https://vimeo.com/user55401320"

See you under water

Diving Mabul again. Umbrella underwater

Apart from Sipadan, what does staying at Scuba Junkies Mabul offer, anyway?
I return to a place, where I have been a year ago. My dive companions, or should I say, comrades; are different to last year.
Others, who I met last year, are the same.
Others, who I met last year, have developed, like Richard and Azrul.
And Mabul delivers, Dionne is as sweet as last year, among all the dive days in Mabul, this one will always be unforgotten, The Umbrella Dive:

Muckdiving with Dionne_540 from Vo Sta on Vimeo.

more dive videos here: https://vimeo.com/user55401320"

See you under water

April 6-7, 2018, Diving Sipadan with Scuba Junkie

Arrived yesterday morning at the Scuba Junkie Mabul Beach Resort (MBR) after a day of traveling from Phuket to Kuala Lumpur, then domestic flight to Tawau, Sabah, and a 65 minutes taxi ride to Semporna, where I checked in at the Scuba Junkie Divers Lodge for the night. Next morning another short boat ride to the island of Mabul, and we went diving straight away at the Jetty, before even checking in.
Camera was in my other bag, so no footage of the first day. Had my dive gear ready, though.
Very warm welcome by the staff at the jetty and the resort, it feels very much home when you return and know your way around, look into smiling, familiar faces and exchange hugs after a year of absence. My heart was jumping with joy meeting my friend Dionne again and having a long and warm hug with her. I requested her for one of my two Sipadan days. Did not get that one, but we had a hilarious muckdive from Awas to Jetty (more on that in a later post).

Next day is Sipadan day already, four dives, though not getting Dionne as guide I was happy to be diving with Richard and Azrul, had been to Sipadan with Richard last year.
Pretty tough current at Barracuda Point on the first dive, but once we got off the top reef and went down the wall, it was ok. That dive day had all you could wish for at Sipadan, and as pictures can tell more than a thousand words, here is the VDO of that dive day.


Just a Day at Sipadan... from Vo Sta on Vimeo.

See you under water

Nai Yang stopover, a week on Mabul

Back from the Junk "June Hong Chian Lee", I have a shared minivan to Nai Yang, close to the airport, because I will fly out the next day at 8:15 am.
I arrive more or less at noon, check in at the TT Nai Yang Beach Hotel and look for an express laundry, but they all need at least a day to wash and dry. So I do some laudry myself again and hang it on the roof terrace, together with my dive equipment, that I want dry for the flights tomorrow. Later in the afternoon TJ from Lofoten, Norway, arrives at a bungalow hotel next door, we meet in a beach restaurant next to my hotel and chat a while, sipping white wine on the rocks. She is on her way to a liveaboard trip in Komodo. After that we have a far better white at a pizzeria on the walking street, completed with pizza that doesn't need to shy the comparison with italian ones. Regular stone oven, you know.
After dinner I say goodbye, have to pack some stuff, and diving 6 days in a row makes me tired.
See you again, TJ, and eventually we will manage to dive together once again!

Mabul did not disappoint, Mabul delivered.
Three dives a day, with super visibility most of the time. On The Junk liveaboard, Oliver Fitch asked me, what the diving is like at Mabul. It's mostly muck diving, but on white sand, thus pretty different to the Lembeh Strait, for example. Apart from muck and many artificial structures, you can also have beautiful walls with awesome top reefs to hang around for a safety stop.
Some of the dive sites are so close to the jetty, you swim back to the resort after dropping in from the boat.



more dive videos here: https://vimeo.com/user55401320

See you under water

March 28 - April 3, a week on The Junk

Similans and Surin with the Junk

(If you don't like reading, there is a short video at the bottom of this page)

Breakfast at Hotel Khao Lak Golden Place, nothing special, then meet Mam Hugs Khao Lak across the street, she is as fresh and smiling as last year.
Took a massage at Coconuts, the Beach Bar at Suwan Palms, some lunch, and start editing the Pawara video. Pickup is supposed to be at 5, but the van is 30 minutes early, so I don’t manage to complete the upload to Vimeo.
We pick up Tasha from Canada, she just had some Yoga in India and is a vegetarian now for three weeks. Next is Tim from Australia, with asian roots obviously, and off we go to Tab Lamu Pier. Or Taplamu, or, as it is written on the road signs: Taph Lamu. Anyway, we get there at around 6, the parking lot is full of vans, a lot of dive boats wait for their passengers, it’s Embarkation time at Taph Lamu…
We wait at the Navy „Café“, other passengers from other vans join us, until we are 16 guests for the cruise.
Brian pickes us up, I didn’t meet him for two years now, happy to see him face to face again, he hasn’t changed a bit.
But oh, yes, something does have changed in the life of Brian: He is daddy now, he has a daughter, a beautiful cutie with incredible eyes.

The Zodiac takes us to the Junk itself, Marco greets us at the dive platform, then I can make out Oliver, Jerome, Tiger.
Man, this feels like coming home, very good. Next I see Bee, she had sent me a FB friend request, I introduce myself and tell her I can now accept her request.  I don’t accept anyone who I haven’t seen face to face in real life. She seems to find it funny, with her vivid eyes, a cheerful person, always good for a smile.
Same procedure as last year, after a short boat briefing you get a tank number and a cabin number, set up your equipment, then the fire drill kicks in and everybody meets at the muster station at the bow.
Dinner on the way out to the Andaman Sea, and here comes Marco’s and the Junk’s first trick: All boats go out tonight to Similan Islands, mostly Island #4 for check dives at Monuments or somewhere close (since Anita's Reef is closed by now), but we head directly to Koh Bon, thus always a day ahead of the crowd. Hehehe

Day 1, March 29, Koh Bon and Koh Tachai
We are on a far more relaxed schedule than on the other boats, start the day later and finish with real nightdives instead of sunset dives.
There is only two other boats at Koh Bon Bay, we don’t run into any other divers.
Marco put me in Brian’s group, together with four friends from Switzerland. They will show some hilarious dive skills later on...
It’s actually the first time I dive in a group guided by Brian, two years ago we were on the same boat, but I was in Marco’s group as I was the year before, on my first liveaboard trip to the Similans. I am the air hog on the group, but just 10-20 bar more than the others, so this will play out fine.


