Monday, March 15, 2010

Phuket Fishing Park

20 fish to 38lb!!!! Not bad, eh??


This lake holds some real monsters....
but remember, if you want to go for the giant arapini, it's £100 per day.

Otherwise....for all these other crazy species....£30
per day.
This was yesterday's catch.....
Sadly, in about 5 hours I have to head to Phuket airport to get on the plane back to Weymouth.
I say sadly cos (usual story) a couple of days ago the weather in Weymouth looked very good for Friday and the coming weekend......but now it looks like it's going to be wet and windy.....bugga, eh???!
Our guests are able to stay on until Saturday....so maybe they'll get another crack at the lake.
It's been a great winter...thank you Phuket. Thanks to everyone who's come here for thr holiday break.........maybe it will be YOU next winter??
Phone me at home 07860 571615 or email me for all details pwhittall@aol.com









Saturday, March 13, 2010



Kata Clarity

Some days the diving at Kata, our favourite nearby shore dive, is SO clear it's like being in a swimming pool.




Here's Bob (Bob Fox) doing his fin pivot exercise as part of his PADI Open Water Certification.......it's hard to believe he's under water!!



Beautiful 'heads' of coral are always alive with colourful fish.







Lion Fish.........always an attractive fish to photograph....







Kata reef is a smashing place to do 'confined' dives. Nice sandy bottom then a well defined reef with stacks to see..........literally thousands and thousands of fish. It's difficult knowing where to look next....sensory bombardment!








The fascinating dance of the Juvenile Sweetlips







Scorpion fish and stone fish disguise themselves amongst the stones







Underneath coral overhangs there's always likely to be a big-eyed puffer fish..........





This may well be my last chance to go diving for this 'winter' season. Our current guests stay on until 20th March....Jai stays until the end of April...but I have to come home on 16th......ready for another busy season on Offshore Rebel. I understand the pollack fishing is really good back home so I am hoping the weather will allow me to go to sea when I return!!!!
There is growing interest in the house all year now. So, if you'd like a holiday in Phuket, Thailand, please email or phone me ....... pwhittall@aol.com or mobile 07860 571615 or look at the Thai web site www.paulsthaihouse.co.uk

Thursday, March 11, 2010


Kata Beach

There's so much to see at the coral reef at nearby Kata Beach.

My little Dive School is now busy with Air Hostesses from Asia.
I need more suits etc etc. All the students look like Jai as her gear is the only stuff that fits the dinky little gals.....so; these photos show Khun Pear and Khun Pior....two different gals...ha ha...who can tell??



The viz yesterday was rubbish for Thailand...BUT that's when you can find the more unusual critters...


Here's a double ended pipehorse!
Very usual to see see these....






First dives..................60 minutes and








78 minutes................these Thai gals just don't use ANY air......amazing!!


I've just come back from elephant rides and Big Buddha trip with our 8 guests....and now waiting for our two air hostesses to arrive for their second dive. After today the glas will be joining Kon Tikki Dive School and be going on to do their full PADI Open Water Course....

A Night out in Rawai


Oooooo; look.......there's SO much to choose from. AND the menu is in pictures......we are SO happy it's all in pictures.......A delighted Jacky discovers she can speak Thai.









Yes!!!!!!! They do white wine in Thailand...it's amazing!! Sue and Jacky are SO happy to see the wine list!!





Jai's decided to become European and up her Bra size!





Jacky (yes, we have two Jacky's) impresses a local gal with her charm and poise.....


Poor Old Bob.....always picking up the tab






And here's the gang.....in the famous Freedom Bar....look at all the smiling faces.
How can anyone not have a good time over here?????????


Phuket Fishing Park

Our favourite fishing lake is brilliant.

We have 3 anglers amongst our 8 guests this week with Bob Fox, Fred Froment and Willy Ramthor.

Here's a photo of Bob with a Mekong Catfish



And here's Bob again with a species that we cannot pronounce let alone spell.....but I am sure there is someone out there who can help us?? What's this critter called? It fights like mad and looks a bit like a bream. Very solid, powerful fish.






Khun X is our resident guide and helper....and he's a very able angler himself. Here he is with a Siamese Carp


Willy took most of the photos which is why there weren't many shots of him....but here he is with a siamese catchfish


Fred is the least expereinced angler of the three but he couldn't go wtong with 7 fish to 26lb. This was his best fish and was another mekong catfish.




And here's Fred with another of those unpronouncable fish.......





And Bob's got another one too.

The lads landed 17 fish. They were smashed up a few times with the fish biting through the traces. All the tackle was hired so we fished with what we were given......for sure the lads would have aught much more if they'd brought their own stuff.




This lake is providing great fishing. It costs about £30 a day (0800 to 2000) with rods and bait and assistance provided.
There are giant Arapaima in the lake. I've seen two of 80kg and 90kg landed but there are arapaima to 150kg in the lake. It's a lot more to fish for these....5,000 Baht per day (£100) but you are in with a seriously good chance of cathcing one or more.....

