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Well, our first Thai island of our trip is not as overly- or as badly-developed as people say (when tourists refer to other, smaller Thai islands, they often say "I just hope it doesn't turn into another
Phuket"), however we're not staying in Patong, which is the main cheap package holiday tourist trap. But neither is Kata the lovely little town mentioned in Lonely Planet. Something's happened in the last few years so that there has been an explosion of bars, clubs, tailors and hotels on the road parallel to Kata beach road. Too many bars for the amount of people as most are empty save from the hostesses and this is in high season. You can successfully avoid this, as we did by staying in Kata town proper rather than behind the beach. We were in bungalows at Kata-on-sea, up a short but steep hill but this meant a sea breeze was to be had at night. Excellent news if you've chosen a fan-only bungalow with aparently the world's loudest fan for a very reasonable 500 baht. And Kata has a good beach too, as it is so long it doesn't feel busy despite the large number of tourists (mainly Scandinavian for some reason). So we spent the first day lazing on said beach, under the shade of a rented umbrella.
At sunset we took a walk to the far end of the beach, away from Kata town, to scope out prices for liveaboard diving trips to the Similan Islands. We found a nice company called Nautilus run by a Swiss man called Mike who, after a bit of excellent negotiating by the Jackmen gave us a good deal on two warm up dives and the trip. In fact so successful were the two warm-up dives that we decided to complete our PADI Advanced Open Water qualification with them too, prior to heading
for the Similans. This led, again using our excellent negotiation skills, to an even better price for the Similans trip, which we celebrated by having a few sun downers at the Ska Bar. So for the next two nights and days it was back to school for us, studying from weighty Padi textbooks. See- it's not all sitting on a beach all day with us (though, granted, a fair bit of study was done on the beach)!
We first had to master our navigation skills and work on our buoyancy under water and then on day two, we went on a day trip with three dives from a boat. We started at Koh Dok Mai where the schools of small fish were so vast and moved around the fan coral so quickly they made our
eyes go funny. Then onto our first deep dive (30m) with a current (Shark Point) as well as our first wreck dive (King Cruiser). All were very exciting but the wreck was the most interesting by far and really quite eerie. Then off the next day for more diving fun, hopefully with manta rays, sharks and turtles at the Similans.
Phuket"), however we're not staying in Patong, which is the main cheap package holiday tourist trap. But neither is Kata the lovely little town mentioned in Lonely Planet. Something's happened in the last few years so that there has been an explosion of bars, clubs, tailors and hotels on the road parallel to Kata beach road. Too many bars for the amount of people as most are empty save from the hostesses and this is in high season. You can successfully avoid this, as we did by staying in Kata town proper rather than behind the beach. We were in bungalows at Kata-on-sea, up a short but steep hill but this meant a sea breeze was to be had at night. Excellent news if you've chosen a fan-only bungalow with aparently the world's loudest fan for a very reasonable 500 baht. And Kata has a good beach too, as it is so long it doesn't feel busy despite the large number of tourists (mainly Scandinavian for some reason). So we spent the first day lazing on said beach, under the shade of a rented umbrella.
At sunset we took a walk to the far end of the beach, away from Kata town, to scope out prices for liveaboard diving trips to the Similan Islands. We found a nice company called Nautilus run by a Swiss man called Mike who, after a bit of excellent negotiating by the Jackmen gave us a good deal on two warm up dives and the trip. In fact so successful were the two warm-up dives that we decided to complete our PADI Advanced Open Water qualification with them too, prior to heading
for the Similans. This led, again using our excellent negotiation skills, to an even better price for the Similans trip, which we celebrated by having a few sun downers at the Ska Bar. So for the next two nights and days it was back to school for us, studying from weighty Padi textbooks. See- it's not all sitting on a beach all day with us (though, granted, a fair bit of study was done on the beach)!
We first had to master our navigation skills and work on our buoyancy under water and then on day two, we went on a day trip with three dives from a boat. We started at Koh Dok Mai where the schools of small fish were so vast and moved around the fan coral so quickly they made our
eyes go funny. Then onto our first deep dive (30m) with a current (Shark Point) as well as our first wreck dive (King Cruiser). All were very exciting but the wreck was the most interesting by far and really quite eerie. Then off the next day for more diving fun, hopefully with manta rays, sharks and turtles at the Similans.
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