Dive 2 at Koh Bon Ridge, super chilled, going up north...

March 24-27, Diving Similans on MV Pawara

No time yet to edit many pictures, so here is a VDO instead:

Pawara 2018 from Vo Sta on Vimeo.

Now leaving for the next trip...

See you under water

March 22-23, Chill Lanta and boarding Pawara

Check dives went ok yesterday, rinsed my equipment and went to bed early.
Thursday March 23 I spent with breakfast, a massage at the resort, really good, made an appointment for tomorrow morning again, going around on Lanta on my scooter, taking a swim at the beach without name I found last year. Looks like nobody could find a name til now, this year there is even a road sign saying "The Way to Beautiful Beach",

so let's call it just that: Beautiful Beach...

Had a swim there and some water in the shade of the big tree,

then continued to ABenz's Light House Bar just 7 minutes of road down south.
Had a nice sundowner there, very chill atmosphere,

and went back to Klong Dao.

Friday March 24 I had another massage at Lanta Bee Garden, checked out, oh this is such a warm hearted family resort, and got picked up for the speed boat Lanta to Phuket.

Doo from Westcoast Divers tried to get me on the crew bus at Rassada Pier at 3pm, but something went wrong, so I just waited there until 5pm as scheduled for the regular minivan.
Used the time for a chicken kebap and a fruit shake, edited some video snippets into a short video about the dives in Koh Haa,
Check Dive Koh Haa from Vo Sta on Vimeo.

and looked forward to go diving in the Similans on the MV Pawara.
The minivan arrived at Tab Lamu Pier in heavy rain, checked in on the boat and did the paperwork for the trip: Liability waiver, Marine Park fee etc etc.
Tourleader Beto has fractured his left foot this morning, so no diving for him. I had hoped to dive with him, he knows the Similans so very well, for years. But, no worries, I will soon have the chance to go down with my favorite guide on the next boat...
The Pawara is filled to the brim, even the spare budget cabin in the captain's wheelhouse is occupied with two passengers, one of them me, I always book the spare budget...

After two hours or so the ceremony startes, at the bow one of the crew prays for a safe trip and lights incense sticks, the fireworks are lit, we leave the port, heading out west to the Andaman Sea.

See you under water

March 21, 2018 Check Dives at Koh Haa

So I wanted to make sure every piece of equipment works fine, before I go on the boats, and what better destination con there be than Koh Haa.
Pickup at my Resort at 7:30, warm welcome by the driver, we know each other from last year. Straight to the jetty behind the bridge, and off we go for a two hours ride to Koh Haa.
This gives me plenty of time to set up my gear. Our guide is Martino of Kon Tiki Lanta, my Buddy is Kim, an Asian living in Switzerland.
Two groups of divers,  two snorkeling groups and an OWD course, the boat is full but not overcrowded.
We jump at Koh Haa Yai, the big island with the caves

March 20, 2018 Here we go again...

 


After that epic 100 day trip in 2017, it felt so strange to get back into the business rat race, that I started booking again as early as August last year. Coming back into the working world in Berlin was harder than I had expected, my longing for coral, saltwater and fish made me book early again.

Starting early has pros and cons, you can

Oooops, I will do it again...

Decided to use this blog for the next and upcoming dive trips again!
Stay tuned, there will be more, starting again March 18th, 2018

See you under water

Day 100-101 / Tag 100-101 June 20-21 Berlin, Finish, and Thank You all

💯

This is the last post. 

I finish this blog with Day 101, though it's called 111, simply because the trip is over.

 100 days and 128 dives later, once around the world, full of impressions, smells, feelings, tastes: I am back.

I started this trip with 90 dives ( certified with 11 dives in March 2014, 79 dives from March 2015 til March 2017). Now it's 218 in the logbook...
Had all kinds of boat diving, liveaboards, Dinghis, Longtails, small diveboats, some shore dives, many nightdives, all kinds of entry, near out of air, drift dives, currents, cenotes, caverns, caves, deep dives, in waters around the world, and not a single minute in the pool:
I declare myself an experienced Advanced Open Water Diver now

In the end I realize I did it almost exactly as I initially planned...:

Still wearing one of my dive t-shirts (The Junk June Hong Chian Lee, actually) for days now, dive leg and boat shorts, they feel so familiar and homy, cannot get used to long pants, socks and shirts with collar yet...;-)

Day 98-99 / Tag 98-99 Going home

I don't feel like leaving here at all.

A last shower before the long ride over the Atlantic ocean later today. I am clever enough to take a
second T-shirt with me in the cabin luggage. Heartwarming good bye from the girl at the Art Hotel,

a last Cortado at Ki'Bok, and then to the ruins of Tulum. Bad idea, it is sunday morning, 10 am. I had better done that on a weekday, uh, wait, I was diving the last five mornings...
Waiting in line to buy a ticket in the blazing sun, Mexicans dressed up as ancient Mayas stand ready for fotos with their snake and tourists, you have to pay for every foto, even from far, waiting in another line to the entrance, and pushing myself through the ruins with the tourists, the sun knows no mercy. I only wanted to take some shots of the ruins by the sea, I sweat like a pig, no shadow anywhere. My T-shirt is soaking wet.
I take some shots and flee this place.

Seems he doesn't enjoy it too much, either