Hello everyone,
When last we talked I was having a challenging time deciding where my troubled life would take me next. I was also nursing an injured knee. The combination of these things eventually would equal into, well, more diving! Yay! I had checked Sea Dragon’s latest liveaboard schedule, and they had a single spot left for me the next day on their smaller, more backpacker boat, the NV Nangnuan. It holds 8 divers, 2 divemasters and a small crew.
After what would be a much longer than it should be transit from Khao Sok, I was checking into the dive center to head out the next morning. I slept at the Highway Inn, as per usual in Khao Lak, and the morning we were off.
The boat was a humble beast, but the guests were a fantastic group of travelers, and after a patient 5 hour float into the sea, we would soon arrive at our first dive. The trip was a 3d/2n journey, and Koh Bon would be our first dive. A small island between the famous Similans and Surin islands, it is known for being a manta ray cleaning station, so we hoped to see the majestic beast!
The first dive was great, and we all started to settle in. However, fate would intervene. The Nangnuan was suffering from some engine troubles, and we were sitting idly awaiting the prognosis. At least we were not in the open sea.
As the group got to know each other, we soon were excited to suddenly hear the engines start up! A glorious sound. However, we had idled too long, so we had to make our next dive at Koh Bon also. No problem, we enjoyed another drop into this lovely reef. As we got onto the boat we prepared for some food, but were soon delivered some sad news. The boat had some serious problems, and it was unsafe to continue. We would do our night dive again at Koh Bon, and the next morning would be rescued by another boat in the fleet ( the boat from my last trip ) the NV Andaman. Less than impressed, there was little we could all do. We had a nice night dive, and a solid sleep on the deck, and the next morning soon joined the other boat. The sadness was remedied a great deal, as the 5th consecutive dive on Koh Bon included a visit from 2 mantas. They were magnificent, and seemed to frolic in our bubbles, as the they looped and swam through the gathering group of divers admiring them. A fantastic experience.
Two of the divers in our group edited a great video of the mantas, to be found here:
However, far from the trip we had planned, I was eager to seek more diving, and as luck would change, a passenger on the other boat who was set to dive the next 4 day leg had some ear problems. I happily relieved his spot on the boat, so that night would head out again for 4 days/4 nights of 13 more dives.
We sailed back to Khao Lak, and had the unpleasant task of discussing our reparations for the failed journey. We negotiated a settlement, one not satisfying all, but I digress. I was set to head out to do more diving, and at this point, quibbling over less than $100 was not interesting to me.
That evening I regrouped, repacked my bag, and met up with the next group. It was an incredible group of people, big personalities in tow, so with excitement I headed back to the boat to have another fantastic experience aboard the NV Andaman on the Andaman Sea :).
I will leave it at that . Stay tuned to hear about the trip, and my final days in Khao Lak, Thailand.