Saturday, March 11, 2017

Travel gift from my colleagues

What a sweet and lovely present
Thank you all, I will be back

Travel gift 111 from Vo Sta on Vimeo.


See you under water

Sunday, February 26, 2017

ESTA application for Hawaii

No positive feedback
"This may take up to 72 hours"
Now that's a good start

Update: approved after 20 hours

🌸 Hawaii 🌺, coming 😎

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

New dive leg

the old one was getting a bit worn off...
We built a completely new one.
Safety first...!

See you under water

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Getting closer to it! 40 days!

Blank timespan filled, going to dive Sipadan!
Sipadan, legendary dive site Borneo

End of January, and tomorrow there is only 40 days left to the start.
(Play Muddy Waters Forty Days now)
I've been busy planning and booking, the itinerary is almost complete.
I finally made up my mind  about going into the blue or on a planned schedule, I decided for a schedule with some room in it...

So here it is, Trip so far:
5 days kao lak
4 days Similans Liveaboard Sawasdee Fasai
4 days Similans Liveaboard Pawara
2 weeks Ko Tao with my son
4 days Similans Liveaboard The Junk with Marco and Brian
3 days Kata Beach, see my friends at Kata Noi Beach restaurant On The Rocks, chill at Ska Bar...
10 days Ko Lanta and Ko Lipe, meet Peter and do some dives at Ko Haa Cathedral
10 days Borneo with Sipadan, at Scuba Junkies at Mabul Island, Barracuda Point...

7 days Sulawesi with Bunaken/Lembeh, at Bastianos Resorts

9 days Raja Ampat with Gemma from buceothailandia
6 days Gili Air, Manta Dive Resort


Then it is May 27...Not clear yet if I go to Hawaii then, I wait for more surprises by the new president before I decide if I go to USA 😉

All acommodations has been reserved or booked, some connections are yet to be booked, e.g. from Ko Lipe to Krabi Airport, Kuala Lumpur to Manado, Manado to Sorong, and that's it. The End ist still open...

3 days ago I bought a Macbook Air for editing fotos and videos on the trip, and I am really delighted by the responsiveness  and speed of that thing. For comparison, my iMac at home is now 10 years old, cannot be updated to the latest version of the OS and I can sometimes easily outtype it... ;-)

This month I will do the React Right First Aid course and have a last date with my doctor, then ready to go!
(Play Muddy Waters I am ready now)


40days from Vo Sta on Vimeo.


See you under water

Sunday, January 15, 2017

MV Flying Seahorse sunk!

A week ago, Peter of Lanta Diving Safaris had to post on FB that his ship, the Flying Seahorse, is lost. No lives were lost, but the boat is completely battered by the raging sea in a typhoon that came without warning.
He had put all his money and energy into this business and is now confronted with a big black void.
MV Flying Seahorse before and after the Typhoon 8. january 2017

Peter is the only operator to offer liveaboard trips from Ko Lanta way down to Ko Lipe, deep south. There is a lot of day cruises, but no one to offer 5 days 4 nights trips in that area. What a pity.
I had booked and paid a trip to Ko Lipe with this boat, April 20-24, but now there is no boat anymore.
I gave Peter a week and asked today, how it is going to go on, but have no answer yet.
Other friends of Peter set up bank accounts for donations.
Peter sent my money for the trip back completely. I retransfered 200 Euros, roughly a third of my payment for the trip, as donation for the loss. Hope it helps.

So now I have a blank timespan again, April 14 til May 13

See you under water

Monday, January 9, 2017

Saturday, November 19, 2016

Next Liveaboard: The Junk

During my first searches for Liveaboards in the Similans I stumbled over The Junk, an extraordinary vessel, built in 1961/62. Last year on a trip to the Similans I saw it pass by our boat silently and with the unique grace of a vintage sailboat...  It was clear to me: I would have to sail and dive on this one as soon as possible.

The Junk “June Hong Chian Lee”

Yesterday I learned that my trusted dive guide and buddy Marco Coelho will work as a dive guide on The Junk for the entire Season 2016/17.
Luckily, there is a trip with some spaces available that fits perfectly in my schedule, so I did not hesitate a minute and booked it right away, April 10th to 15th.
As a consequence, it is no longer possible to do a Divemaster course on this trip, because there is no more timeframe of at least six weeks continuously. Decisions have to be made and so be it.

So the updated schedule looks like this:
5 days in Phuket
five days on the Sawasdee Fasai
5 days on the MV Pawara with Fernando
two weeks on Koh Tao with my son Leo
5 days on The Junk with Marco
4 weeks without plans (Flying Seahorse to Koh Lipe, Seaventures Dive Rig and Sipadan, Bunaken, Lembeh)
1 week Raja Ampat with Gemma and viajaybucea
no plans for May 21 till June 30, but some ideas...: Hawaii and Mexico on my way back home ;-)

Exciting.

See you under water