Day 6, last day of diving already. It should be a fantastic day though, Richelieu Rock is awesome
Off to a good start! Just look at the clarity of that water!
Photos look so much better without particles in the water that scatter the light
Aargh, this one again. The ‘white-striped-but-also-spotted-yellow-lipped-black-tailed-fish’
I’m going to miss these views
There’s a prize for the first person to tell me the exact amount of fish in this photo
Close to the shot I wanted
I’ve seen photos like this on the cover of diving magazines and my goal was to be able to recreate such a photo. Mission accomplished!
So colourful
I could dive an entire month just here at Richelieu Rock (not without surfacing though)
Just look at that!
I think I’ve learned a lot in the past few days when it comes to underwater photography
WTH is that blue thing!? Stunning!
What could it be? Not sure I’ve seen these before
Yeah, nah, I’m at a loss, no clue about this fish
So. Many. Fish.
Christian right where I need him in this photo
Another Lionfish. How they can stay vertical without falling I don’t understand
Magnificent fish
Lots of opportunities here to try to get shots with a bright colourful foreground and nice blue background with hopefully something interesting like a diver
Oooh, I love this shot!
The dive is almost over. Bye bye Pink Skunk Clownfish!
Best time of day (around 07:30) to take photos here I think, water still dark enough and fishies fungry
Breakfast, salad, egg, sausage, fries, bacon
The ‘Western’ table
The ‘Asian’ table. Zero interaction between the two groups
Lots of aircos on the boat, one for every cabin
Our guide, who’s Thai, can dive, finds interesting stuff underwater to look at but doesn’t speak a word of English, which severely limits the interaction with him as well. There was another Thai guide also didn’t speak any English and looked like a Geisha because he always had some white powder or lotion on his face, it wasn’t sunblock, strange dude. There was only one guide who did speak English (but wasn’t very talkative) and another one who spoke Chinese. Room for improvement here
Me
Dive #2 and last dive of the trip. These things here are once again something rather special but I utterly forgot what they are called. And what were they doing? Eating what I think is an arm/leg of a starfish?
You can see how much brighter the blue is now compared to dive #1
Three in a row
You again, I had already said goodbye!
Bye to you as well worms
Like yesterday just a little footage from when we were doing our safety stop
Back to the mainland, Thap Lamu Pier to be precise
Thai Navy vessels
Fishing boat going out
Ok, now comes the difficult part. I’ve booked a room at a hotel in Khao Lak via booking.com, that’s 20 km away from here. I had asked the hotel owener to arrange some transport for me but he’s not replied. So I was hoping to find something here at the pier, there’s lots of taxis here, problem is that they’re all booked. I am left with no alternative but to walk the 20 km!
Luckily after walking maybe 10 minutes a lovely thai lady who was coming from the opposite direction did a U-turn and asked me where I was going. I explained the situation and she offered me a ride to Khao Lak, which was totally out of the way for her! She is one of the people that make Thailand so special, that smile, that willingness to help. Awesome! It took some convincing from me but eventually she excepted a monetary thank-you from me. Win-win. Thank you Thai lady, much appreciated!
My hotel