Since completing my PADI Open Water on the Great Barrier Reef back in 2009 diving has quickly become a passion of mine and as a result it’s prominence in my backpacking adventures had grown a lot over the last year or so, including working as a DMT for a few months.
I’ve also made some amazing connections throughout the diving world – working with some great companies and being able to dive some amazing spots; including diving with nurse sharks in Byron Bay, hitting up the great barrier reef in Cairns, cruising with whale sharks on Koh Tao and exploring the island paradise of Phi Phi in Thailand.
I have however developed a great business relationship and personal friendship with the guys from Khao Lak Scuba Adventures…
Dive, Sleep, Eat Repeat
Since diving with them on their Phi Phi Islands Live aboard last year I’ve kept in close contact with their media guy Stefan who I shared a few beers with on the dive boat and he was stoked with my backpacking story.
Over the last few months I’ve been helping them out with some of their social media – adding some non dive related travel goodness to their Facebook feed and working closely with them on some new projects I have in the works too.
So when Stefan asked if I could could help them out with some on board photography I was more than keen to come pay them a visit – and I was even more stoked when he told me what I’d have to do…
The Similans
KSA have a fleet of 4 dive live a boards and numerous day trip and single night boats hitting up a whole variety of dive sites that the west coast of Thailand offers up.
As part of my trip their I’ll be photographing all the boats, documenting life on board and photographing all the staff to help update their website.
Of course you guys know me better than to expect me to solidly work all month – and as part of my partnership with them I get to spend a whole heap of time diving myself…in the Similan Islands!
Yup I’m stoked to be able to hit up these islands – they’ve been on my diving bucket list since I seriously got into diving in Asia last year.
Situated in the Andaman sea and a protected marine reserve the Similans have been voted in the top 10 dive sites WORLDWIDE by non other than the National Geographic Society. They’re famed for their warm, clear waters, with visibility regularly around the 20-20m mark.
For those of you that haven’t dived yet – that’s pretty freaking perfect!
With these amazing dive conditions comes a whole array of equally amazing marine life – with larger fish being the order of the day – including manta rays and even whale sharks…so I’ve got my fingers crossed I’ll get to share some water time with some of these magnificent ocean goers.
Dive Jealousy
So with all this diving and boat living you can expect the next few weeks to be filled with awesome underwater shots and I have a whole heap of GoPro kit in tow, some of which I haven’t played with before so I’m hoping to try out some new gadgets and see how they get on.
Hopefully it’ll be less about making you jealous and more encouraging and inspiring you to head out on your own dive adventure – whether that be to the Similans or doing your PADI course.
I already convinced Stephen from A Backpackers Tale to do his Open Water last month and now he’s so hooked he went back to smash out his advanced course too. I’m stoked to say he’ll be joining me on my final dive trip to the Similans at the end of November – we’ll be travelling together for the rest of the year too, so expect twice the chaos on both our blogs and social media feeds! If you haven’t already done so check out his blog and go hit up his Facebook Fanpage too.
BOOM – so that’s the pretty exciting start to my new backpacking adventure, I’m hoping it’ll keep you all entertained!
Don’t worry if diving doesn’t float your boat though – I’ll be keeping a good bit of variety going as I still have a bucket load of post ideas from my adventures which are slowly coming to fruition!
Bring on the salt water therapy…and the warm climate!
Sounds pretty awesome! I’m going to Thailand in July next year and was thinking about hitting up this area, do you think diving will be possible at that time of year as its heading into the wet season?
Hey Penelope – I’ve actually just arrived there so I just asked their team. No live aboards run in July (due to the monsoon as you mentioned) however if you hit the east coast that time of year it’ll be nice, drop me an email on [email protected] and I can send you some more details