Friday, February 5, 2016

Scuba Diving....at Paul's Thai House

 Part of your holiday when you come to Paul's Thai House is to learn...if you wish to that is....to go Scuba Diving!

Phuket is a great place to learn...many things to see, good vizability, 30 degree sea temperature, hardly any current....what's not to like?

Many of my guests have now got into the Scuba diving here. This is how we do it. You take one look at the house swimming pool and decide that the sun and heat of Thailand is too much to stand around in your best suit. So, caution to the breeze, you rip off your UK togs and don your new skimpie and hurl yourself into the pool. Whilst there, wallowing around in gay abandon, I will slip you the idea of 'Wanna have a go at Scuba Diving?' This will bring about the usual onslaught of pathetic excuses as to why you cant't do it....but I will try my best to encourage you to have a go and, after about 30 seconds underwater in the swimming pool, most people are hooked!!

I had the most dreadful dive teaching imaginable. (This was not under PADI Guidance). It seriously put me off diving for many years.  Because of my negative experience it is my intention to make your experience as easy and gentle as possible. There is no time pressure...we can take as long as you like and it's all free! I have all the equipment to look after you and, at great personal expense (ha ha), I have retained my PADI Teaching status....just for you all!

 Once we have learnt various skills etc etc in the swimming pool, we progress to shore diving on a nearby coral reef which is full of life. The great thing about the reef is that it runs parallel to soft sand so we can kneel and look at things or, when you are learning, crash into the bottom without hurting yourself.

As your skills increase we can hire longtail boats and explore other offshore islands. If you are really into it, as are many guests now, I will pass you to one of the Dive Centres and you can sign up for the PADI Open Water Course. The advantage of doing the full course is that it will make sense of everything you have learnt with me and you will find the course undaunting as we would have covered every aspect of the Open Water training. With a PADI Certificate we can book up to go on a PADI Dive boat and experience some of the wonderful offshore dive sights.

 These photo's are of Russell Shaw who was with us in January. Russell soon mastered the various skills and we we able to visit the delights of Racha Yai and Racha Noi together. Russell has also dived Phi Phi Islands as part of his 6 dive Open Water programme at sea which followed his one day of pool training.

Today our friends Mandy and Gary Chard have started their marathon trip back to the UK. They weren' t looking forward to going 'home' with the awful forecasts we have been watching. Mandy has never wanted to take the PADI courses as she is quite happy to do her diving with me from the shore or longtail boats....so you do not HAVE to hold a Certificate to go diving.

Now we are waiting for 3 chaps to arrive and two of them will be entering the full  PADI programme having spent their last two winter holidays here with me and getting interested via my Pre-Padi Dive programme. And tomorrow two of our guests who are already here, one of them being the famous Simon from Cummins fame, and I will be spending the day at sea with PADI on a three dive day.

 This 'season' we have done a stack of fishing and it has been amazing. now there will be more of a shift towards the diving. In March we have two Dive Liveabaord trips planned. These are four day trips at sea with up to four dives a day if you have the energy! These are magical exeriences and ones which I would love to encourage as many of my guests as possible to try.... you will NEVER forget them.

Our new House Boss, Kannika, has now taken her Open Water Course and passed so now she too can join us in some more adventurous dives. We are off to Ao Nang in the Krabi Province next week to fish for four days at the Word Famous Gillhams Fishery. Whilst there Kannika and I will take a day trip to the Phi Phi Islands which are quite close by.

 Anyhow...above is an eagle ray spotted by Russell and here (left) is a Mantis Shrimp. These little rascals are infamous for having the hardest 'punch' in the Universe. If you get too close to them and piss them off they can attack your mask, smash the glass to smithereens and run away with the remanants of your dive gear. You don't want to ne messing with these. But, as we are all constanty told, mostly everything in the sea will do its best to avoid confrontation. Injuries are sustained when creatures are trying to protect themselves. There are exceptions of course...the Titan Trigger fish is one to be suitably wary of.

 Here is a petty little snake. Apparantly if it bites you then death will come about within 1.37 milliseconds....so again, better to watch it and not try to see how far down its throat you can stick your digits.
 Everyone's favourite...the colorful and charasmatic clown fish.
 And here is Russell bravely leaping into the unknow...

And here he is with Jennie. Jennie is a PADI Instructor and I try to pass all of you to her cos she is brilliant and my friend! Her Papa, Martin Arnold is the most Gentlemanly angler I take out so his daughter has inherited the family charm and sense of fun. We are fortuate to have her as our PADI Mentor.

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