Friday, March 5, 2010


Fishing....Chalong...Phuket

Today Keith and Richard joined 4 other Individuals on a 'game Fishing' trip out of Chalong.

With Game Fishing (or any fishing for that matter) you get what you pay for. The current price for a mid range game boat with air conditioning and all the works is £900 per day! This is for a 9 hour day. You are limited to 4 on the boat.


A good game boat is £1,800 per day between 4 of you! Unfortunately in UK we are mainly all skint. Thus paying £55 for an 11 hour day out wreck fishing on a 100 mile round trip will cause most UK anglers emotional trauma.....so game fishing is probably way out of most anglers' range. And, to be fair, I think Phuket is ludicrously over-priced.




One way round this is to join up on an Individual trip on the equivalent of a UK inshore trip. Chartering the whole boat cost about £400 (8 hour day) or about £75 each as an Individual. There will be up to 8 on the boat but often it's more like 6.


The boats are OK....there's no Air Con for that price but you will be very well looked after with lunch, fruit and soft drinks all included.

Keith and Richard joined such a trip and were rewarded with 7 small tuna between them but they also saw (it wasn't their turn when the game fish hit....which is why it's better to charter the whole boat for 2 of you!!) two sailfish landed, one lost and a marlin lost. A couple of barracuda and a wahoo were also caught.

Now this IS a good day out from Game Fishing standards....there will be MANY trips when no sailfish are caught and certainly no marlin hooked up!! So the lads fully appreciated that they had been on a good trip and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.



Here's one of the sailfish that was bought in and kept due to 'deep hooking'. The Thais are not the best in the owrld at releasing fish...but if you charter the boat then you could do so ONLY on the understanding that the sailfish or marlin are released.
When EFSA held its Game Championships here in 2003 and chartered 20 boats they did so only on the strict understanding that the skippers would release everything...which they did.

Anyhow, we have found a good boat with a good skipper and crew...........so I hope we will enjoy a few more successful results......



Thursday, March 4, 2010


Snorkling...Ya Nui

I will never forget the first time I ever went snorkling. I was extremely lucky. My papa was in the Army. Back then the Services were posted all over the place. My first taste of snorkling was in Tripoli, North Africa. I remember this amazing world opening up before my eyes as I stuck a mask on for the very first time. I was hooked!


Many of you who have come here have never had the opportunity to go snorkling. Maybe you have been put off by the cold sea in UK or the poor viz or the currents or..or ..or....

It was great to see Keith who is with us this week to have his first ever go at snorkling at 31 years old. Keith is a good swimmer and confident in the water...so it took him just seconds before he was completely at home....and he loved it. Great viz; stacks and stacks of fish to see....sea water temp of 30 degrees C...perfect.


Richard meanwhile has done plenty of snorkling around Man of War Rocks just east of Durdle Door and in Mupe Bay, Warbarrow. Snorkling back home IS also great...you just have to wear a suit...and a couple of weights to get you down because of the buoyancy of the suit. But there's plenty to see back home....and the two areas mentioned above are particularly good.

It's not easy to get good photographs when snorkling due to excess light and my limited camera skills but the many different surface creatures that can be spotted are always worth watching out for....this one is the toned buttock fish, usually found in the Med.




Sometimes a photo comes out OK.....but you need to get down a few metres....our attempts to dive down a whole 4 metres are pretty pathetic when you compare them to Daughter Ai who was free diving to 20 metres in the Simlan Islands with Graham, Steve and me (earlier blog; remember?)

Anyhow...this has been a great week so far. Richard and Keith booked the house...just the two of them so I have been able to concentrate of showing them around....and I reckon they have seen experienced a few things in Thailand that are not quite the same as back home............and yesterday they caught fish at sea...with a sailfish, wahoo and tuna coming aboard...all in the next blog!


The Sunshine Bar in Rawai

The Sunshine Bar situated right on the waterfront at Rawai is our favourite bar.

Meet Khun Fun....owner, boss, maitre dee etc etc
...and, like her name, full of fun...and she ensures her customers have a great night of fun too.


Khun Fun's sister; Khun Fang....the choreographer and the energy behind the whole show...and it IS a show...every night from 2100 til 0200, the staff dance and dance and dance...they are MEGA fit and they really know how to keep the customers happy and drinking. If you come into the Sunshine Bar, you never want to leave...and that is a real testimony to the business skills behind this team...hardworking...ultra energetic...funny...talented...brilliant....no wonder the bar is packed every night...it's a terrific experience.



The Bell rigs and the show begins...........


Gals, Boys, Ladyboys, boys who don't know what they are or want to be...gals who haven't got a clue either...think Lou Reed...think Kinks and Lola...it's a mixed up world for sure! Girls will be boys and boys will be girls.....



Our little group grew as the evening progressed.....




The Lovers were still at it...with Jai getting in on the Popeye and Olive act....





The charming Val and her Geoffrey, underwater acrobat extraordinaire, were holiday romancing it!!!







And where was our Steph when all this was going on??? Yep, you guessed it...here he is; bless! I think he's playing a fishing game on his phone!