I’ve been scuba diving since 1998. Over the years I’ve learned a few things. I can usually tell when it will be a good dive versus a really good dive. Of course, rarely there are those moments where you think, this is going to be one of the BEST dives in my lifetime.
Feb 12th I had one of those “this is going to be spectacular” moments, just before I did a giant stride off our fabulous dive boat.
My biggest clue and the best sign for an amazing dive day is when the dive masters/instructors are chatty and excited. Because every dive instructors or dive master I’ve ever met has been low drama. In fact, having someone who can stay calm in a tense situation is ideal if you’re 80 feet under water and something goes wrong. So by nature, it should take a lot to get a dive instructor worked up. And headed out to the King Cruiser Wreck on that Friday morning I noticed everyone was a little keyed up!
Another clue happens when you get to the dive site. I watch the dive staff carefully for their reaction. They always give away if it’s better than average or worse than normal conditions. The look is usually quick and fleeting, because it’s important to stay positive for their clients to have the best possible experience.
So, by the time we stopped at the dive site, I was already excited from all the buzz on the boat, and I was watching my dive instructor extra close as he looked down at the wreck. He openly exclaimed, yelled really, in sailor mouthed fashion a string of obscenities that might still be echoing somewhere off the limestone cliffs on the islands nearby. We clearly had unheard of visibility and fabulous conditions for diving. He was so excited in fact, that I momentarily considered grabbing a few extra tanks of air so we could stay down there longer!
So down we went, and it was extraordinary! Even better because I had this incredibly talented videographer (really he was more than that…he was a short film maker) catching every moment of it. These weren’t youtube quality movies. I left Krabi with two 40 minute high definition films, one from each day including video of before the dive and a bonus DVD of his best footage of the local dive sites. Amazing, and worth every penny spent…or Baht.
Ao Nang Divers has a fabulous boat and staff, great equipment, talented and friendly dive instructors/masters, and good food. However, the number one reason I have been recommending them to people is because of Stewart at Krabi Imaging. I wish I could upload all 40 minutes of both my videos so you could be as happy and amazed as I am. However, Stu puts a weekly condensed video up on his website so you can see what the diving conditions are like, right now. And last week he put up a short video from my wreck dive (I’m in the background of a few shots)! So with his permission, here is 3 minutes of my dive…
I never want to dive without a videographer again. But I’m not sure if any other videographers will compare. I highly recommend flying to Krabi RIGHT NOW and going diving with this team (because the visibility is fantastic…so why wait?). Don’t worry if you don’t know how to dive, they will teach you. And you’ll have proof from Stu, of all the best yellow boxfish, turtles, shaded batfish, moorish idol, banded sea snakes, durban shrimp, ghost pipe fish, octopus, cuttlefish, eels, lionfish, scorpionfish and all your best moves so you can re-live every moment anytime you want! You’ll have proof.
Tales from Asia and Beyond 