Scuba-Diving in Phuket

Phuket is only a 2 1/2 hour flight from Singapore.  But I've never been there until now.  I thought I'd spend 3 days in Phuket, without any plans on what to do.  Just go there and figure it out.  But then I thought I've always wanted to try scuba-diving.  Phuket is well-known for that and has very clear waters off the coast.  Also, there are many dive-shops in Phuket.

First, I have to take a Discover Scuba course, a 3-hour course, where you are shown a video and given the basics of scuba-diving.  Then you put on scuba gear in a swimming pool and do some basic maneuvers like learning how to breathe through the tube, sinking to the bottom with and floating up with a buoyant vest.  It was not hard.  Just a test whether you freak out when you are in the water with all this equipment and can handle yourself underwater.

After contacting three dive shops and exchanging emails with them, I decided to sign up with All4Diving.  Alain responded promptly to my questions and emails.  I read through their website and reviews on TripAdvisors.  They are not the most popular but they seem to have a very good track record.  They have been doing this in Phuket for 20 years.  They offer many types of diving courses plus recreational diving.  I signed up for a 3-day course and found a decently-priced hotel nearby.  Before flying to Phuket, I have to read five manuals and then take a Knowledge Quiz.  The manuals, although time-consuming, was very informational in giving a lot of theories and information about scuba-diving.  It was worth the time.

I flew from Singapore to Phuket on an early Monday morning flight.  The shuttle van from the airport to the hotel took almost an hour and a half but it costs only 180 Thai Bahts.  At this time, the conversion is about US$1 = 34.63 Bahts.  A regular tax would costs 800 Bahts.  After checking-in to the Hemingway Silk Hotel in Patong Beach, I took a walk to find the All4Diving office.  It is on Bangla Road, but further down the road from a stretch of popular bars and nightclubs for tourists. I met Alain and he told me that I can have a head-start by watching the videos that afternoon.  I spent about 3 hours watching 5 chapters of the videos.  It was similar in content to the manuals but it gave a more visual explanation of some of the subjects.

Hemingway Silk Hotel in Patong Beach

A very popular Patong Beach

All4Diving Office

Following a short nap in the afternoon, I took a stroll around the area near the hotel.  It is a bustling place.  About 100m from the hotel is the Baan Soon Night Market.  This is the kind of place I love to eat - street food.  Good and cheap.  Not everyone can handle street food.  Growing up eating this type of food and years of traveling and indulging mostly in street food whenever I can, my stomach has gotten used to it.  One thing to note about street food in Asia is that it's almost all fully-cooked.  So, whatever bacteria there is is killed.  Besides this street food market, the area is swarmed with tourist shops, selling anything imaginable.  Across the street is the big Jungceylon Shopping Center, where there are many stores and more restaurants.  If I walk farther down on Bangla Street, the nightclubs and bars will be in full swing in the evening.

All types of BBQ available

Grilled Seafood

All types of fruits for juice

Pad Thai for 50 Bahts or $1.50

Thailand has all kinds of tropical fruits

One of the nightclubs on Bangla Street

Banana Pancake for 50 Bahts

Mango Sticky Rice, one of my favorites

Next day it's time to get serious about scuba diving.  The van that was supposed to picked me up at 7:30am picked me up at 8:00am.  We headed to the pier, about 30 minutes south of Patong Beach.  The boat holds about 40-50 people, including crew plus a lot of scuba diving equipment.  Almost each student diver has his or her own instructor.  Most of the instructors are French and all the crew members are Thai.  The crew includes about 5 or 6 locals who provide assistance with diving, checking equipment, filling tanks, etc.  Two ladies on board provide the meals.  The meals on board are great.  They provide Thai breakfasts and lunch and a lot of tropical fruits - papaya, pineapple, water-melons, guava, etc.  They also provide cakes and other refreshments.  It's a very well-organized boat and everyone knows what their job is.

MV Mermaid, our dive boat

Suited up and ready for the dive

My Scuba-diving gear

My Dive Instructor, Stephane

Over two days, in four dives, I was to perform a series of drills to test that I can dive on my own in open water.  I have performed the same drills in the swimming pool on the first day.  The first day we went to Phi Phi Island, a very popular and well-known island for scuba-diving.  The water was very clear.  Fishes were swimming all around me.  There were beautiful corals at the bottom.  This is what diving is all about.  Seeing an underwater world that most people don't see.  I've snorkeled many times but scuba-diving is very different.  It opens up a new world.

I did two dives with drills on the first day, with a third dive that is just for fun.  I did not have any trouble with the drills.  The challenge I have is learning how to equalize the pressure in my ears.  Before you know it you are about 5 meters deep and your ears are hurting like crazy.  To equalize, you have to squeeze your nose and blow throw them, which will force your ear drums to open and equalize the pressure between your ears and the water.   Another difficulty is learning how to control your buoyancy.  By breathing in or out, you control whether you are going up or down.

Diving with my instructor Stephane

Fish swim around you thinking you are just another fish.  Notice the beautiful corals

Amazing view under water

On the second day, I did two dives with drills.  Drills like taking off your mask and letting the water out and putting it back on, staying buoyant above the bottom, or what happen if you run out of air and need to use your partner's secondary air?  They are meant to teach you how to be diving without an instructor.  However, in all scuba-diving, you have to dive with a partner.  I skipped the 3rd dive on the second day because I was to fly the next day.  Safety rules said that you are to fly at least 18 hours after your last dive because of nitrogen that might still be in your body.  Nitrogen in your body causes decompression sickness, also known as "bends."

After 3 days I completed my certification for Open Water Diving, the first step towards many other courses in scuba-diving.